The late, Louis Pojman, was a great American philosopher, who was known for his many writings such as A Defense of the Death Penalty. The death penalty has always been a very touchy subject for most people. People have their views of what they consider right or wrong. Philosopher Pojman was pro-death penalty, so naturally he had some who agreed with him and some that did not. As I read the “Best Bet” argument my opinion of murderers is that they deserve to be killed for their horrid actions. Pojman uses emotion to prove his argument very well. Pojman made many wise analogies throughout his writings. He put things into a perspective everyone could understand. I can see that he makes a very strong case by using the Bible to back up his views. …show more content…
He believes “that to bet against capital punishment is to bet against the innocent and for the murderer” (Pojman 144). Pojman thinks that if the murderers are given a long prison sentence than the murderers win. I agree because, when the murder kills they lose their right to live. Pojman writes that, “…human beings… have dignity, one who with malice aforethought kills a human being forfeits his right to life and deserves to die [sic]” (Pojman 140). The United States should have the death penalty because it would keep murderers from killing again. Pojman uses the analogy if someone committed murder, they would be struck and killed instantly by lightning because by taking another life they forfeited theirs. I find that the following two points from Pojman provides a valid argument as of why we should have the death penalty. He states if we choose a policy of having the death penalty and “… we’re right, we have saved the lives of the innocent. If we are wrong, unfortunately, we’ve sacrificed the lives of some murderers.” (Pojman 144). We should choose the death penalty because I see it as taking a precaution to stop someone from taking any more innocent lives. Executing the murderers is the only way justice can be given to the person who was murdered and their families. If people knew that they would be killed themselves for murdering someone they would not do it because they would not want to