Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment is a Deterrent
Kelly Adamson
Axia College of University of Phoenix
Capital Punishment is a Deterrent
Capital punishment is the punishment of death for those who violate certain criminal laws. The death penalty is a sentence handed down to the most atrocious criminals in today’s society. People have been put to death for committing a variety of crimes throughout history. These methods of execution have included crucifixion, drowning, beating, burning, quartering, stoning, decapitation, hanging, shooting, electrocution, gas chambers, and the most commonly used method, lethal injection (Lyons, 2003). Although some view the death penalty as inhumane and cruel, the death penalty is a deterrent that makes an example of the executed and protects society.
The death penalty is used as a form of punishment when rehabilitation fails and is used for deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution. Gaines and Miller (2006) define deterrence as the strategy of preventing crime through the threat of punishment. Deterrence is the philosophy that punishments should be severe so potential criminals will compare the punishment to the benefit of the crime. The death penalty is a strategy used for general deterrence. Executing a convicted criminal sends a message to society that the particular crime and similar crimes will not be tolerated and death could be the end result.
There have been several arguments and studies on whether or not capital punishment has a deterrent effect. Shepherd (2007) states there have been 13 modern economic studies on the deterrent effect of the death penalty. All find that executions significantly deter murders. Eddlem (2002) states “men should be punished for their own crimes and not merely to deter others.” The death penalty undoubtedly does deter crime in some cases, for instance, those executed will no longer be around to commit more crimes. Capital punishment does deter crime because the deceased cannot...
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