Capital Punishment: Lawful Death Penalty for Level One Criminal Offences - Essay Sample

Introduction

Capital punishment is the exercise of executing an individual as punishment for a particular crime after a proper legal trial. Also, capital punishment is a lawful death penalty ordered by the court of law against the violation of criminal laws by an individual (Van den Haag & Conrad, 2013). The person who is subjected to capital punishment is an individual who committed level one crime. There are several approaches the state utilizes to execute capital punishment to those who commit serious crimes, which include hanging, shooting, stoning, electrocution, beheading, and lethal injection. In my opinion, I am against capital punishment. I am against capital punishment due to the value of human life since it is so valuable; hence the worst murders should not be deprived of the value of their life. According to Parker (2016), it is better to convict Roof to a lifetime of suffering than to execute capital punishment to end his miserable life. Capital punishment does nothing to heal the offense he has inflicted, but it is better to be prisoned to live his life with pain, horror, and sorrows he caused is the punishment he deserves. Some people are for capital punishment, and they support due to various reasons. According to Antle (2016), murder is a barbaric and gruesome business, and the perpetrators warrant the ultimate punishment, such as capital punishment. Antle III is for capital punishment since he argued that he is no longer believes in executions as a predictable punishment for serious crimes, even homicide. His statement, "I am both substantially and pro-life libertarian in my politics, merging a belief in the sanctity of skepticism and human life of state power which sits uneasily with support for capital punishment," this implies he supports capital punishment (Antle 2016).

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W. James Antle III. (2016). "Dylann Roof Is the Best Argument We Have for the Death Penalty."

The thesis of this article is that Antle does not believe capital punishment is inherently undeserved in principle, even a belief in the frequent application is always possible to become so in exercise since some crimes are very heinous. There is no other punishment that fits them. For example, in the Roof case, he confessed to murdering nine innocent African Americans during a prayer service at church in Charleston (Antle 2016). Therefore, several common objections of his capital punishment do not apply in Roof's case since there is no doubt about his guilt of murder. The overall position taken in the article is the support of capital punishment. Antle was for capital punishment, and he argued that the case of the murder of a friend's grandmother kept him as an unadulterated opponent of the death penalty. Also, Antle is for capital punishment, in the case of Roof, he argued that several objections to death penalty do not apply since he was quilt since he confessed that he murdered when law enforcement officer interviewed him.

Kathleen Parker (2016). "Death Would Be Too Easy for Dylann Roof."

The thesis statement of this article is to determine whether Roof's trial case should live out his days in prison or subjected to capital punishment. According to Parker (2016), if anyone deserves to be subjected to capital punishment for a crime, Roof is the person, but the execution is yet the wrong sentence. The overall position taken in the article is against capital punishment. To support this position of opposing capital punishment, Parker opposes capital punishment for both practical and moral reasons (Parker 2016). As a moral matter, I don't want to involve in anyone's murder regardless of whether it is state-sanctioned. Also, I cannot tolerate anything less than foolproof hence the article is against capital punishment. As a practical issue, the death penalty does not work.

Both articles agree that Roof confessed to the massacre that he killed nine innocent Americans at a historic black church in South Carolina; hence there was no doubt about his guilt. Also, both articles agree with the idea that Roof crimes deserve capital punishment even though the execution was the wrong sentence punishment. According to Parker (2016), Roof deserves to die for crime since he was guilty since he confessed that he commits the crime. According to Antle (2016), there is no doubt about Roof's guilt; hence most of the standard objection to capital punishment does not apply in his case, and therefore, he deserves to die.

Both articles disagree with the idea of recommending the appropriate punishment to crimes of the first-degree level. Antle recommends for capital punishment, but Parker is against capital punishment in Roof's case. In the case where a young man who attempted rape and robbed the poor woman, Antle suggests that capital punishment is appropriate to such crimes despite the fact that the perpetrator was not eligible for capital punishment due to age. On the other hand, in the Roof's case, Parker recommends that it is better to condemn Roof to a lifespan of suffering instead of ending his miserable life (Parker 2016).

The articles have not answered the following questions how effective is capital punishment? What are the best alternatives to be adapted to punish criminals? What are the negative impacts associated with capital punishment? How did the Roof's case end? And why do states usually utilize capital punishment?

I take the position of opposing capital punishment. Therefore, to support my position against capital punishment, the following reasons support my argument:

• The psychological effect of the death penalty on the Death row inmates
• Wastage of government resources
• Discrimination of death row inmates

Instead of focusing on developing a crime-free society by instilling fear to the accused, it is better to create other possible ways to serve as turning points to those why may be tempted to commit first-degree crimes. By executing the accused individual, society does not necessarily accept the impact(Van den Haag & Conrad, 2013). However, it creates more chaos. Sometimes, the accused person may be wrongly accused of crimes they never committed, thus killing an innocent person. There is existing evidence of people who were being falsely accused of having committed crimes. If they are to be executed, and the truth about their death is exposed. Who should be responsible for such cases? Therefore, running people through the death penalty is the ruthless manner of administering justice and should be abolished (Ward 2016).

By evaluating the financial requirements for financing the Death Penalty, it is clear that the whole process is capital intensive compared to other methods such as life imprisonment (Hochkammer 2017). The high capital needs for administering the death penalty can be viewed to be ironical in a civilized world. Since the judgment date until execution, the process may involve the right ransom amount of money (Sarat 2018). The judges, the lawyers, and the staffs have to be paid before the performance. Unnecessary costs such as financing death row inmates can be considered to be a mockery to human rights hence an inefficient method for administering justice

In some cases, most death penalties have been related to discrimination claims. Most individuals sentenced to capital punishment in America are black Americans (Sarat 2018). The number of whites being sentenced to death is almost a quarter compared to three-quarters of the black Americans sentenced to death every year. Therefore, capital punishment in American History has been used as a way of suppressing minority groups while favoring the majority of whites (Ward 2016). Due to a lack of necessary claims, Capital punishments should be highly discouraged in judicial sectors. If the Judiciary may be amended to abolish the use of the death penalty, a better discretionary free society may be built (Malone 2013). Capital punishment, as Discussed above, leaves a chaotic regime instead of creating a positive impact on the community. The government should, therefore, abolish the use of death sentences in administering justice. The various effects, such as Psychological pressure on the casualties' families and Discrimination, should highly be avoided.

Conclusion

In conclusion, capital punishment should be abolished in the society and state as the approach to administering justice. Also, to remove shame in the family of the victim, capital punishment should be eradicated since it will heal the offense committed by the perpetrator, and it's better to convict to serve lifetime sentencing in prison. In the case of Roof, killing him would be a betrayal of the higher tenacity and their faith in the power in redemption. Therefore he deserves to be a life sentence in the federal court and serve in prison for is a horrible life.

References

Hochkammer, W. O. (2017). The Capital Punishment Controversy. In Capital Punishment (pp. 65-84). Routledge.

Kathleen Parker (2016). "Death Would Be Too Easy for Dylann Roof." Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/death-would-be-too-easy-for-dylann-roof/2016/12/6

Malone, D. (2013). America's Condemned: Death Row Inmates in Their Own Words. Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Sarat, A. (2018). When the state kills: Capital punishment and the American condition. Princeton University Press.Van den Haag, E., & Conrad, J. P. (2013). The death penalty: A debate. Springer Science & Business Media.

W. James Antle III. (2016). "Dylann Roof Is the Best Argument We Have for the Death Penalty." Retrieved from http://theweek.com/articles/666541/dylann-roof-best-argument-have-death-penalty

Ward, A. (2016). Capital punishment. National Highlights Incorporated.