The Death Penalty in the United States - Essay Example

Capital Punishment Introduction In the two articles, the have extremely two different views concerning capital punishment or death penalty in the United States. The United States is among those countries which have capital punishment as one of the penalties that criminals can face. In the first article, the author is advocating for elimination of capital punishment because of the case in which he witnessed a man being executed. He says: ‘I watched a man take his last breath after being executed by the state of Texas’ He says that to achieve full civilization in the United States and other parts of the world, it is necessary to do away with this penalty. In the second article, the author argues that in order to have a free world then capital punishment is necessary to ensure order. The author says that this kind of punishment will reduce cases of rape, bomb and kidnapping cases. Criminals of the mentioned cases should be eliminated from the world to ensure that the cases reduce and are kept at low level. The author of the first article argues that death is a very heavy penalty and therefore it should not apply to people. It deprives them their right to exist even though they are criminals. The author of the second article says polls indicate that about 70 percent of the Americans support this act. He says: “Contrary to major media bias, most Americans support the use of capital punishment.” Americans were of the view that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death if found guilty of bombing the Boston Marathon. The Americans also wanted James Holmes and rapist Ariel Castrol to face capital punishment if found guilty. Several politicians and governors in the United States have tried to repeal death penalty but citizens support it. These two authors have based their arguments on some specific aspects to support their stands and opinions. Capital punishment in other states The author who is against death penalty in the first article says that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States because a majority of the world states have eliminated it. A research was done by Amnesty International and they found out that United States is among the very few states that still practice this penalty. He is of the view that United States is against fundamentals of a civilization by saying that: “The fact that the United States is among this percentage should be disturbing to anyone who believes in the basics of a civilized society.” The author against capital punishment does not care whether the act is practiced in other states but he is majorly concerned with the idea of free world or rather freedom. He is after protecting the civil society and ensuring that every individual in the United States enjoys freedom which is a fundamental human right. He says: “the importance of capital punishment is a just institution which promotes freedom while protecting civil society”. To him, comparing the United States with other states in the world is not necessary. He cares much about the well-being of people (huffingtonpost.com). Aspect of humanity The author against capital punishment expresses his heartfelt concern for losing an acquaintance that was executed before the author’s eyes. He says that in the United States Justice is carried out with a lot of disparities. He emphasizes that indeed it is an act of inhumanity to sentence someone to death. The author says: “Watching him die felt inhumane, cruel and just plain wrong.” He says that some people are executed even when they are innocent and therefore the manner in which justice is executed in the United States is neither genuine nor reliable. According to him, sentencing a criminal to imprisonment is enough but not killing. On the other hand, the author in view of capital imprisonment says that this is the best action on criminals because they will never repeat the offence. He says that when people are found guilty and imprisoned, they are likely to repeat the mistake after being released. Some people have a tendency of repeating the same behavior even after an attempt has been made to correct the behavior. He says: “The crime will still likely happen even if the sentencing increases from 30 years to life imprisonment, or even to extreme sentences such as three consecutive life terms.” He says that death sentence is the only option that will ensure that further offences committed by these criminals are not felt by people any more. By eliminating the culprits from the world the citizens of the United States and all people in the world are likely to enjoy peace and freedom. He says that instead of sentencing criminals to life imprisonment which in fact is inhuman to them, their elimination is better because we will even forget about them and enjoy peace (huffingtonpost.com). Inequalities in application of the law The author who is against death penalty is expresses his concern about application of the law in the United States. He says that a majority of those executed are the poor and minority. Research shows that many Latinos and blacks are always arrested, frisked, questioned and even stopped. This is a clear indication of unfairness and discrimination of the minority groups in the United States. This has made it difficult to be sure if indeed those who are executed are guilty. Economic and racial positions determine the application of law on the individuals. The people in high class have the ability to hire highly qualified and competent attorneys compared to those people in the lower class. They are likely to be acquitted or receive reduced sentence due to the influence of their attorneys even if they are guilty and deserve life imprisonment. People’s