Capital Punishment

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sound reasonable, in reality the death penalty fails as a deterrent. First, punishment can only be a useful deterrent if it is rational and immediately used. 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 (NCADP). Murder and other crimes of violence are not always premeditated. For example gang violence, drive by shootings, and kidnapping for ransom are serious crimes that continue to be committed because the criminal thinks they are too clever to be caught. Most capital crimes are committed in the heat of the moment 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 ...

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one that is far less inhumane, is a policy of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (Glover 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 (Smart). In fact, they 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 American public would favor the ...

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