Is the Death Penalty a Cruel Punishment?
When crimes result in death, sometimes court officials turn to the death penalty as a punishment. While many believe that this is a suitable punishment for a murderer, others believe it is cruel and inhumane.
YES
How would you feel if someone you knew was to murder someone? Chances are that would probably leave you mad, but would you really be mad enough to watch them be murdered? What if they were a close friend or even family? Some murderers are sentenced to death as a punishment for their crimes.
Mental or Not Mental?
One problem with the death penalty is that many criminals are criminals due to their childhood traumas or because they are mentally ill. “Approximately half the people in U.S. jails and over one-third of the population of U.S. prisons have been diagnosed with a mental illness,” according to cops.usdoj.gov. Many people who have mental illness struggle to control the things that they do and sometimes don’t even want to be doing what they are doing. If a criminal is mentally ill or was abused as a child, should they really be murdered?
Prison Escape
When some criminals are on the run from cops, they commit suicide to escape the punishment of spending the rest of their lives in prison. According to NPR, “the leading cause of death for prisoners is suicide.” When we allow prisoners to escape the death penalty, they no longer have to worry about spending the rest of their lives in prison, and some prisoners may prefer this outcome over life in prison.
Malfunctioned Torture
Although, the death penalty was designed to quickly murder criminals that’s not exactly what it does. Sometimes the machine may not kill the victim right away and may leave them suffering and or being tortured for longer than what was planned. “Over 120 years, 8,776 people were executed and 276 of those executions (3.15%) went wrong in some way,” according to Austin Sarat, professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College. Some of these people were left suffering instead of having a quick death. Sometimes people are also executed when they do not deserve to be. “Since 1973, at least 190 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated,” according to The Death Penalty Information Center.
- Natalie Anderson
NO
Imagine having a family member or a loved one taken away from you in an instant. The person who murdered your loved one gets caught and arrested and you’re there in court waiting for their sentence. You then hear, “Life in prison”. WHAT?! They took someone’s life that was very important to you, they should have that same fate and get the death penalty, not life in prison! The death penalty is not too harsh for criminals because victims’ families get closure, it discourages crime, and it helps with investigations and negotiations.
Victims’ Families Get Closure
Families that have lost someone to murder would obviously be upset at the murderer so much so that they would want the murderer to get what they deserved and be put to death. “The death penalty also ends a horrific and prolonged period of pain and justice delayed for a victim’s loved ones,” Leslie Rutledge, JD, Arkansas Attorney General, and Tom Cotton, JD, US Senator said. The families of the victims must be worried about whether the murderer has been caught, if they’ve been brought to justice, or if their loved one will ever be avenged. When the murderer gets caught and sentenced to death, it brings a sense of relief to the families, knowing that the criminal will pay for what they’ve done.
Discourages Crime
If you’re a criminal and you’re wondering about what crime to do but hear that certain crimes result in death, then you’re less likely to commit those crimes because you want to live, and that’s just human nature. “Legal executions are logical to scare people from committing horrific crimes,” according to Jensen Skinner on ELawTalk. Not many people think that horrific crimes are worth dying for, and if more people fear the death penalty, then more people are less likely to become a criminal out of fear of the consequence.
Helps with Investigations and Negotiations
Police officers must investigate criminals to find out any unclear information, figure out if they remain a threat, or if the criminal was working with anyone else. The criminal is likely to deny everything asked and to try to say as little as possible because they want something in return for the information given, but with the death penalty criminals are more likely to talk because they don’t want to be killed over some information or another person. “Where the possible sentence is death, the prisoner has the strongest possible incentive to try to get their sentence reduced, and therefore are likely to help with investigations,” according to Netivist. People don't want to be executed because of their loved ones, so they will give the police the information they want. In return, the criminal’s sentence gets reduced and they won’t face the death penalty.
Some may argue that no crime is worth someone’s life. On the other hand, “Only by putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again,” according to Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez of Saint Clara University. Without the risk of criminals arrested for murder returning to society, society can thrive without worrying about the next time someone will lose their life to murder.
- Torrae Holland