Capital punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Capital penalty - Essay ExampleThose opposed to capital punishment do not believe that the government should be vested with the power to put any of its citizens to death. Opponents also obligate that the practice is racially biased, overtly costly and does not achieve the intended outcome.Historically speaking, the rational for penalize criminals has been to avenge the crime, to protect society by imprisoning the criminal, to deter that person and opposite potential offenders from the commission of crimes and to stimulate reparations from the offender. Throughout the history of civilization, this rational has not changed substantially. The four fundamental reasons society punishes can be classified ad into two argonas. One is to obtain desired consequences which includes protecting society, seeking compensation and deterrence. The other, retribution, or vengeance, involves punishment for a wrong perpetrated on society (Wolfgang, 1998). Those that subscribe to retribution as just ification for the death penalty oft invoke the Bibles reference to an eye for an eye. Aggression must be met with aggressive punishment (Olen & Barry, 1996 268). This intention of punishment is societys way of striking back at one who has dysphoric the emotional and ethical senses of a people (Lunden, 1967 232). Interestingly, those that use the quote from the Old Testament to justify the use of the death penalty as moral either overlooked or ignored the passage in the New Testament where Jesus rebuffs this statement explicitly then reminds his followers to instead to turn the other cheek. However, the eye for an eye justification is still used by many today. Those that hold this view are certainly correct when they say that the death penalty insures that the criminal will not commit some other crime against society. In addition to a vengeful act, the death penalty is the ultimate preventative handbill (Olen &