DEATH PENALTY

Death Penalty: An Argumentative Essay

Death Penalty: An Argumentative Essay

Thesis Statement

Punishment, in general, and the death penalty in particular, lives in a culture as a set of images, as a marvelous spectacle of condemnation.

Introduction

Most countries have abolished the death penalty. The United States retains the death penalty, although it has attempted to make executions more humane. The Supreme Court has restricted use of the death penalty based on the type of crime and the characteristics of the criminal (Cothern, 2000). Psychologists and other social scientists have conducted research on issues such as whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent, what drives public support for capital punishment, how jurors decide whether to sentence a defendant to life in prison or death by execution, and the possibility of wrongful convictions and executions.

Death penalty: An Argumentative Essay

Whether or not juveniles should be subjected to capital punishment has received more attention of late. In a recent Gallup poll, for example, 60 percent of Americans thought that when a teenager commits a murder and is found guilty by a jury, he (the survey item did not address female teenage killers) should get the death penalty (compared with 80 percent who favored the death penalty for adults). Thirty percent opposed the death penalty for teenagers, and 10 percent had no opinion. Among those who favored the death penalty for adults, 72 percent favored the death penalty for teenage killers. When asked whether juveniles convicted of their first crime should be given the same punishment as adults convicted of their first crime, 50 percent of Americans believed juveniles should be treated the same as adults, 40 percent believed they should be treated less harshly, 9 percent responded that it depends, and 1 percent had no opinion (Cothern, 2000).

When asked whether juveniles convicted of their second or third crimes should be given the same punishment as adults convicted of their second or third crimes, 83 percent of Americans believed juveniles should be treated the same as adults, only 12 percent believed they should be treated less harshly, 4 percent thought it depends, and 1 percent had no opinion. As for how juveniles who commit the same crimes as adults should be treated, 52 percent of Americans believed they should receive the same punishment, 31 percent believed that juveniles should be rehabilitated, 13 percent responded that it depends on the circumstances, 3 percent chose another sanction, and 1 percent had no opinion (Myers and Greene, 2004).

One problem with alternatives to capital punishment is that Americans have little confidence in the rehabilitative programs available to juveniles. Only 25 percent of Americans believe that rehabilitation programs for juveniles are even moderately successful. However, nearly half (48 percent) of the respondents also believed that the rehabilitation programs for juveniles had not been given the necessary money and support to be successful. Among the reasons for not subjecting juveniles to capital punishment are the following:

1. Our society, as represented by legislatures, prosecutors, judges, and juries, has rejected the juvenile death penalty (Myers and ...