ethics.acusd.edu/death_penalty.html)Since the 1976 Gregg decision upholding the constitutionality of Georgia's death penalty law, numerous states have reinstated capital punishment in their statutes. The most recent state to enact a death penalty law was New York in 1995. As of January 1998, 38 states and the federal government have capital punishment laws in effect. Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin do not have a death penalty. (http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/)Death penalty advocates argue that the execution of convicted murderers deter others from committing murder for fear that they will also be executed, and also that murderers will be incapacitated: once dead, they will have no opportunity to commit additional murders. Death penalty opponents dispute the deterrent effect of capital punishment, arguing that few murderers rationally weigh the possibility that they might face the death penalty before committing a murder. Finally, death penalty opponents do not dispute that execution incapacitates executed murders, but argue that life imprisonment without possibility of parole is equally incapacitating. (Jacob Sullum, Los Angeles)I do not agree with this statement. I couldnt think of punishment worse than death. If I were a criminal I would fear this as a form of punishment for the crime I will be committing. But it true that criminals do not think about what will happen if they are caught. They think of the act its self.Opponents of the death penalty argue that there is a danger of executing innocent persons, and cite actual cases in which defendants were wrongly convicted of, and sometimes executed for, capital crimes. Death penalty opponents view recent laws which restrict the appeals process. Opponents feel that this increases the potential for executing innocent people. Death penalty proponents argue that there are sufficient saf...
