that the death penalty is an effective deterrent, or more effective than the long-term imprisonment”(450). Van den Haag would agree with Bedau in that deterrence is not the strongest argument in favor of the death penalty, but he believes if even a few people reconsidered committing a crime in fear of the consequence, it is worth it. Van den Haag states, “Execution of those who have committed heinous murders may deter only one murder per year. If it does, it seems quite warranted”(447). Dionne also provides information about the legalization of capital punishment as a way of stopping the continuous rise in crime in the 1960’s. Although he does not support the death penalty Dionne states, “Advocating the death penalty was a loud and forceful way of saying: Enough”(442).Because capital punishment is such a personal issue, changing someones opinion on this issue through a short essay would be very difficult. Dionne, van den Haag, and Bedau all provide significant information to inform the reader of their standpoint on capital punishment, and possibly convince the reader consider some of their arguments as valid. There is much evidence on both sides of the death penalty issue. Along with many other personal public controversies there will always be at least two strongly contradicting opinions. If people took the time to look into the arguments of their opposing side it may help resolve some of the conflict and come up with a solution to this debatable issue....
