Death Deters Murderers

Washington State serial killer Robert Yates Jr. admitted to taking the lives of 13 women and is being investigates for taking 11 other lives; yet he still has his.(Robinson) Is this justice? Once a murderer is executed, they are unable to kill again. People fear nothing more than death; therefore, nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of their life ending. As Ernest Van Den Haag, PhD, late Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University says “Nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of death. Death is final. But where there is life there is hope. Wherefore, life in prison is less feared. Murderers clearly prefer it to execution --otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death.” If one fails to execute murderers, and it will not deter other murderers; however it will allow the killing of innocent victims. Society needs to stop thinking in terms of “punishment” for a minute and think in terms of safeguarding innocent people from incorrigible murderers. Murderers clearly prefer life in prison to execution; otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison in lieu of death. Therefore, a life sentence must be less of deterrence than a death sentence. An issue that has continually created debates in today’s society is whether the death penalty serves as a logical and valid form of punishment. Crime is all around society and does not show any sign of stopping. The death penalty is currently used in 33 states in the United States according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Today, the death penalty remains an effective manner of punishment for murder and other heinous crimes. (McAdams) In today’s society, the death penalty is a necessary form of punishment because it will assure better rehabilitation chances for other prisoners; it gives closure to victims and their families, and ensures public safety.

The prison population in America sits at roughly 1.8 million. (Irwin) What is disturbing about the prison population is that the people being sent to prison are not robbers, rapist, or murderers, like the public imagine them to be, but consist of more than one million non-violent offenders. “Out of those 1.8 million prisoners, 668,000 of those were convicted of violent crimes.” (Irwin) With more than half of the prison population being non-violent offenders, they are being subjected to violent offenders, who may hurt them while in prison. If the death penalty was put into use, the lives of non-violent criminals would not be in danger because of contact with guilty violent offenders. Prison should be a place one should never want to go, but it should not be that way because people are scared to get hurt while doing their time. The death penalty is most necessary, as a demonstration and warning to other potential criminals.
Executing murderers prevents them from repeating their crimes, thus protecting innocent people. The murderer will never commit another crime once he or she has been executed. As a punishment, there is no doubt the death penalty is 100 percent effective in getting rid of the murderer, and every time it is used, the prisoner dies. (Carmical) By not executing murderers, society has allowed the killing of many innocent victims. The act of not executing murderers does not sit well with family or victims of the murders. (McAdams) When society does enforce the death penalty it provides closure to the family and the victims. It is not right for a victim to fear that the offender may be released from prison and could kill again because they have already taken a life, so there is no reason to give them an opportunity to do it again.
John Budziszewski, PhD at Yale University says, “Society is justly ordered when each person receives what is due to him. Crime disturbs this just order, for the criminal takes from people their lives, peace, liberties, and worldly goods in order to give him underserved benefits.” It is not right to have a person commit a murder and not have to face similar punishment. Not only is it not right, but it is dangerous for the public. Jail does not always fix people. James Homer Elledge was sent to prison for life in 1975 after beating a Seattle motel owner to death with a ball-peen hammer. In the years that followed, he was released on parole three times, most recently in August 1995. “Prosecutors have now charged Elledge with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing and strangling Eloise Jane Fitzner, 47, in a church basement.” (Lowe) By executing murderers, society is keeping them off the streets and not allowing a chance for them to kill again. This must be done if society wants to even slightly decrease the amount of murderers. People should not be scared to send their children to another neighborhood because a murder occurred there. They should have the assurance that it is safe because that person who killed will never have a chance to do it again because he or she was executed. These examples display how the death penalty can and will ensure public safety.
Some might argue that the death penalty is not a good thing because it’s not a perfect system. Those people know that there are people that have been put to death that are later found to be innocent. The executed cannot be brought back to life. The leading causes of wrongful convictions include perjury, flawed eyewitness identification and prosecutorial misconduct. “The most important thing we know about false convictions is that they happen and on a regular basis. Most false convictions never see the light of the day," said University of Michigan law professors Samuel Gross and Michael Shaffer, who wrote the study. (Love)

Although this is a controversial issue, it is a proven fact that once murderers are released from prison, they fall back into their old habits and they most likely will kill again. (Carmical) It is in their blood and they have that mentality. Society cannot take that risk to allow them back on the streets to kill innocent people. These finding suggest that, the death penalty is a necessary form of punishment because it will assure better rehabilitation chances for other prisoners; it gives closure to victims and their families, and ensures public safety. One possible method to make this happen is by having the government get involved. If enough people make the death penalty an issue, the government will have no choice but to talk about it. Because of the benefit suggested, society needs to have and enforce the death penalty.