The Pros And Cons Arguments Of The Death Penalty

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The Pros and Cons Arguments of the Death Penalty In 2013, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, which resulted in three deaths and more than hundreds injured, led Dzhokhar Tsarnaevto face a death sentence charged by the federal government for his role in the attack. Such verdict drew the attention concerning the death penalty in the country, since Massachusetts has ceased the death penalty in the 80s and the state has not issued a death sentence since 1947. The contention concerning whether the death penalty should be enforced remains a swinging pendulum among various countries, including the United States, which currently is one of the few occidental countries that still implements the ultimate punishment. Within our society today are two competing and opposing values over the issue of the death penalty. Proponents of the death penalty supports that harsh sentences promotes …show more content…

Advocates of the anti-death penalty often contend that a death sentence is developed from a revenge mentality and argue that the death penalty is immoral: an unjust instrument that brutalizes society because the death penalty sends the same message as a form of lethal violent (Bowers & Glenn, 453). Both claims serve as the basis of an underlying dilemma encompassing moral reasoning and utilitarian principles.
Traces of the inception of the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, can be found in different civilizations: from the Babylonian Empire to ancient China. In the ancient world, the death penalty was applied to a wide range of crimes, including murder, magic, treason, and other sexual crimes that were condemned by various religions or social doctrines observed by societies. The word capital, which stems from caput in Latin, meaning “head”, refers to the act of