Capital Punishment

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by death were religious crimes such as heresy, sacrilege, and atheism. The American colonies punished crimes like witchcraft, murder, and rape with the death penalty. The debates over did not really begin until the Enlightenment of the 1700�s (Winters 17.) During this period, people starting pushing for the restriction of the death penalty for many crimes. Through controversy and debate the death penalty has remained a tool of the criminal justice system and is still argued today.
The case of Paula Cooper and thousands more like it are heard in courts every year (Guernsey 12.) Offenders such as these deserve the death penalty. The death penalty is an effective and fair means of punishment for four reasons: It is an effective deterrent, it is morally and legally just, and the chance of wrongful death is virtually zero.
The most obvious and convincing advantage of for murderers is its deterrence factor(McCuen 54.) Opponents of the death penalty would like everyone to ...

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was found that fourteen defendants said the possibility of the death penalty was what kept them from taking a human life (Cassell, 66). The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the argument that is a deterrent to murder and its proper enforcement could save many innocent lives every year.
The death penalty is morally and legally just and serves as a potent reminder to the value and sacredness of human life by imposing the harshest penalty possible for destroying it. abolitionists adamantly claim that the sacredness of life is the very reason that the death penalty is morally wrong. They claim that it is unjust to take a life from ...

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