Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Capital Punishment
Samuel Hall
October 17, 2016
Weber State University
Professor. Lee
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Why Capital Punishment Is No Punishment At All is a study that delves into the
ever so popular topic among the criminal justice community, capital punishment. The
research was conducted and written by Mr. Jason Luliano. Luliano, a current research
scholar at the Yale School of Law and PH.D. The topic of capital punishment has always
been a testy subject when it comes to the political spectrum. The main question that is up
for debate is whether or not capital punishment actually deters crime. The stance taken in
this research is that capital punishment and the power it potentially holds over criminals
is not enough and shouldnt be considered the worst punishment or a punishment at all.
Arguments that deal with the prospects of death and the death penalty are
particularly flammable in a sense, referring to the idea that death is the worst type of
punishment that can be handed out by the Supreme Court. The study reveals the
underlying issue behind capital punishment is a moral battle of whether or not capital
punishment is humane or not. Death has been referred to as the most severe form of
retribution that a person can be condemned to, reportedly for as long as the idea of capital
punishment has been around. Without any fact checking, research or questioning the
death penalty has been referred to as the ultimate punishment, but is it really? The
research and statistics that follow seek to dismantle the notion that the capital punishment
discourage others from committing crimes. Many scholars have analyzed the deterrent
effect of the death penalty, and the overwhelming majority of them have concluded that
capital punishment does not deter crime. Only a small number of economists have found
a correlation between the number of executions and the homicide rate (Luliano, 2015).
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Research showed that based on the research there is little or no evidence that supports the
deterrence effect of the death penalty. A common thought as to why death penalty is so
highly favored among American people is because of confirmation bias, which confirms
their beliefs prior to the question at hand. Despite the overwhelming evidence and
general consensus among scholars that the death penalty does not lower the murder rate,
forefront of the capital punishment argument. In the end, the death penalty is the ultimate
form of revenge or retribution. The argument that contests the idea of capital punishment
is that it may not be the worst punishment of the land, instead quite possibly a break. The
research consensus is that capital punishment isnt a punishment at all. The three major
forms of how a punishment is observed are intrinsically bad, instrumentally bad, and
comparatively bad. Pain is a great example for something that would be viewed as
intrinsically bad (Luliano, 2015). It is considered intrinsic because the simple human
can be considered instrumental would be for example if one were to lose their
employment and in turn their income and in doing so not being able to provide for
yourself through, food and shelter, thus being considered an instrumental punishment.
The third and final component of Bad according to the research is comparatively bad,
which varies from person to person when comparing an action and result based on the
consequence of the result. All three of these outcomes (intrinsic, instrumental and
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comparative) demonstrate way in which the death penalty could be bad for a person
experiences neither pain nor suffering (luliano, 2015). According to a scientific study of
the success rate of proper painless lethal injections, nearly ninety-five percent are
successfully administered, which in turn reveals and refutes the idea of an intrinsically
bad punishment. The research also disputed the fact that capital punishment is neither
There are several components as to why LWOP (life without parole) is worse than
death itself. The illusion of the chance you could be pardoned at some point in your life
is just that, illusion. To be brief, there is little known chance of being pardoned from an
executive authority and even if the this unlikely reality came to pass it would be to die at
home with what is left of your family. The conditions, conditions described in the
research are terrible. One LWOP inmate who has already served more than thirty years
behind bars wrote that these prisons "are bad in ways the average citizen cannot really
comprehend . . . . Violence, both from other prisoners and at the hands of guards, is
rampant. Sexual assault is commonplace, tolerated and built right into the macho culture
of prison (Luliano, 2015). Loneliness and isolation are flowing through the veins of the
prison cells. The interviews conducted in this research demonstrate a common trend,
people who are in prison for life with no chance of parole are feel a deep feeling of regret
and anger towards the day they were sentenced to LWOP instead of sentenced to death.
Those who are confronted with this choice frequently opt for death. They do so because
they view life without parole as a far worse fate. To them, death "seems way more real
and promising than living LWOP sentence." Simply put, execution provides "an escape
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from punishment" an escape from the torment that is life without parole (Luliano, 2015).
To conclude this study the idea is that the death penalty is a bad thing, but the in a
comparison argument life in prison without parole is far worse punishment to deter crime.
The research literature concludes that the ultimate punishment is life without chance of
parole.
Response to Evil; published in 2013 states that combating an evil act such as first-degree
felonies like murder, rape, and sodomy with retribution that meets the corresponding
punishment that the state sees fit. In the state of Florida, which had historically been a
red state that supports capital punishment was questioning their stance on combating evil
with another act of evil known as the death penalty (Barry, 2013).
The argument that the author takes is that morally the death penalty is suitable
towards the act in which it is attempting to deter, murder. Many that disagreed with the
the death penalty unconstitutional. Adhering to the recommended death penalty is the
ideals that the research supports in this study even though most deem it not morally
sound. Barry argues that the most heinous punishment available is capital punishment (
Barry, 2013).
Comparing and contrasting both articles, the common thought is that capital
retributions and deterrence. Where the two researches deviate is the extent of what
capital punishment entails. Capital punishment is a break; it is a free pass. If the two
options are life without parole and the death penalty, there is no comparison. To sit and
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rot in prison An inmate who has already served fifteen years summed it up as follows:
"There's no more doing what you want, no waking up in your own bed at home. There's
no anything, just four walls staring back at you and a stranger sleeping either below you
I agree with both studies to an extent, I agree with Why Capital Punishment Is No
Punishment At All at a greater level because it is taken further than Capital Punishment
as a response to evil. The research shown in Lulianos study was taken deeper and
demonstrates through personal account and interview the torment that proceeds being
sentenced to LWOP. Another argument that was hit on the head in the study was the
time frame in which it takes to put someone to death, those who choose to fight the death
penalty are allowed to appeal the decision as many times as possible costing the tax
payers loads of money. Sure, the idea of keeping someone in prison for life without
parole is also an extremely costly expense, but not compared to the cost of endless
appeals. According to the research the death penalty doesnt deter any astounding number
of murders. An issue that neither research delved into was the cost effectiveness of
putting someone to death, or keeping them alive with LWOP. Through the research I
conducted I found that the entire premise of the death penalty was ignored in my mind by
the two researchers, the cost to keep someone on death row. According to a conducted
by the Michigan Journal of race and Law it costs more than double to house someone on
death row than it does to house them in LWOP housing (Sherzer, 2010).
After reviewing the research I have come to my own conclusion as to the issue
behind capital punishment and LWOP. Capital punishment would be nice and possibly
the best options if it actually worked, but the system it broken. Inmates sent to death row
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are not being put to death, instead theyre piling up tax payer debt in a comfortable cell
awaiting appeals and new trails. Im for the death penalty, but Im for a death penalty that
works. According to the research I have reviewed there are two main arguments that
prove that LWOP is worse than death row and capital punishment. Understanding that a
life of misery is a far worse and less of a financial burden than the more expansive death
row and capital punishment; therefore following that train of thought I am no longer for
the death penalty because it exploits the taxpayer and is nothing short of ineffective.
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Work Cited