Social Impact Of Capital Punishment
When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, one is bombarded with news of arrests, murders, homicides, serial killers, and other such tragedies. It is a rare occasion to go throughout a day in this world and not hear of these things. So, what should be done about this crime rate? Not only is it committing a crime, but today, it is signing your life over to the government. This is a risk one is taking when he decides to pull a trigger or plunge a knife, but is it really up to our justice system to decide one's fate? There are many issues that address this question of capital punishment such as religion, the effect on society, restitution being denied, the possible wrongly accused and the rights of the convicted. But how often do these concepts creep into the public's mind when it hears of our "fair, trusty" government taking away someone's breathing rights?
Many people for and against the death penalty are under the proposed belief that capital punishment is a deterrent for crime. No study can offer a clear explanation of this theory. Almost a dozen states do not offer a death penalty and a dozen more that have them have not executed the death penalty in over fifty years. Are there first and second-degree murder rates head and shoulders above the other states? Of course not, some of these states include large metropolis such as Minnesota's twin cites. Detroit has a high crime rate (in actual number not on a per capita basis) in Michigan, which doesn't offer a death penalty, but Birmingham has one of the highest crime rates per capita in the nation. What has Alabama's electric chair not done in Birmingham that life in prison has done in St. Paul? Deter crime, particularly murder. Studies have shown that all evidence illustrated that long prison term punish is just as effectively as capital sentences.
The Bible states; "Thou shalt not kill" and this being a sin should have...
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