BELIEFS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Essay, Research Paper

The demands of our condemnable justness system today, force society to pattern the usage of capital penalty. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court declared the decease punishment? cruel and unusual penalty, ? but this determination was reversed in 1978. The citizens of the United States have the right to implement or censor the jurisprudence of capital penalty on a province degree. Since so, the penalties or scheduled penalties have increased at a steady rate. Religious beliefs among the people can act upon and find the righteousness of this act of penalty. Different signifiers of faiths will keep their ain places on this issue. Therefore, people may hold to make up one’s mind if this signifier of penalty is humanist or inhumane based on their spiritual beliefs. The Catholic church has stated their place on the usage of capital penalty. The Catholic church believes that all human life is sacred and that we as Catholics are obligated to protect all signifiers of human life. Therefore the usage or pattern of the decease punishment is opposed by Catholics. The Catholic church believes that life is a gift from God. God is our Godhead and merely he has the right to give or take away a life. Man should non hold the power to take another adult male? s life in any state of affairs. The Catholic church does non believe that capital penalty is the solution to or bring around for a violent offense or slaying. Capital penalty fails to make a society free from offense because of the fact that we are perpetrating a slaying upon the culprit. The decease punishment penalty does non learn or put a good illustration to our society. The decease punishment is enforced to learn that every life should be valued and respected. Consequently, it is non right to learn society that killing is incorrect by killing. The Catholic church suggests that alternatively of the decease punishment, a life sentence without word should be given to the accused.

The Catholic church argues that the decease punishment is a signifier of retaliation. Peoples feel the demand, or have the desire to take retaliation upon the lawbreaker. As stated in the Catholic Bishops? Statement on Capital Punishment, ? people lawfully desire justness ; nevertheless, justness can non be achieved through vengeance. ? The familiar adage, ? an oculus for an oculus, a tooth for a tooth? ( Lev. 24:20 ) , is non intended to advance retaliation, but is to be interpreted as a guideline for society. Revenge creates more force in our society and is non justifiable when one kills the accused as a penalty. The Old Testament of the Bible lists several cases in which the decease punishment was one time used and accepted in the times of ancient Israel. The Old Testament states that the decease punishment was frequently used in penalty for several offenses. In the case of slaying, Genesis 9:6 provinces, ? Whoso sheddeth adult male? s blood, by adult male shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. ? The decease punishment was used for those who committed criminal conversation and in the cases a sexual activity before matrimony. Crimes such as snatch, careless handling of an animate being, profaning the Sabbath, bearing false witness, and for cussing or mistreating your parents were considered capital penalty offenses. When a individual committed a offense such as these, they would look before a tribunal for their opportunity of to support themselves and so sentenced consequently. The decease punishment would so dwell of lapidating the accused or firing them alive. Obviously, as times change, certain Acts of the Apostless of penalty are left behind, yet new signifiers are accepted incorporating the same purposes. The New Testament of the Bible does non clearly mention it? s belief on the issue of capital penalty. ? He that is without wickedness among you, allow him be the first to project a rock at her, ? was stated in John 8:3-8:11 in an effort to supply Jesus? place on the issue of capital penalty. This quotation mark can non be wholly enforced because it was non a portion of the early Gospels of John. In Romans 13:1-5, Paul writes, ? The governments that exist have been established by God. For he is God? s retainer to make you good? ? and? ? to convey penalty on the wrongdoer. ? Again, the feeling here may advance Catholics to believe that the Bible is for capital penalty, yet at the same clip one can still reason that nowhere does the New Testament really province that governments should be authorized to condemn another to decease. The Islamic positions on capital penalty differ from those of the Catholic church. The Islamic faith holds a strong place against capital penalty. Their belief is stated in their sacred authorship, the Quran. In the Islam faith, the Quran non merely states the beliefs, but the solutions to committed offenses excessively. In the Islamic tradition, felons will non be sentenced to gaol for perpetrating a offense. If a stealer is convicted for stealing from another individual, their penalty will be to work for that individual until they can return the sum they stole. Islamic belief provinces that the household of the stealer will besides endure if the convicted is sent to gaol. The Islamic faith believes that a sentence into prison is? cruel and unusual punishment. ? By non directing the accused to prison, money is saved on the pri