status and money dictate who to execute in society. This makes the author to lose trust in the United States judiciary system. This is the question he poses: “Do we really think everyone receives equal treatment under the law?” There is a possibility that innocent people are executed and at the same time criminals are acquitted. The judicial system of the United States is wanting because it has a task to eliminate racial discrimination. The act of putting a tight watch on the Latinos and blacks by frisking and arresting them more than the Americans is a clear indication of racial discrimination. He emphasizes that this is the time to review the death penalty in America. Capital punishment as retribution The author advocating for capital punishment argues that the exercise acts as final retribution for the victims and their associates. It ensures that there is no connection between the murderer and friends and relatives of the victims. For instance, a criminal involved in bombing should be executed. The relatives of the victims will suffer the pain of losing their loved ones but they will suffer even more if they see the criminal still living on this earth. According to this author, if the victims die, the criminals should also be put to death. This is the only way of reducing the pain inflicted on the families, friends and relatives of those who lose their lives in the bomb blast. He says: “It is important to keep in mind that justice is both penal in punishment as well as retributive to the victim.” In a bomb blast case, justice and fairness can only be achieved to his satisfaction if the culprit’s death follows the victim’s death (mic.com). Capital punishment as a way of separating criminals from the society The author supporting capital punishment says that this is the best way of separating culprits from the society. If imprisonment is meant to protect the society from harmful criminals, then death sentence is the best way of guaranteeing this separation. Research has been done and the finding is that there exist prison gangs. He says that people commit crimes outside and even within prisons like Aryan and the Mafia Brotherhood in California. They are involved in many activities involving drug peddling and they operate within prison. This is a clear indication that imprisonment is not enough to separate culprits from the society. The criminals can kill other prisoners and guards who protect and enforce law and order in prisons. He concludes by saying that capital punishment protects civil society and promotes peace and freedom. Common ground Proportionality between offence and penalty It is important that the United States judiciary system clarifies to the citizens the penalties for each category of offences. The penalty applied to an individual who has committed an offence should not be too heavy or light in relation to the offence. A person who commits murder or robbery with violence should be subjected to a different penalty from one who commits a mere crime. There should also be proper mechanisms of arriving at judgments so that culprits who deserve execution face it and those who deserve imprisonment face it. Independence of judicial system from other states The United States should not necessarily adopt the laws of other states in the world. The author against capital punishment is of the view that United States should end this penalty because many states do not practice it any more. Every country should be independent when it comes to legal and judicial matters. United States should therefore not end capital punishment just because other states ended this act. If in any case she wants to abolish this act, then she must do a study to establish the consequences attached to absence of capital punishment. If withdrawal of capital punishment will create disorder in the United States, then there is no need of withdrawing it for the safety of the citizens. The judicial system should also be independent from other arms of the government to avoid influence of its actions. Separation of criminals from society Executing the culprits is not the only way of separating them from the society. Prisons can play this role of separation successfully without necessarily killing the criminals. However, for effective separation, the prisons in the United States should be made effective to be able to play the role of separation. There should be proper mechanisms to ensure that prison guards take control of prisoners. Prisoners should not own communication tools to communicate with the outside people. This will prevent many conspiracies and unlawful acts like drug trafficking where the prisoners are involved. If this control can be achieved, then separation can easily be achieved. The prisons should also be in good conditions to ensure good health of the prisoners. They should only be denied the freedom to associate with other people but retain other rights that the United States citizens enjoy like good health. The only aim of the prisons should be to set these prisoners apart from the society. Equality in application of the law The law should apply equally regardless of class and race. Those in upper class should not gain any advantage when it comes to law. The law should also apply equally to all colors of people without acts of discrimination. This will ensure that only culprits are executed and innocent citizens are acquitted. On achievement of equality, we can have trust in the United States judicial system. Work cited "Death Penalty Repeal: Its Necessary to Use Capital Punishment in a Free World." Mic. 23 June 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. . Sharpton, Rev. "The Death Penalty Must Go." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. . Read More