What Are The Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

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The death penalty, or capital punishment is topic that is constantly being debated. Capital punishment is defined by the legal dictionary as, “the legal execution of a person who has committed a capital offense (Hill).” Capital punishment’s main focus seems to be its use as a crime deterrent. This means that by using capital punishment as a consequence of a capital crime that the rate of crimes should decrease (Study). The reason behind the crime rates decreasing is hope that people will fear being sentenced to death and will choose not to commit capital offenses. For example, if Mark is planning to murder Amy but knows that he will likely be sentenced to death if he gets caught, Mark may choose not to murder Amy. However, this is not always the case and this is one of the main causes of debate on the topic. …show more content…
Deterrence is one of the pros for the use of capital punishment. By putting the fear in people that they will be put to death if they commit such a high crime there is hopes that this will lower the crime rate. However, 88% of criminologists do not believe that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide (Study). I mean how many people right before committing a crime think of the consequences of doing so or even if they do think of the consequences they think that there is no way they will be caught. It’s like when you were a child and your parents told you not to do something. You thought of what the consequences would be, but you also thought how you would still be able to do it without being caught and having to suffer those

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