Deterrence of Death Penalty essays

Deterrence of Death Penalty essays The death penalty has been used for centuries as a form of retributive justice for felonies committed by criminals. The code of Hammurabi, written approximately 3,700 years ago, stated that if a man destroys another mans eye, the offenders eye should be taken out; if a son strikes his father, the son shall have his hand cut off.(246) Early legal codes tried to provide justice by matching the punishment with the offense. This approach was also evident in numerous places within the Old Testament. For example, in the Book of Deuteronomy we read, Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.(8:12) However, even with these early philosophies of justice, punishment was not merely meant to serve as revenge for the victims and their relatives. Instead, punishment was intended to make life and property more secure by reducing the likelihood of a person committing a crime or a second offence. This aspect of social control is called deterrence: the use of punishment to deter people from deviance. As Plato expounded 2,300 years ago, Punishment brings wisdom; it is the healing act of wickedness.(199) This occurs, Plato explained, because the point of punishment is not to retaliate for a past wrong but rather to make sure that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again. (199) As human societies evolved into complex states, governments increasingly sought to deter crime; hence punishments became increasingly severe as crimes continued to occur. Capital punishment became common during the eighteenth century in England where more then two hundred different crimes carried the death penalty. In addition, executions were typically conducted in public places in an effort to deter those who witnessed the punishment from committing similar acts. Soon after the implementation of the death penalty into Eng...