Should Death Penalty Be Legal?

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Capital punishment results in death by execution. Capital punishment is legalized in 31 states and abolished in 19 states (Death Penalty Information Center). I believe the death penalty should be legal in all 50 of the United states in the form of first degree murder. First degree murder is In order for someone to be found guilty of first degree murder the government must prove that the person killed another person; the person killed the other person with malice aforethought; and the killing was premeditated.To kill with malice aforethought means to kill either deliberately and intentionally or recklessly with extreme disregard for human life (lectlaw.com). There are many reasons as to why I believe the death penalty should be legal in all …show more content…
The argument has been proven that it is proven to be moral to use the death penalty as a punishment for taking someone else’s life. This was proven by Immanuel Kant who put forth the idea that, “a society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral” (ProCon.org). When it comes to justice there is a concept called proportionality which basically says the punishment should fit the crime. In other words if you take a life you should expect to have your life be taken too. It is worth it to take into consideration that without this concept death would be an appropriate punishment for all who use force for whatever crime they are committing. A lack of justice being properly served would also encourage the citizens to take justice into their own hands since the state will not do anything to properly punish the criminal. It is immoral to not properly punish a person who has committed such a horrendous crime. “The criminal is also executed humanely; in no way is he subjected to torture or any form of cruelty. All states that use the death penalty use lethal injection; the days of subjecting a prisoner to hanging or the electric chair are long gone in the US. Inmates are first given a large dose of an anesthetic so they do not feel any pain (Bosner).” The above statement made by Bosner proves the death penalty is moral and …show more content…
This has not happened since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Steven D. Stewart refutes this argument: “…No system of justice can produce results which are 100% certain all the time. Mistakes will be made in any system which relies upon human testimony for proof. We should be vigilant to uncover and avoid such mistakes. Our system of justice rightfully demands a higher standard for death penalty cases. However, the risk of making a mistake with the extraordinary due process applied in death penalty cases is very small, and there is no credible evidence to show that any innocent persons have been executed at least since the death penalty was reactivated in 1976…The inevitability of a mistake should not serve as grounds to eliminate the death penalty any more than the risk of having a fatal wreck should make automobiles illegal…” Even though some people overestimate this fact of innocent citizens being executed, there is room for small mistakes but that does not mean the death penalty should be abolished due to

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