NCJ Number
105673
Date Published
1986
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Given the escalating murder rate in the United States and the weaknesses in the intellectual and moral arguments of those opposing capital punishment for murderers, capital punishment should once again become the routine penalty for murder.
Abstract
Although there is disagreement about the cause-and-effect relationship between capital punishment and the U.S. murder rate, the American society has clearly experienced a murder epidemic since capital punishment has not been predictably used as the penalty for murder. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to label humane executions as cruel and unusual punishment, and States are increasingly enacting and administering capital punishment laws fairly and uniformly. Although capital punishment opponents currently argue that the death penalty is disproportionately applied to offenders who kill white persons, research does not indicate a significant disparity in death sentences due to a victim's race. The Judeo-Christian ethic supports the state's right and duty to implement justice through executions for murder. Capital punishment certainly incapacitates the offender, and common sense suggests it deters many from premeditated murder. These arguments, coupled with the fact that parole and shortened sentences make a true 'life' sentence rare, are sufficient to support capital punishment as the predominant penalty for murder.