The Death Penalty in the United States - Assignment Example

The first article I read is d “Death Penalty” written by Almanac of Policy Issues Organization. The piece of literature describes different aspects of the controversial penalty topic. It provides a historical background on when the death penalty in the United States was banned which was in the year 1974 and the latter restitution of the death penalty policy in 1977. The writer of the article mentions the international frequency of death penalty implementation in the year 1998. The article also enters into a discussion of the possibility of innocent people being victims of the state and the potential of the state as the killer of innocent prisoners. The article itself does not proclaim this is actually occurring, but it open up the table of discussion for people to think that this could be happening in the United States incarceration system. The article illustrates both arguments for and against the death penalty utilization in the American nation. It mentions race as a factor that could influence the system as far as African American citizens evidenced by the fact this minority is being executed at much higher proportional levels than any other race in the nation. This article is well written and shows a variety of topics within its short two page content. The position illustrated in the article that capital punishment is penalty that deters deviants from committing vicious crimes is something I agree with. Despite the lack of empirical evidence to prove the arguments it is logical that a criminal in the middle of a robbery will think twice about killing anyone in the process since the person knows that robbery is a serious offence, but to kill is a capital crime that could lead to death of a criminal by the state if they are ever caught after committing a crime. The argument mentioned in the article of the possibility of an innocent person being executed on death row is quite weak and does not provide a solid framework to convince anyone that this event is an issue to consider. In general I like the article because it provides a wide variety of views as well as the inclusion of the history of the death penalty laws and some international data. The second article I read was “Death Penalty and Sentencing Information” by Dudley Sharp. The author of the article wrote a paper in order to show people how the anti-death penalty movement is full of lies and misinformation. The article shows different statistical facts, arguments against myths and evidence to inform the audience about the reality of what the death penalty imposition means for the American people. For example the anti-death penalty movement wants people to think that the US government is some sort of butcher shop killing people at will by imposing the death people. This is a complete lie, since in the United States only 1 out of 1600 murders are sentence to the death penalty imposition, which represents a percentage of 0.06%. Another argument which is dissected by the author is the claim that the death penalty is an immoral act that is practically the same as committing murder. The article shows how the association has no validity. One of the examples mentioned to break this argument is comparing the act of a rapist with a couple making love. In both instances a sexual activity is occurring which is the end result, but there obviously a rape is not the same as thing as the act of making love. Just because the end result of the death penalty is the death of a human being, it does not mean that a person who murders an innocent resident is an act similar to the state execution of a criminal who committed hideous acts against society. I agree with the article written by Dudley Sharp. The article shows many examples of why the anti-death penalty movement is biased and does not consider the issue in a logical manner. I liked the large qualitative and quantitative research and evidence to show the truth about the death penalty in the United States of America. A good argument to discredit the anti-death penalty movement is the insinuation and lies from the radicals that innocent people are dying because of the death penalty. The majority of the people released from death row between 1973 and 1995 were released not because of their innocence, but because of clemency ruling that took mercy on the criminal after the person showed true remorse for the previous vicious acts the inmate had committed. The third article read on the subject is “Anti Death Penalty Information” by Davecoop.net. The article is a narrative against the death penalty in the United States. The author compares the United States death row policy with other country position on the same topic. It mentions how many civilized nations around the world have abolished the death penalty policy since according to the author the implantation of such a policy does nothing to prevent serious crimes. Among the nation that are mention who stopped the use of the death penalty are the European Country, which recently placed a rule that all European Community members must abolish the death penalty use in order to qualify to become a member state. The authors opinions is that the US death penalty is wrong and that death penalty is a barbaric act that is perform in dictator nations such as China, Iran and Iraq. I completely disagree with the arguments presented in this article. The author is biased and utilized weak arguments with no foundation base. For example the article mentions that in Canada after the abolishment of the death penalty in 1976 death rates dropped by 43% during the following 24 years. There absolutely no correlation between one event and the crime results of Canada in a span of time of over two decades. This is a loose association and the author of the article is trying to persuade the audience to accept his opinion based non-existing evidence. Comparing the United States democracy to nations such as Iraq in which there are no human rights is an atrocity and inflammatory comment because in the United States the death penalty is utilized as a strategic legal tool that exist to try to prevent violent criminals from coming acts of violence against the common citizen. The United States must keep its death penalty imposition in place. After the events that took place in this nation on September 11, 2001 there is absolutely no way the American nation can justify eliminating the death penalty imposition. If the sick terrorist who masterminded 9/11 was ever caught the only logical and mandatory punishment for such a predator is to send the criminal on a direct path towards the death chamber. A person that kills thousands of innocent people including women and children is not a human worthy of being a part of civilized society and has to pay for the consequences of the person’s action. The articles read and analyzed in this essay showed that most of the arguments of anti-death penalty supporters are based on hearsay and myth and that the United States has not abuse at all of the death penalty imposition evidenced by the 1 to 1600 death application ratio in murder cases in the US legal system. It might not be pretty to have an imposition that legally takes the life away of another human, but special circumstance such as serial killers are situations in which death penalty imposition must apply to demonstrate to society that this type of deviant behavior is absolutely unacceptable. 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