Capital Punishment

To date, 75 countries have abolished the use of the death penalty, 13 have abolished its use except for crimes defined as exceptional, 20 countries report being abolitionist, and 87 countries still retain the use of capital punishment (Facts 1). When it comes to execution rates, in 1999 alone, 1,813 prisoners were executed in 31 countries and 3,875 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries (Facts 2). Currently, prisoners wait execution in 55 countries (Dority 35). This analysis will analyze different viewpoints on this controversial issue, arguing that the use of the death penalty should remain an option for punishment and deterrence within the criminal justice system. A conclusion will address whether or not capital punishment represents a social problem.

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lly three main viewpoints or perspectives adopted by those who favor the use of the death penalty. We may break them into the functionalist, interactionist, and conflict perspectives. The first perspective is adopted by many religious individuals who use support from the Bible to argue that the death penalty is just in the eyes of God. This eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth, viewpoint is routinely adopted by those with strong religious convictions. Yet, we see that the Roman Catholic Church has moved closer to abolition when it says that its “absolute necessity” exception for imposing the death penalty would “now be very rate if not practically non-existent” according to the Pope’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (Grant 19). Other faiths are just as divided in their perspective on the use of capital punishment. Even though Simon Wiesenthal spent decades tracking down ex-Nazis accused of crimes against humanity, Rabbi Richard Block notes “Jewish post-biblical tradition does not speak with one voice on capital punishment” (Fuchs 74). Yet, we see that even in this camp there is disagreement about the use of the death penalty. As Sister of Mercy, Camille Darienzo, relates “We believe that God doesn’t give up on us and that al
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Approximate Word count = 1894
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)