Notes

English Research:Arguments For And Against The Death Penalty!

Arguments For:
1:If someone murders someone else, they have given up their human rights, including the one to stay alive themselves.
2:The punishment should 'fit the crime' - if you have killed someone, you should be killed too.
3:Giving a killer the death sentence will stop them - and others - doing it again.
4:The very small chance of executing the wrong person is balanced by the benefits to society of putting off other murderers.
5:The death penalty guarantees that those executed will not commit any further crimes.
6:The death penalty deters crime.
7:The death penalty is less expensive than life imprisonment.
8:The death penalty is less cruel than life imprisonment, in light of
the brutality of some countries' prison systems.
9:The death penalty satisfies the desire for vengeance.
10:The death penalty gives prosecutors extra leverage in gaining cooperation from recalcitrant defendants and co-conspirators.

Arguments Against:
1: The death penalty is absurd and cruel. The ridiculous spectacle of putting a man or woman to death just days after saving his life, is a perfect illustration of that.
2: The death penalty is degrading. It turns states into prescription drug abusers, killing prisoners with drugs like sodium thiopental that manufacturers are on record as stating should only be used to healing purposes.
3:High profile cases, often with racial undertones, create political pressures that can lead to police and prosecutor misconduct. Reggie Clemons was convicted as an accomplice in the murder of two white women in St. Louis. Four federal judges have agreed that the prosecutor’s conduct was “abusive and boorish,” and Clemons alleges police brutality during his questioning. Witnesses attest to Clemons’ face being swollen after his interrogation.
4:It is not limited to the “worst of the worst”. A recent example: the execution of Teresa Lewis in Virginia on September 23; she was put to death as the “mastermind” of a crime despite her 72 IQ, and despite the fact that the men who actually carried out the crime did not get the death penalty.
5: The death penalty is not limited to cases where there is no doubt about guilt. Convicted by flimsy witness testimony, and unable to exonerate himself with those same witnesses, Troy Davis remains on death row despite serious doubts about his guilt. His birthday is on October 9.
6:The times are changing. In Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland granted clemency in the case of Kevin Keith, despite his belief that Keith was probably guilty, because some doubt remained.
7: In Texas, a hearing on whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed will take place October 6-7. Skepticism about the application of the death penalty continues to build in the Lone Star State.
8: Death sentences continue to drop. Last year barely over 100 were sentenced to death , compared to an average of close to 300 in the 1990s.
9:One-by-one, states are abandoning capital punishment, particularly in odd numbered years. (New Jersey in 2007, New Mexico in 2009). In the coming year (2011), many more states will have serious debates and possibly votes on abolition.
10:There is so much that can be done for World Day Against the Death Penalty, from taking action on specific cases, to joining your local state-based coalition’s efforts to abolish the death penalty.