Capital Punishment Essay: Just Do It -- Argumentative Persuasive Topic

Capital Punishment: Just Do It Capital punishment is a justified form of punishment for murderers and is enforced by most states in the United States. The death penalty is a fitting punishment for murder because executions maximize the public safety through a form of incapacitation and deterrence. When a person kills another person, their common sense and mental reasoning is lost. As a result of this, the murderer is no longer capable of a mentally stable life not only to himself but also society as a whole. In contrast, moral issues question the accuracy and the benefits of the death penalty as well. Murder is defined as the crime of unlawfully killing a person with malice aforethought and to slaughter wantonly (Webster, 751). Capital punishment is the punishment by death involving execution (Webster, 162). Since ancient times it has been used to punish a wide variety of offenses. In the United States, the death penalty for murder was first abolished in Michigan (1847); Venezuela (1853) and Portugal (1867) were the first nations to abolish it altogether. Today, it is virtually abolished in all of Western Europe and most of Latin America. Elsewhere--in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (except Israel)--most countries still authorize capital punishment for many crimes and use it with varying frequency (Academic American Encyclopedia, UT CAT). Methods of inflicting the death penalty have ranged from stoning in biblical times, crucifixion under the Romans, beheading in France, to those used in the United States today: hanging, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and the lethal injection. Beginning in 1967, executions were suspended to allow the appellate courts to decide whether the death penalty was unconstitu... ...of criminal execution to set the limits of appropriate punishments. Not only is morality of the criminal an issue, what about the morality of the crime that the criminal committed? Premeditated and wanton murder is an immoral action. As was mentioned before, compassion is an admirable thing, but it need not blind us to the difference between right and wrong, or the desirability of deterring bad behavior. Bibliography "Capital Punishment." Academic American Encyclopedia. (UT CAT PLUS). 1991 ed. Hertzberg, Hendrick. "Premeditated Execution." Time 18 May 1992:49. Kramer, Michael. "Frying them isn't the Answer." Time 14 March 1994:32. Landsburg, Steven E. "Just do it." Forbes 21 Nov. 1994: 166. Shapiro, Walter. "What say should victims have?" Time 27 May 1991:61. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. Mass.: G& C. Merriam Company. 1981.