Deterrence And The Death Penalty

One of the most powerful and influential books ever written to man was the bible and Christianity is what our country based its religion on. This is why it would be absurd to abolish capital punishment. According to Devan Benjamin in his journal of religions and ideologies, the lord himself mentioned in Genesis 9:6: "Whoso sheddeth man 's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." And Exodus 21:12 states, "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death." We did not conceive this rule nor do we have the right to disregard such statute. Many tend to argue that it is a law of the Old testament, and that it did not go into effect when the new testament was proclaimed. However, stated in Revelations …show more content…
(Ernest, 1969). So what is deterrence? Deterrence is to punish an individual to set an example for others as well as promote fear in them for the punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty is seen to be a more severe punishment by society. Every breathing organism fears death, even the animals. Most criminals would reconsider their premeditative thoughts if they knew it was going to cost their lives. However, there is no substantial proof Capital punishment deters crime. Although, many would concur that the death penalty is terrifying. Many statistics have shined light on the success of the death penalty. Stop and think for a second. Imagine if the death penalty was nonexistent in our states and suppose the maximum punishment was life without parole. What is preventing an inmate that is serving this life sentence with no chance of parole for murdering other prisoners? In one of Slambroucks articles, he mentions that “there is an increasing rate of violence in our U.S. prisons.” To be more specific, the author disclosed one of the nation’s deadliest prisons, Corcoran State prison, California. Announcing that this prison system in terms of being inhumane and violent is growing drastically due to the aggressive inmates being incarcerated there. This type of issue should be dealt with immediately. More importantly, Slambrouck states, “Assaults in prisons all over the US, both against fellow inmates and against staff have more than doubled in the past decade (Slambrouck, 1998). Those who are facing maximum punishment will continue to commit crimes while incarcerated, there is no stopping these inmates from doing it. For example, a corrections facility in Philadelphia incarcerated a man who was serving two life sentences and added 3 more to his sentence for being convicted of