Capital Punishment Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Capital Punishment - Term Paper ExampleThe commands of Pojman, which supports capital punishment, were based on three premises from anecdotal evidence. First, the deterrent payoff of an object is increased with the increased degree of fear it can cause to a person. Second, people fear remnant more than any gracious punishment, and third, death penalty is a humane punishment. From these premises, the author concludes that the death penalty is a more effective mechanism to deter people from committing homicide compared to coherent imprisonment (277). The argument presented was potentially sound since it was supported by coherent reasoning. However, while the first premise is logical, the last two premises have a potential counterpoint since not all criminals are fearful of death and generally, capital punishment is inhumane. Nevertheless, the authors conclusion still follows his premises since there is a steep chance that potential criminals will avoid committing first degree cr ime if they are aware that the sentence that awaits them is death compared to long imprisonment. However, it is argued that capital punishment is not an appropriate sentence to major offenders. There is also a strong contention against the principle that the death penalty has a greater disincentive compared to long imprisonment. ... However, it is argued that life as it is, has an intrinsic value. This makes it unjust and immoral to permit the gambling of the lives of murderers. For the anecdotal argument, one of the premises of the proponent states that the death penalty is a humane punishment. This premise is a weak assumption since it is contended that the moral values of society do not perceive death penalty as acceptable. Thus, killing a person is inhumane. Due to the weak premises of the proponent, it cannot be concluded justly that capital punishment, in contrast to long term imprisonment, has a greater deterrence among potential criminals. A study of Donohue and Wolfers on the homicide evaluate in US revealed that there is no statistical evidence to prove that the death penalty has a substantial deterrent effect on homicide commission. The findings of the time series analysis showed that as the death penalty execution rose up from 1920s to 1930s, homicide rates also increased while both of the execution and homicide rates went down from 1940s to 1950s (796). Moreover, Donohue and Wolfers also conducted a comparative study between Canada and US to determine if execution rates can significantly reduce homicide rates. The findings showed that both US and Canada showed similar changes in homicide rates amidst country specific legislations that directly touched their execution rates. For instance, when Canada did not conduct executions in 1962, its homicide rates were still close to the US. In a similar way, when US suspended its death penalty policy in 1972, both the execution and homicide rates of US and Canada rose altogether (799). This study support s the argument that capital punishment does not significantly influence homicide rates,