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Death Penalty

 


             The death penalty deters some people from committing heinous crimes and thereby also saves human lives. Not everyone will be deterred from committing heinous crimes because of the death penalty. However, since the death penalty is the highest penalty for crimes it will obviously evoke the most fear in a human being. This fear will save human life. As legal expert Ernest van den Haag explains:.
             The threat of 50 lashes deters more than the threat of 5: a $1000 fine deters more than a $10 fine; 10 years in prison deters more than 1 year in prison "just as, conversely, the promise of a $1000 reward is greater than the promise of a $10 .
             reward, etc. (1) Most murders happen in the passion of the moment, however, serial killers, burglars, gang members, and others who plan their crime in advance can and do think of the possibilities. Many criminals don't carry weapons while committing crimes, for example, to keep from killing, as Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania recalls:.
             My twelve years' experience in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office convinced .
             me that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. I saw many cases where professional burglars and robbers refused to carry weapons, for fear that a killing would occur and they would be charged with murder in the first degree, carrying the death penalty.(2).
             Because the death penalty is final and more feared than imprisonment, it deters some prospective murderers not deterred by the thought of imprisonment. .
             Abolitionist's main argument is that capitol punishment can't remove the evil from society. No matter what the juridical laws that a country holds, heinous crimes will haunt and spread fear throughout as long as mankind is on this earth. There have been numerous studies that have concluded that the death penalty is not a deterrent. One of which is from the National Academy of Sciences. They concluded: "it seems unthinkable to us to base decisions on the use of the death penalty- on such "fragile- and "uncertain- results.


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