Convicts Specific Deterrence

The death penalty today is perceived by many as an inhumane way of receiving punishment. A critic will not only argue the simple fact that the death penalty is a violation of one’s constitutional rights and only targeted for a particular social group, but also intended to affect innocent people. The death penalty doesn’t have to be the way it’s perceived to be today, for if it is dealt with accordingly, the benefits will outweigh the negative and would help the United States in the foreseeing future. That being said, instead of worrying about the damage the death penalty may cause, one should take into consideration the reasoning behind maintaining and implementing new procedures that would further enforce the penalty nationwide. Convicts …show more content…
Just because capital punishment may not deter a few individuals from ending up in death row, it does not mean that specific deterrence is not taken into consideration. It does not matter whether a person is mentally ill or depressed behind bars, the last thing a person wants is to die for a crime that have committed in which they will later regret. One does not commit capital punishment because they want to, but because they are caught in the heat of the moment (Reams and Putnam, 2011). In other words, a murderer, to some extent, feels remorse with regard to killing a person. For some, however, they will feel remorse immediately, whereas to others, they will feel regretful at a later time. Despite the notion that habitual criminals only commit crimes because they are caught in the heat of the moment , the truth is, the death penalty plays a role in whether or not one has the ability to go above and beyond to commit premeditated murder. Thanks to the death penalty, more criminals are reconsidering their ability to kill innocent people execution style while they are committing robberies, for example, in places like banks and department stores with fear they will receive the death penalty in the foreseeing future (Gerber, 2014). Not knowing what the death penalty consist of with regards to the sentencing would inflict less fear than if they face the consequences. In this case, many habitual criminals …show more content…
Convicting habitual criminals who are receiving capital punishment is one thing, for they have no control of what the outcome will be once the crime has been commited. When it comes to exposing their sentencing to the general public, however, is a different story. When a person is exposed to the general public, the mind of a person begins to change. In this case, emebarrassment and shame has a tendency to deter a person from committing crimes like capital murder or premediated murder by the direct and indirect emotions of others, for being exposed to the general public’s emotions has the tendency to deter them from being part of an act more rapidly than any law that’s implemented (Brown and Eshensen, 2012). When one encounters dencial in the form of facial reactions, the perpetrator has the ability to take the situation more seriously since they are encountering the circumstance first hand. In other words, being told that they will face the death penalty is one thing, but if they are encountering the death penalty has a tedency to put a burden in a non-criminal’s mind. Unfortunately, for some criminals, by the time they notice their flaw, it is too