Capital Punishment for Crimes: The Death Penalty

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Death Penalty
Society puts standard measures to discourage people from engaging in unlawful actions; however, punishment to discourage murder has been subjected to debate. Punishment for murder is death; the death penalty is considered as the strongest punishment to deter murder (Gius199). Several countries refrain from using death penalty; however, some states still support death penalty citing various reasons. Even those many people support the death penalty; there is no guarantee that if murderers are sentenced to death, other potential murderers will not kill for fear of losing their lives. That is why opponents view the death penalty as an immoral act.
The death penalty also is known as capital punishment is widely practiced in several states in the US, with electrocution and lethal injection being the primary methods of execution (Sullivan 201). Proponents of the death penalty believe that death penalty will ensure that the condemned individual will not commit further crimes because he would be dead. However, no research has proven that other individuals will be deterred by another person's death (Sullivan 205).
Capital punishment is one of the controversial subjects today because those in support of the act believes that death should act as a reminder to other criminals of what to expect if they kill someone.
Even though several states still uphold death penalty as punishment. Opponent of death penalty believes that capital punishment is not the best solution to solve crime (Williams 269).
Capital punishment leaves the underlying causes of crime unresolved. Despite many people convicted to death, crime rates, especially murder has not reduced (Williams 270). They further argue that most murders are committed in intense arguments or during emotional moments or even when the perpetrator is under the influence of alcohol, meaning that logical thinking has been suspended (Williams 270). At times, crimes like murder are committed by individuals with mental illness who is unable to think of the consequences of his action. Such people need help instead of being condemned to death (Williams 271). That is why opponents of death as punishment are not justified.
There is no evidence to prove that death penalty has certain deterrent factors as proposed by those who support the act, most states that still implement death penalty as punishment for crimes still experience homicide death. Ironically, most states without death penalties experience lower rates of homicide compared to those with death penalty (Gius 200). Accordingly, most of the criminals ar...