Capital Punishment Is Ineffect

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a deterrent. First, punishment can only be a useful deterrent if it is rational and immediately used. Capital punishment cannot meet those conditions. The number of first degree murderers who are sentenced to death is small, and of this group an even smaller number of people are eventually executed. Moreover, the possibility of increasing the number of convicted murderers sentenced to death and executed by requiring mandatory death sentences was declared unconstitutional in 1976 Jewett 2 (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). Murder and other crimes of violence are not always premeditated. For example; gang violence, drive by shootings and kidnaping for ransom are serious crimes that continue to be committed because the criminal thinks he is too clever to be caught. Most capital crimes are committed during times of great emotional trauma or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, when logical thinking is in no doubt absent (NCADP). In such cases, a person will commit a ...

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one that is far less inhumane, is a policy of life imprisonment without the Jewett 3 possibility of parole (139). It is commonly reported that Americans approve of the death penalty. But, more careful analysis of the attitudes of the public shows that Americans prefer alternatives to capital punishment (Smart). In fact, most Americans would oppose the death penalty if convicted murderers were sentenced to life without parole and required to make some form of financial restitution. In a 1993 nationwide survey 77 percent of the public approved of the death penalty, but the poll dropped to 41 percent if the alternative is no parole plus restitution (Smart). Only a minority of the ...

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