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Christian Turiello
Mrs. Grimaldi
HELA 10
16 February 2012
Should Capital Punishment Be Used?
The law of retaliation is the principle by which a person who has injured another person
is to be penalized to a similar degree (Plaut). Capital punishment, also known as the death
penalty, is a method of carrying out the law of retaliation. If a murderer takes another mans life,
then the death penalty will penalize the murderer to the same degree. The death penalty is an
effective way of charging criminals for murder. This law removes threats to society and provides
closure to mourning families. The capital punishment is a useful tool to decrease crime inside of
a country.
The death penalty is an effective way of dealing with the terrible criminals that roam the
United States prison system. It has been proven that some prisoners feel compelled to attack
other prisoners or innocent prison guards. No executed criminal has ever harmed another human
being.(Hunter) shows that by taking these horrific criminals out of the society, there is a
decrease in the harm of the innocent, like prison guards. The death penalty has also been proven
to be an effective scare tactic. After the death penalty was abolished, murder rates nearly
tripled.(Tucker). This is solid evidence that shows that the death penalty acts as a major
deterrent towards the people who have not committed a crime. Fear prevents them from

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committing the heinous act of murder. Capital punishment is a useful tool that can keep
dangerous criminals from hurting the innocent people of the world. The death penalty can also
emotionally help the victims families.
The death penalty provides closure for the families that suffered through the loss of loved
ones. In May 2015, the courts of Boston, Massachusetts sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death.
Officer Richard Donahue said, The verdict, undoubtedly a difficult decision for the jury gives
me relief and closure as well as the ability to keep moving forward. The quote proves that after
the sentence, Donohue feels better about his loss because he knows the life of the killer will be
taken for the life of the many people killed in the bombings committed by Tsarnaev. The quote
also demonstrates that he now has the ability to move forward, and a big weight has been lifted
off of his shoulders (CNN, 2015). Overall, the death penalty assures that mourning families will
be given the closure that they deserve after these terrible criminals take the family members life.
The death penalty can also be more humane than the cruel conditions that are to come for most
of the criminals sent to jail.
If a court has decided that a person being charged with murder will only get a jail
sentence without the chance of parole, then the criminal will face more cruel conditions than the
death itself. The most hardened criminals will be sent to a jail that includes solitary confinement,
but it is completely decided by the severity of the case. In a diary by a former solitary
confinement member, he says I have served a sentence worse than death, (Solitary Watch)
meaning that he endured worse conditions inside of solitary confinement than death itself. In a
new study, roughly a third of solitary inmates were acutely psychotic and/or acutely
suicidal.(Frontline) The study shows the mental effects on the solitary inmates, and also shows

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that some of the inmates come out in even worse conditions in which they went in. After all, the
effects of long term imprisonment are in some ways worse than the death penalty. Despite this,
some people in the country are still completely against the death penalty.
There are many people in the country who believe that the death penalty is the most
inhumane way of dealing with criminals and that the death penalty kills off innocent people. For
example, whether for mistakes or abusive power, innocent people routinely get sent to death
row (Bushman). This ignorant view doesnt account for the statistics behind the exoneration of
the people on death row. Since 1973, 156 people have been freed from death row. Though that
may look like a flaw in the justice system, it is just shows the advancement of technology and
DNA studies. The system does not execute a man or woman until they have evidence to back up
a crime. There is no greater power and authority to take a life, and our government currently
reserves the authority to kill citizens its supposed to serve.(Hyden) This viewpoint claims that
the government has the ultimate power over its people, but it does not. The people that share this
viewpoint do not see that the government is not committing the murder, the criminal is. The
government does not choose randomly who goes on death row, but it decides based on the
severity of the murder.
Capital punishment is an effective way of keeping the world safe from the dangerous
villains in the world. By keeping these dangerous people out of society, the victims families will
be able to have a sense of closure and relief about their loved ones. Some may think that jail is
the most humane way of having these terrible people held in check, but the solitary confinement
is viewed as worse than death, and it can cause terrible things to happen to their bodies. Another
viewpoint is that the government uses the death penalty for their own interest, but the

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government should not be at blame for the cruel things these felons did to other human beings.
Overall, the death penalty should be a frequently used sentencing in the United States to prevent
future crime.

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Works Cited

CNN. (2015, may 20th).Does death penalty bring closure?

Retrieved from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/20/opinions/marsh-tsarnaevforgiveness/
Frontline. (2014, april 22).What does solitary confinement do to your mind?
Retrieved from Frontline: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-does-solitaryconfinement-do-to-your-mind/
Solitary Watch. (2013, january 23).Voices from the Solitary sentence.
Retrieved from Solitary watch: http://solitarywatch.com/2013/03/11/voices-fromsolitary-a-sentence-worse-than-death/
Plaut (1981), The Torah A Modern Commentary
, New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
Tucker, William. "The Death Penalty Is a Deterrent to Murder." Death Penalty.
Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "Can We Abide the Death Penalty Any Longer?" American Spectator (JulyAug. 2014). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Goldberg, Jonah. "Why Death-Penalty Opponents Can't Win." National Review Online.
2011. Rpt. in Death Penalty. Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press,
2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Hunter, Derek. "The Death Penalty Is an Effective Punishment." Death Penalty.
Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "The Ultimate Punishment." Townhall. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Hyden, Marc. "The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished." Death Penalty.

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Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "The Cost of Capital Punishment: Reconsidering the Death Penalty Is a Matter
of Conscience and Constitutionality." Freeman (12 May 2014). Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Bushman, Brad. "The Death Penalty Is a Flawed Form of Punishment." Death Penalty.
Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "It's Time to Kill the Death Penalty." Psychology Today (19 Jan.
2014). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.