Main Body Essay Example

Introduction

Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the reasons behind people’s opinions regarding the death penalty. A relatively few individuals have a significant preference towards utilizing capital punishment. Other groups of people do support it to some extent and still others do not appreciate using the death penalty in any situation (Waller, 2011).
Studies have even considered personal characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation and religion with relationship to an individual’s feelings about the death penalty. It was established that white people do have a greater inclination to be in favor of using the death penalty than do black people (Arthur, 1998). These studies have also suggested that the greater degree of advocacy for death penalty among whites may be because of their prejudices against other races, including blacks.
This essay will identify the reasons behind the varying degrees of support for utilizing ethical capital punishment, as well as describe the major arguments regarding why the death penalty should or should not be supported.

Nowadays the majority of individuals understand that retribution is an adequate reply to fierce crimes. Retribution is sometimes called “just deserts” in the texts, and according to the findings of , it is a difficult punishment ideology. This ideology declares that criminals must be penalized and the penalization must address the injury due to the criminal activity. It is the notion that if an individual murders a person then he or she has to sacrifice life. Therefore, this ideology reveals that the death penalty is considered for an individual that commits a murder. Retribution appeared as the most significant sentence ideology and it advocates capital punishment on the basis of emotions; . For most of the individuals, retribution is composed of the concept of payback for the family of the victim and society in general, that punishing anyone for death releases the irritation and injury carried out by the performance of fierceness.
This is an eye for an eye style of justice. It becomes a question of whether it is morally right to kill someone as a punishment to say that it was wrong for them to have killed someone in the first place. Is that hypocritical?
Furthermore, it is a question of serving vengeance or justice. The prosecution on behalf of the state, has a responsibility to see that justice is carried out. This a very different thing than satisfying vengeance. Revenge is emotionally motivated. The judicial system is designed to be impartial, not motivated by thoughts of revenge, however personally righteous the idea of revenge may feel in response to a homicide. The judge and/or jury are to consider only the facts of a case on trial and to dismiss their personal ideals and feelings entirely. Of course, this is difficult to do even in the best of situations, and becomes nearly impossible in practice, especially in those cases wherein the life of another human being literally hangs in the balance of the decision.
Again, returning to the question at hand, is it ever morally acceptable to order the execution of another individual? If so, when? Under what circumstances and conditions, and who decides? Richard Kyte suggests using four criteria: truth, consequences, fairness and character. Truth. Is the situation completely understood by those making the decision, and are all the details being disclosed completely and correctly? Consequences. What are the positive and negative effects that the decision will have on the people surrounding the decision? Fair. Is there an equal and respectful treatment of everyone involved? And finally, character. Try to assess the motivation of the people who are involved in the determination. This last factor brings us around full circle again to the question of justice versus vengeance.
The death sentence is a hot bed issue. Many American s are uncomfortable with the very question of the ethics debate surrounding it. There is the cost factor to consider, too. What is more wrong, executing a prisoner or letting the state pay for a lifetime of incarceration? The cost of a trial is significantly more expensive for a capital sentence, along with lengthy appeals.
Incarceration is another option that requires adequate reasons for an individual that commits a murder against death penalty . This ideology influences criminals to circumvent committing anticipated criminal actions. Furthermore, most of the individuals have a belief that custody of life, even with an opportunity of bail, does not really reflect life. Few individuals declared that on any day a malicious murderer condemned to life is expected to issue over to target upon blameless populations. The supporters of the capital punishment under this ideology believe that fierce criminals will not harm general public in the future.

Conclusion

The death penalty is the debated subject. Multiple studies investigated the behaviors of individuals towards capital punishment. This essay explored that gender, age, political relationship, and personal characteristics were the significant factors that supported the death penalty. Similarly, different ideologies including rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation on death penalty as well appeared regular logic for varying perceptions of the capital punishment.

REFERENCES

Arthur, J. A. (1998). Racial attitudes and opinions about capital punishment: Preliminary findings. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 131-144.
Bohm, R. M. (1992). Retribution and capital punishment: Toward a better understanding of death penalty opinion. Journal of Criminal Justice, 227-236.
Kyte, Richard. (Aug. 29, 2010). The Ethical Life: Why Capital Punishment is Unethical. Retrieved from http://lacrossetribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/the-ethical-life-why-capital-punishment-is-unethical/article_7e2f9d94-b24b-11df-8e90-(001cc4c002e0.html March 13, 2015
Ellsworth, P. C., & Gross, S. R. (1994). Hardening of the attitudes: Americans views on the death penalty. Journal of Social Issues, 19-52.
Waller, B. (2011). Consider Ethics: Theory, Readings, and Contemporary Issues. New York: Pearson Longman.