Capital Punishment vs Life in Prison
Angela Long Long 1
ENGL 1213 Sec. 902
08 Mar 2012
Final Draft A2
An Eye For An Eye
There is an ongoing debate about capital punishment versus life in prison. I am in favor of
capital punishment because it totally removes the possibility of an offender repeating his or her crimes
and possibly saves the lives of others. The main purpose of the death penalty is to protect the right of
other Americans to live. In his book, “The Law”, Frederic Bastiat writes, “Humans have an inalienable
right to exist outside of and before government. These right's are life, liberty, and property. When one
person infringe on another persons rights, he must be punished. To do this, the punishment must be
harsh enough to deter potential criminals.” This punishment is the harshest form, but it is necessary to
maintain order (Bastiat).
Life in prison does not always mean for a persons entire life. There are many states in the U.S.
Where a convict can be released on parole after a decade or more has passed. For example, sentences
of “15 years to life” or “25 years to life” may be given; this is called a “indeterminate life sentence”
while ” life without the possibility of parole” is called a “determinant life sentence” (Lowe).
With the death penalty used for all murderer's you would always be certain the convict would
not kill again. There would be no chance of ever putting another innocent victim in harms way. “If we
execute murderers and there is then in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If
we fail to execute murderers, and in doing so would have in fact deterred other murderers, we have
allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would rather risk the former. This to me is not a
tough call” (McAdams).
It is really appalling to me how many convicted murderers have been released, some after only
a short stay in prison, and went on to murder more innocent unsuspecting people. To
ENGL 1213 Sec. 902
08 Mar 2012
Final Draft A2
An Eye For An Eye
There is an ongoing debate about capital punishment versus life in prison. I am in favor of
capital punishment because it totally removes the possibility of an offender repeating his or her crimes
and possibly saves the lives of others. The main purpose of the death penalty is to protect the right of
other Americans to live. In his book, “The Law”, Frederic Bastiat writes, “Humans have an inalienable
right to exist outside of and before government. These right's are life, liberty, and property. When one
person infringe on another persons rights, he must be punished. To do this, the punishment must be
harsh enough to deter potential criminals.” This punishment is the harshest form, but it is necessary to
maintain order (Bastiat).
Life in prison does not always mean for a persons entire life. There are many states in the U.S.
Where a convict can be released on parole after a decade or more has passed. For example, sentences
of “15 years to life” or “25 years to life” may be given; this is called a “indeterminate life sentence”
while ” life without the possibility of parole” is called a “determinant life sentence” (Lowe).
With the death penalty used for all murderer's you would always be certain the convict would
not kill again. There would be no chance of ever putting another innocent victim in harms way. “If we
execute murderers and there is then in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If
we fail to execute murderers, and in doing so would have in fact deterred other murderers, we have
allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would rather risk the former. This to me is not a
tough call” (McAdams).
It is really appalling to me how many convicted murderers have been released, some after only
a short stay in prison, and went on to murder more innocent unsuspecting people. To