Death Penalty Is Wrong

For most crimes committed in the United States a fine, sentence of time in jail or execution is the punishment. The death penalty is the punishment used in 38 states, and many other countries, as a way of disposing the people in society who are mentally or emotionally disturbed, love their families very much, have a bad temper, or just plain made a mistake. These reasons account for many homicides that take place each year. Capitol punishment is just not humane and should not be legal.

The argument most often used to support the death penalty is the necessity of having a particularly effective prevention against murders and other common crimes. However, none of the many studies about the matter have been able to show that death penalty is more of prevention than other punishments. It is completely wrong to think that most of those who commit serious crimes such as murders consider the consequences of their actions. Murders are often committed when the criminal is blinded with passion, when emotions prevail over reason. They are sometimes committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or in panic moments, when the offender is discovered while he steals. Some murderers have very serious psychiatric problems or are mental patients. In none of these cases it is possible that the fear to be sentenced to death could act as an effective prevention.

There is another heavy limit. One who plans a crime rationally can choose to go on; although he knows the risk, he is running, thinking that he will not be discovered. Most of the criminologists claim that the best way to discourage murderers is not increasing the harshness of punishment, but increasing the possibility of discovering the crime and condemning the offender. This will take care of the truly deserving people, who know and understand what they are doing.

Sometimes the death penalty has opposite effects to the ones wanted. Those who know they risk to be sentenced to death can be encouraged to kill the witnesses of their crime or anyone who could be able to identify and incriminate them. To prevent their own death, they would kill again, and eventually get away with the preliminary murder.

Thus, the death penalty is not an effective way to deter crime. The only ways to deter crime is to prevent it from happening, rather than enforce harsh punishment to scare off potential crimes. Studies show that there is no relation between crime rates