Outline
The Death Penalty Debate
There is an obvious problem concerning violent crime in America,
assuming as most people do that violence is a bad thing. Newspapers and
television programs are infused with reports of homicide, and the question
of finding a solution to this problem is raised by politicians and the
media alike. There are many uncertainties that are answerable in terms of
philosophical discussion only, such as what the underlying root causes of
violence and crime may be, or what is the absolute moral solution to this
problem. One proposed solution, which has been used for centuries, is
putting convicted criminals to death as punishment for their committed
crimes. In today's supposedly humanitarian society, though, this has
become an issue of much controversy. Capital punishment is said to be
politically incorrect by some people, and is considered to be the only
possible solution to crime by others. "Most Americans support the death
penalty for particularly heinous crimes, and most legislators are chary of
challenging those views. Reasonable people can disagree about the justice
of capital punishment, and unilateral judicial or executive steps to
abolish it are likely to arouse resentment." ("Et Cetera") On both sides
of the death penalty debate, there are compelling and intelligent
rationalizations that argue both for and against the death penalty.
The majority of people who are in support of capital punishment are
considered to be Conservatives in their political opinions, and as such
they tend to be at least partly influenced by religion, specifically
Christianity, in forming opinions. One of the first reasons why the death
penalty is considered to be the right thing to do is because of the
important significance of capital punishment in the Bible. A great number
of people were put to...