The Death Penalty

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in America, unlike all other Western countries, the death penalty represents a national culture, which believes retribution should be based on the practice of "an-eye-for-an-eye". The author believes that arguments of retribution, recidivism, rehabilitation, and lack of evidence should be put aside; instead, the death penalty should be examined as a means of racial discrimination, despite all the claims of America being the land of the justice. The paper argues the worst part is that, once this punishment has been carried out and the 'offender' later is found to be not guilty of the crime, there is simply no proper way to apologize; the person cannot be brought back to life.

From the Paper:

"We can present many cases to prove that death penalty doesn't act as a deterrent and is simply a form of barbarism. There are certainly instances where criminals committed serious offenses and only death appeared to the most befitting punishment. But what if we had given them a chance? What if they had not been executed but given an opportunity to serve the community in a better manner. There is one classic example of forgiveness and the fruits it yielded, which was the case of Leopold and Loeb who were found guilty of cold-blooded murder of a 14-year old. They deserved death penalty by today's criminal justice standards but instead they were given a second chance. In 1920s, their readmission into the society was seen as a gross error but years later, they proved everyone wrong but becoming truly exemplary citizens."

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