Saturday, November 11, 2006

Capital Punishment

Should the United States change its capital punishment policy? Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. In the United States, these crimes include things such as premeditated murder and treason. In some Muslim nations crimes worthy of the death penalty include some sexual crimes, sodomy, and the formal renunciation of one's religion. Many European countries have all ready banned the death penalty as a means of punishment. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it does not stop criminals more than life imprisonment, violates human rights, leads to executions of some who are wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities and the poor. What are the costs associated with all this. Is it more economic to just execute criminals who commit capital crimes rather than keeping them in our prison system for life? Our prison system is also over-crowded, would the more succinct action of the death penalty help with that? Or is this not even a matter that economics should play a role? Is the preservation of human life worth more than any cost, even though they've committed a capital crime?

1 comment:

Geoff Enz said...

I believe that economics are involved with capital punishment. A criminal spending a life sentence has a greater explicit cost than the death penalty does. Criminals forgo their rights when they violate other people’s natural rights. The government has to spend a great deal of money feeding, clothing, and maintaining the health of the individuals in prison. By continuing the death penalty it keeps prisons from over-crowding and brings justice to the families and establishments that had something taken from them.