Capital Punishment: Is It Required

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the United States
Constitution as "...cruel and unusual punishment." In this country, although
laws governing the application of the death penalty have undergone many changes
since biblical times, the punishment endures, and controversy has never been
greater.
Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of
deterrence. The prevailing thought is that imposition of the death penalty will
act to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies
have been created attempting to prove this belief; however, "All the evidence
taken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters more
than long prison terms do."(Cavanagh 4) Going ever farther, Bryan Stevenson,
the executive director of the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiative, has
stated that "people are increasingly realizing that the more we resort to
killing as a legitimate response to our frustration and anger with violence, the
more violent our society ...

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had been executed.

The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death -- something
which is rather permanent for humans, due to the concept of mortality. This
creates a major problem when "there continue to be many instances of innocent
people being sentenced to death."(Tabak 38) In the United States legal system,
there exist numerous ways in which justice might be poorly served for a
recipient of the death sentence. Foremost is in the handling of his own defense
counsel. In the event that a defendant is without counsel, a lawyer will be
provided. "Attorney's appointed to represent indigent capital defendants
frequently lack the qualities necessary to provide a ...

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