List of the Pros of Capital Punishment

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1. It provides a deterrent against violent crime within a society.
The goal of a law is to provide someone with a deterrent against a crime they wish to commit. As a society, violent crime is something to be avoided at all costs. To make that happen, the strongest deterrent is required. That is why capital punishment often applies to cases of first-degree murder or issues where the safety of an entire country was jeopardized. By telling people they’ll die, if convicted, for these serious crimes, the goal is to prevent the crime from happening in the first place.

 

2. It still provides a respectful outcome to a convicted individual.
The modern death penalty in the United States as evolved into a process that is intended to be painless and effective. Lethal injections of medication cause a person to stop breathing and their heart to stop beating. Although shortages of drugs from manufacturers have created issues with executions in recent years, including people surviving the execution attempt, the process is much more compassionate than electrocution, firing squads, or hanging, which were common execution methods in the past.

 

3. It allows for a deserved punishment for horrific crimes.
There is a point in time when someone who commits a horrific crime is beyond the point where rehabilitation is possible. Not only does capital punishment create a deserved punishment that I equal to the crime committed, it provides a safety net for the rest of the society. A sentence of death prevents that person from committing another horrific crime. It also reduces the influence that person would have on prison populations, which may influence behaviors and choices of non-violent offenders upon their release.

 

4. It prevents prisons from becoming over-populated.
In the United States, there are more than 2.3 million people being held in state and federal prisons, local jails, Indian Country jails, juvenile correctional facilities, immigration detention centers, military prisons, and civil commitment centers. About 443,000 people have not been convicted of anything and are awaiting trial. Another 41,000 are in detention in immigration centers without conviction. On the other hand, 704,000 prisoners are labeled as violent offenders in state prisons. Capital punishment laws create space for potential rehabilitation without dealing with issues of prison over-population.

 

5. It eliminates sympathy for the criminal.
Criminal justice should involve addressing the facts of the situation. Far too often, there is an emotional response to people charged with a capital crime, with sympathy being directed toward the individual or the family of the accused person. When someone is facing a trial, or the consequences of their actions, then the law should be able to address the actions in a way that discourages others from doing the same thing.

 

6. It offers zero chance of escape.
When the death penalty is being implemented, there is no chance for the individual to escape the consequences of their actions. It eliminates the possibility of an illegal escape. Even if an individual manages to survive their execution attempt, the law allows for another attempt to be made. As John McAdams, a suspended associate professor of political science at Marquette University at the time of writing, describes the situation, “If we execute murders and there is no deterrent effect, then we have killed murders. If we fail to execute murderers, which would have deterred others from committing such a crime, then we would have allowed the killing of innocent victims.”