Amnesty International

despite comprising only about twenty-five percent of the U.S. population. The majority of people waiting on death row are minority groups (“Race and the Death Penalty”). After World War II ended, the United States became the leaders in drafting an “international bill of rights” (“Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”). This bill recognized that all people have certain inherent rights that cannot be taken away. This human rights document, the “Universal Declaration of Human…

Justice and death seemingly go hand and hand in our justice system. When a person commits a horrible enough crime they are meet with capital punishment, other wise known as the death penalty. People who commit such crimes are portrayed as evil, soulless beings that hold no remorse for human life whatsoever. This description can be applied to most violent offenders, but what some people fail to realize that the offenders aren’t wicked monsters conjured from god knows where; they’re humans. Their…

Sandra López Profesor Luvio CJ V01 7 November 2017 The Ultimate Punishment Although many people support capital punishment, I am a firm believer that nobody is entitled to take another person's life. Capital punishment has been dated back to the 18th century BC. The death penalty was also used in the 14th and seventh Century BC. In these centuries it was very easy to get punished with death. Death was the punishment for all crimes, including marrying a Jew, treason, or not confessing to a crime…

Legalization of the Death Penalty The death penalty is only legal in some states, and there is much debate over whether or not sentencing criminals to death makes our communities safer. For those against the death penalty, it is understood that executing murderers does not stop other murderers, or make killings more likely. However, on the other side of the argument, those for the death penalty believe that the more severe the penalty, the more criminals will be deterred from committing the…

Stephen Nathanson’s argument in “An Eye for an Eye?” stresses the need to do away with the ultimate form of punishment; the death penalty. Nathanson compares the ancient principle of equal retaliation to the current idea of capital punishment. He provides moral arguments for preserving the sanctity of human life as he points out the flaws with murdering killers. The views of other scholars of philosophy are cited by Nathanson and then analyzed for their invalid points. Nathanson first describes…

In cultures around the world, people are acting, protecting, and making decisions in the name of “honour.” Broadly, honour is high respect, regard, or esteem. However, the value and meaning of honour varies by culture and even by individual. Gabriel García Márquez wrote Chronicle of a Death Foretold to reflect the actions and responses of Colombian society to the event of murder. Describing the murder of Santiago Nasar, Chronicle of a Death Foretold depicts the significance of honour in…

The Death Penalty When thinking about justice, one might believe that if someone commits a crime, they should be held accountable. However, is the death penalty the right way to achieve this? I believe that the use of the death penalty should be discontinued, and from the lessons taught about this topic in class, my view has solidified. What the justice system is doing is morally wrong, as it is simply murder ordered by a government. It also goes against God’s teachings as He is the only one…

In Stephen Nathanson’s book, An Eye for an Eye, he argues against capital punishment by discussing the problems of the most common argument for the death penalty: the Equal Punishment Principle. He also discusses the problems with sub-category theories of the Equal Punishment Principle: quality/proportional retributivism, and ends by offering the reader what abolishing the death penalty would grant to society. Nathanson believes the Equal Punishment Principle if fallible, because it is difficult…

The illusion of death row inmates fitting a cookie cutter description is not true. Inmates on death row come from various socio-economic backgrounds and careers. Not all death row inmates are guilty. In 2004, the state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham for allegedly setting his home on fire, killing his three daughters. However, it was the work of the Innocence Project (Garland, September, 13, 2010) proving the forensic and informant attested in court was invalid and just not true; hence…

Ruben Cantu. One of the many people sentenced to death after the wrongful conviction of murder. He was 17 at the time of his conviction and was executed in 1993 at 26 years old. About 12 years after his death, investigations show that he likely didn’t commit the murder. The one eyewitness withdrew his testimony, and Cantu’s co-defendant later admitted he allowed his friend to be falsely accused. He says Cantu wasn’t even there the night of the murder. After reading through more stories similar…