son system.An often misunderstanding of the Islamic belief is that a thief?s hand will be cut off as his form of punishment. This is not a true statement about Islamic belief. Rather than cutting off the hand, numbers are marked on the thief?s hand so he will be recognized as a thief. In Islam, the victim decides what the punishment will be for the offender. Capital punishment is not practiced in the Islamic religion. Islamic belief states that killing the murderer will not bring back the victim and the victim?s family will not benefit if the perpetrator is executed.In order gain a greater understanding of capital punishment, I interviewed my mom and my dad because they each hold different positions on the matter. My dad feels capital punishment should be legal, while my mom thinks that it should not. Although I agree with my mom, I respect both of their views because they both have good reason to their positions. My dad believes that the punishment of the death penalty should remain legal. He feels that it prevents more serious crimes from taking place. He also brought up the point that for some people life in prison is better lifestyle than what they might already be living. He concluded with the fact that it is also a waste of taxpayer?s money to life-sentence those criminals who should receive the death penalty. My mom on the other hand, believes two wrongs don?t make a right. She feels that we are not helping society when we use killing to punish someone who killed someone else. My mom thinks that it is the perpetrator?s family who will suffer more in the long run, than the actual accused. My mom feels that no one except God should have the right to take away another person?s life. She believes that when a person commits a serious violent crime, rather than sentencing them to death, they should be sentenced to life in jail without any possible chance of parole.In my opinion, I believe that the death penalty punishment should be abolished. Whether a person is good or bad, their life is still a gift from God, and no person has the right to take that gift away. God is the only one who can judge people, and it is wrong to put the price of someone else?s life in another person?s hands. The law of the government and the law through God states that killing is wrong and illegal. This should be respected in all cases including that of a murderer himself. How are we teaching society a lesson if we kill someone for killing someone else? Another issue one must look at is the fact that not everyone has a fair chance to defend themselves against the death penalty. For instance, let?s say that a poor person commits the same crime as a rich person has and are both faced with the death penalty punishment. The rich person has a likelier chance of receiving a lighter sentence because he can provide for himself a more suitable lawyer than that of the poor man. With the representation of an averaged or below averaged lawyer, the poor person will probably receive the death penalty. This is discriminatory towards the poor and is unjustifiable. Some people may argue that sentencing those who commit violent crimes to prison cost more than execution. So far in 1998, fifty-eight people have been executed in the United States. Placing an extra fifty-eight people in jail is not going to cause our economy to go broke. By enforcing the death penalty among the accused, we are really causing more pain for innocent people. When one is sentenced to death, their families will be the ones who are left to suffer. Their families will have to go through the same grieving as the victim?s family. How is this fair? The accused family did not commit a crime, yet they will be the ones feeling the punishment. The death penalty is an easy way out for those who are convicted. I think that there is more suffering behind a lifetime imprisonment without the chance of parole than the death penalty. The death penalty is a quick method of escape and little suffering is involved except for the arrival of your execution day. The entire process of capital punishment is ?cruel and unusual punishment.? Once the accused is sentenced to death, they are not executed right away. Sometimes they are forced to wait for years to be executed. Regardless of their criminal act, it is inhumane to purposely make a person wait for their execution. Some people will argue that a every person needs their time to find peace and reconcile with God. This makes absolutely no sense to me. First of all, if we are giving the convicted the time to find God?s forgiveness, then we are saying that what they did is forgivable. If God forgives them, then we end up killing and innocent person. Secondly, how long does it take to gain peace and forgiveness from God? How can man set a given time for this? Man has no way of knowing how long this process takes. Thirdly, often times there is a chance for the accused to have their sentenced overturned. I think that it is wrong to juggle around the decision of one?s life. Despite the fact that we are dealing with criminals, they too are still human and deserve some respect. I think it is wrong to give them the hopes of living only to later have those same hopes taken away.