he person to be executed deserve the punishment?" (Haag 275) It is irrelevant if people of different economic or racial group avoid the death penalty. If we only killed blacks and not whites, or vice versa that would not make the death penalty unjust. We should punish as many people as possible, regardless if others have escaped punishment. To let people escape the punishment they deserve, does not do justice to them, or our society. "Recent data reveal little direct racial discrimination in the sentencing of those arrested and convicted of murder." (Haag 275) Take the O.J. Simpson case, the majority of the American people believed O.J. to be guilty. Still He was spared the death penalty, and even jail time. O.J. was spared all this because he had millions of dollars, and he was a celebrity. However, people who kill whites are more likely to be executed then people who kill blacks. But blacks usually kill other blacks, so blacks are spared death more than white murderers. Inequality in the distribution of the death penalty is not a reason to abolish the death penalty. Capital punishment is a very good deterrent. Should we not try to save the lives of potential victims by the fear of the death penalty? "Most abolitionists acknowledge that they would continue to favor abolition even if the death penalty were shown to deter more murders than alternatives could deter." (Haag 276) Does that mean that abolitionists care more about the rights of a murderer then they care about the rights of the victims? Yes, abolitionists seem to be more concerned about keeping killers alive in jail instead of giving them the death penalty, rather then saving the lives of potential victims, who might of been deterred away from committing murder by the fear of the death penalty. Yes, the death penalty does not deter all potential murderers, but because of its finality it is feared more than imprisonment. In prison convicts receive three square...
