Capital Punishment2Capital Punishment: Logical and Moral ArgumentsA prisoner is restrained to a table, with men standing around him and others looking infrom the next room. A man injects the prisoner with Sodium thiopental, rendering the prisoner unconscious, then with Pancuronium which paralyses him. His muscles stop moving, and hislungs stop pumping air into his body, causing him to suffocate. Finally, he is injected withPotassium chloride, which stops his heart from beating. The man dies
.This is a method of Capital Punishment, usually reserved for brutal serial killers, rapists, and similar criminals. But isthis form of punishment acceptable to employ in today’s criminal justice system, and does itdeter crime? Do we, as a society, have a right to determine who lives and who dies for the crimesthey commit?From a critical thinking standpoint, there are many pros and cons concerning the death penalty. Obviously, if certain criminals are incapable of reformation and replacement intosociety, then we should not do so. The cost of housing a criminal in a typical maximum securitycell for 40 years is about $680,000, yet an execution costs the state and taxpayers roughly $3.18million.
(The Geography of Execution... The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America, Keith Harries and Derral Cheatwood 1997 p.6)
Imagine the costs of keeping a prisoner on Death Rowfor decades, then putting him to death. Although these figures are high, some believe the death penalty is crucial in our criminal justice system in order to deter violent and serious crime fromhappening. According to various studies, murder rates are relatively unaffected by the death penalty, with advocates arguing that most murders are unplanned and crimes of passion. On theother side of the argument, Ernest van den Haag, a professor at Fordham University, said, “Whatis feared most deters most.” (Stephen E. Schonebaum. "Introduction."
At Issue: Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?
Ed. Stephen E. Schonebaum. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002)
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Lethal injection—Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_injection
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