Death Penalty Position Paragraph
Your task is to write a paragraph (maximum length of one page double spaced) that argues your position on the death penalty. In your argument, you must draw upon ethical theories, concepts, and reasoning to support your position.
- State whether or not the death penalty should be abolished and why.
- You must apply at least one ethical theory to support your position.
- You must explain what effects implementing your position regarding the death penalty would have on society.
The paragraph should be one full page, double spaced, and free of grammatical errors.
It is not enough to name a theory; you must explain the theory and demonstrate how your position reflects the logic and reasoning of that theory.
Remember that theory is the “why” behind your beliefs.
JaneDoe Unit 6 Assignment HU245- Ethics
Capital punishment, or “the death penalty,” is an institutionalized practice designed to
result in deliberately executing persons in response to actual or supposed misconduct
and following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is
responsible for violating norms that warrant execution (Hoag, n.d.). In my opinion, the
death penalty is a moral action. Over the years I feel my view on this has shifted from
believing that it was unacceptable, to acceptable with good reason. What I mean by
good reason is the death penalty should be acceptable when the criminal has
committed a murder of one or more persons. While we can enforce the person to be
locked away in a prison facility for a lifelong sentence, in my eyes, this does not serve
justice. If someone can willingly take another’s life, then in a way I feel as though they
shouldn’t fear the taking of their own. I think that given the grief that the individual
causes those left behind, they deserve justice. The death penalty is just that, justice. I
feel that my views align best with the utilitarianism theory aligns best with my views on
the death penalty. The reason I believe this is that this theory is based on
consequences. The theory believes that the consequences should be based on the
action of the individual. Utilitarianism also aims to make the most people happy. While
the families of the criminal may not agree with the death of their loved one, it comes
down to justice for the person who was murdered. This would give the community a
sense of safety knowing that the criminal will never harm another person, and it will
make the family feel as though justice was fully served. According to the Vera Institute
of Justice, incarceration costs an average of more than $31,000 per inmate, per
year, nationwide (Mills, 2019). The cost of the prisoner living in prison for a lifelong
sentence, or even for a lengthened amount of time is costing the taxpayers, as well
https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/the-price-of-prisons-what-incarceration-costs-taxpayers/legacy_downloads/price-of-prisons-updated-version-021914
Jane Doe Unit 6 Assignment HU245- Ethics
as the family of the victim money. I believe that many individuals who see the
amount of their taxes that is going to house criminals who chose to commit a crime,
would be rather upset about this. While there are many reasons, I feel the death
penalty is ethical, this paragraph includes several of my viewpoints, explains why I
feel so strongly about the death penalty, and describes how my views best align
with the utilitarianism theory.
Jane Doe Unit 6 Assignment HU245- Ethics
References:
Hoag, R. (n.d.). Capital Punishment. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from
https://www.iep.utm.edu/cap-puni/
Mills, E. (2019, April 29). How much does it cost to send someone to prison? Retrieved
July 15, 2020, from https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/19/how-much-does-it-cost
send-someone-prison/
https://www.iep.utm.edu/cap-puni/
https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/19/how-much-does-it-cost