The Death Penalty To Kill Or — страница 3

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contradictory. The government seems to think that two wrongs make a right. Not only is this act being contradicted, but it also causes the general public to get the wrong impression. The government thinks that the death penalty is a deterrent, yet in some minds it says it is acceptable to kill someone. Most murderers have a psychological problem, therefore when they hear about the government killing someone; they acquire some sort of a deranged idea that it is acceptable to take another’s life. Although some states have considered this and abolished the death penalty, other states are still acting upon this law. In fact, some states do not actively use the death penalty, but rather use life with no parole, while other states take full advantage page 7 it. For example, Texas

comes off as being somewhat execution happy. Yet, they have only executed people for murder, and have put other criminals on death row. Everybody seems to be familiar with at least the two most common viewpoints of the death penalty, but recently a third angle of argument has been taken into consideration. This third side, that few may care to even take time and notice, is the situational view. By taking the situational view when it comes to the death penalty, one is stating that he or she believes each individual case must be looked at + individually. This is opposed to believing that the death penalty should be either legal or illegal. Situationalists believe that keeping the death penalty legal will only hurt those who have the opportunity to exercise their right to appear in

from of a judge for parole. These convicted criminals could either be innocent or in some cases simply deserve the right to regain their freedom. On the contrary, situationalists also believe that by making the death penalty illegal, those who actually do deserve death sentences will waste taxpayers money by wandering around prison yards for the rest of their lives, and in some cases maybe even walk freely, once again becoming a hazard to society. Stating that you are both “for” and “against” the death penalty in the same sentence can be very misleading. One can be quick to judge that someone standing behind this belief seems to be somewhat confused on the subject. That is not at all the case. page 8 Situationalists believe that each individual case resulting in a life

sentence should be looked at closely for both human error and biased juries. Many people in modern day society have been raised Catholic, therefore knowing each of the Ten Commandments. One of these commandments that is quite relevant is “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” Knowing that the creators of this religion may have not absorbed this phrase as many have, they still believe that an eye for an eye should only be fair. Maybe so, but an eye for an eye has yet to become a law. For now, it is just a law of barbarism. (Marcel). In the film, “Dead Man Walking,” a nun becomes a spiritual advisor of a man that happens to be on death row. Before being killed through the process of lethal injection (which happens to be the number one form of carrying out the death penalty in recent years)

on charges of kidnapping, rape, and murder, a guard screams out for his innocence. This led on to the question of whether or not the convicted criminal actually committed the crimes. Because of the emotion and in-depth discussions of the death penalty, “Dead Man Walking” will be shown and discussed for a long time to come. The latest of debates has been due to the fact that the majority of Americans that are for the death penalty (68 percent) are now saying that the issue is no longer a controversy. Their argument is that because the majority of Americans are for the death penalty, all forms of debate should no longer be considered, and the United States should simply listen to the louder voice so to speak. How idiotic is this? The issue of whether or not capital punishment

is right or wrong has been accurately page 9 labeled as “controversial.” Just because those Americans who are either against it or take the situational approach make up the smaller fraction of society (32 percent) does not necessarily mean that their thoughts and beliefs should not be considered. The only other area of concern is a possible biased jury. By using the death penalty, there will always be doubt going through the minds of the convicted person’s family as to a possibility of not using the correct judgment. The jury that decides guilt or innocence is made up exclusively for people who would be willing to sentence a person to death. Therefore, jurors who state that they cannot consider the death penalty are not allowed to follow or participate in the