Law, Justice and Society: Chapter Nine

Of all the different reasons for and against the death penalty, I find myself swaying both ways at different times depending on the case. In the text there are several legitimate reasons that justify why the United States should change to abolishing the death penalty. I would have to agree with the majority of them. The US says we are so different from other countries and that we want to be nothing like our enemies. Having the death penalty be legal puts us at the same level as several other countries such as China and Iran. There is always the question of whether or not someone on death row actually should be there. In the past people who were thought to be guilty, but were really innocent, were put to death. By the time cases were finally resolved, it is too late to free them because they had already been injected with a serum that makes them sleep forever. Does the death penalty really help with deterrence? Are people really learning that certain crimes committed can lead to their lives being taken? These are hard questions to answer. I believe it all depends on the life of every individual. Some only have to experience general deterrence to learn while others have to go through direct deterrence to actually decided and figure out that what they had done was wrong. When agreeing with the death penalty, does the government really have the power to play God and take someone’s life, because they have broken the law? Considering I am not a very religious person, I would not think of this question to be valid question to testify against the death penalty. I have always believed that you should do unto others as you want done to you. Some people would rather sit in jail for the rest of their lives and get fed three meals a day, have a bed to sleep in, a clean shower every day and people to talk to. Others would hate this and not want to rot in a cell until they finally take their last breaths. If someone I loved was murdered and I had the chance to face the killer, I would probably want to kill them myself, but then again is death what they want? If they would rather die then I would want them to stay alive and think of what they have done to my family and I. If they are scared of death and want to live in prison instead then I would want them to die so that they could not have the pleasures of prison life. Having a criminal put to death saves money and trouble in all aspects. It costs one amount to kill them and saves money and time on trials, attorneys, judges, living in prisons, paying those to take care of the prisons, etc. As I stated before, I can not directly relate myself to either pro or against capital punishment. Hopefully, by reviewing the website http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/spring/cap/group1.htm you can make a decision on whether you are for or against it. This website has different links for different reasons to why individuals feel as they do when it comes to the death penalty.