To maintain order in society punishment is needed for crime, it is a social norm. One expects there to be consequences for breaking the laws set in place. This is one of the reasons why we have the death penalty. It provides “the perfect punishment” for murderers, a life for a life. But punishment’s arguably most important purpose is to deter crime. Deterrence has the greatest effect on society as a whole (Winters 90). The death penalty it just that, the …show more content…
They feel as though watching the one who killed their loved one justice. If you commit a crime you cannot go unpunished. There has to be “liberty and justice for all”, but is execution the only way to achieve that? Some say that a life sentence can be even worse than being on death row. Gordon Steidl was wrongfully convicted of murder yet spent time in a life sentence and death roe. He said “If you really want to kill someone, give them life without parole. Its worse than dying.” A life sentence can be up to eighty years of torture, although most only live sixteen years after imprisonment. Whereas dying only takes a couple minutes. ( ) Granted, the anticipation of the approximate ten years could be torture enough. But some would argue that life without no hope of getting out of prison would be worse. At least you would know that there 's a soon approaching end on death