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Death Penalty Persuasive Essay

This assignment instructed students to write a persuasive essay which argues for a specific

viewpoint or a specific action to be taken on a societal issue. I argued for a specific stance to betaken on the issue of the death penalty.

The audience for this essay is the opinion section of the Sunday New York Times. This

publication has a wide readership. The largest percentage of readers are between the ages of 35

and 44, and the maority of readers ha!e either a college degree or a graduate degree. Thisessay argues for a "uestion of !alue.

The death penalty is an issue that has the United States quite divided. hile there are many

supporters of it! there is also a large amount of opposition. "urrently! there are thirty#three states

in which the death penalty is legal and seventeen states that have abolished it $%eath PenaltyInformation "enter&. I believe the death penalty should be legal throughout the nation. There

are many reasons as to why I believe the death penalty should be legali'ed in all states! including

deterrence! retribution! and morality( and because opposing arguments do not hold up! I will

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refute the ideas that the death penalty is unconstitutional! irrevocable mistakes are made! and that

there is a disproportionality of race and income level.

The use of capital punishment greatly deters citi'ens from committing crimes such as murder.)any people*s greatest fear is death( therefore if they know that death is a possible consequence

for their actions! they are less likely to perform such actions. +rnest van den Haag! a professor at,ordham University! wrote about the issue of deterrence-

/capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people feardeath more than anything else. They fear most death deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled

by the courts/.Hence! the threat of the death penalty may deter some murderers who otherwise

might not have been deterred. 0nd surely the death penalty is the only penalty that could deterprisoners already serving a life sentence and tempted to kill a guard! or offenders about to be

arrested and facing a life sentence.1 $%eath Penalty "urricula for High School&

van den Haag brings forth the argument that capital punishment is the strongest deterrent society

has against murder! which has been proven in many studies. Since society has the highestinterest in preventing murder! it should use the strongest punishment available to deter

murder/1 $%eath Penalty "urricula for High School&. In a study conducted by Isaac +hrlich in

2345! it was found that for each e6ecution of a criminal seven potential victim*s lives were saved

$%eath Penalty "urricula for High School&. This was due to other possible murderers beingdeterred from committing murder after reali'ing thatother criminals are e6ecuted for their

crimes. +hrlich*s argument was also backed up by studies following his that had similar results.

"apital punishment also acts as a deterrent for recidivism $the rate at which previously convictedcriminals return to committing crimes after being released&( if the criminal is e6ecuted he has no

opportunity to commit crimes again. Some may argue that there is not enough concrete evidence

to use deterrence as an argument for the death penalty. The reason some evidence may be

inconclusive is that the death penalty often takes a while to be carried out( some prisoners sit ondeath row for years before being e6ecuted. This can influence the effectiveness of deterrence

because punishments that are carried out swiftly are better e6amples to others. 0lthough thedeath penalty is already effective at deterring possible criminals! it would be even more effective

if the legal process were carried out more quickly instead of having inmates on death row for

years.

The death penalty also carries out retribution 7ustly. %eserved punishment protects societymorally by restoring this 7ust order! making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he

has done.1 $8ud'is'ewski&. hen someone commits a crime it disturbs the order of society(

these crimes take away lives! peace! and liberties from society. 9iving the death penalty as a

punishment simply restores order to society and adequately punishes the criminal for hiswrongdoing. :etribution also serves 7ustice for murder victims and their families. Some may see

this as revenge! but this retribution is not motivated by malice! rather it is motivated by the need

for 7ustice and the principle of le6 talionis $an eye for an eye1& $9reen&. This lack of malice isproven in the simple definition of retribution- retribution is a state sponsored! rational response

to criminality that is 7ustified given that the state is the victim when a crime occurs1

$;ustifications for "apital Punishment&. The death penalty puts the scales of 7ustice back inbalance after they were unfairly tipped towards the criminal.

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The morality of the death penalty has been hotly debated for many years. Those opposed to the

death penalty say that it is immoral for the government to take the life of a citi'en under any

circumstance. This argument is refuted by Immanuel

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mistakes to be made! this does not mean capital punishment should be abolished. If everything

that had the potential for harmful mistakes were outlawed! society would be e6tremely crippled.

It is true that there is disproportionality when it comes to the races and classes that mostfrequently receive the death penalty. It has been proven that minorities and those with lower

income levels are overrepresented on death row. This is not due to discrimination( this is due tothe higher rate at which these groups commit crime $Pro"on.org&. It has been argued that poverty

breeds criminality( if this is true then it makes sense that those at a lower income level wouldmore frequently be sentenced to e6ecution than those at higher income levels $Pro"on.org&. It

has also been proven that minorities are disproportionately poor! and therefore they would also

be more likely to receive the death penalty. +rnest van den Haag said it best-

Punishments are imposed on persons! not on/economic groups. 9uilt is personal. The only

relevant question is- does the person to be e6ecuted deserve the punishmentD hether or not

others deserved the same punishment! whatever the economic or racial group! have avoided

e6ecution is irrelevant.1 $Pro"on.org&

It does not matter what race or economic status a person is! if he is guilty he must receive the

appropriate punishment! which in some cases may be the death penalty.

"apital punishment can be a difficult topic to approach because people tend to have e6treme

views on it. The death penalty is an asset to society( it deters potential criminals as well as servesretribution to criminals! and is in no way immoral. The arguments against the death penalty often

do not hold up when e6amined more closely. It is important that the nation is united on this issue!

rather than having some states use capital punishment while others do not. The death penalty canbe an e6tremely useful tool in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst

crimes known to society. It is imperative that we begin to pass legislation making capital

punishment legal throughout the United States so that 7ustice can be served properly.