Carmical, Casey. "Capital Punishment Is Morally Justified." The Ethics of Capital Punishment. Ed.
Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from "The Death Penalty:
Morally Defensible?" Casey's Critical Thinking Jan. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Casey Carmical, a professional translator and blog writer, believes not only that executing a
murderer is morally jusitifed, but that not executing a murderer is completely immoral. She
believes that executing prisoners is not done to prevent future murders, but to bring the
murderer to justice. She believes that punishments for all crimes should fit the crime. Lifetime
incarceration is not a fair punishment in Casey’s eyes, because she believes that taking a
way freedom doesn’t even compare to taking away life. She also says that she does not
believe that any innocent person has ever been put to death.
Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF). "The Death Penalty Deters Murder." The Ethics of Capital
Punishment. Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from
"Death Penalty Deters Future Murders, According to Remarkable New Empirical Study."
2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
This article written by the Center for Individual Freedom states that there are four
justifications for criminal punishment. Included are retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation,
and deterrence. Deterrence is the factor that is mostly focused on in this article. They talked
about a study that was done at the University of Pepperdine which showed that for every
criminal execution around 74 murders were prevented. They said that this proves that as
executions increase murders decrease. They also said that the odds against the study being
a complete chance or luck is 18,000 to 1. They support the death penalty, because if the
death penalty is stopping future murders from occurring, then it would not be a smart move
by the government to abolish it.
Delcour, Julie. “The Cost of the Death Penalty Outweighs Its Benefits to Society.” The Death Penalty.
Tuslaworld.com. 4 Sept. 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Nov. 2013
In this article, Delcour expresses her opinion that the death penalty should no longer be used.
She believes this not because of the moral or religious standpoints on the topic, but because of
the millions of tax payer dollars it wastes, and also because it is not effectively lowering the rate
of violent crime in the 34 states that have the death penalty. She states that on average in the
U.S. it costs 1-3 million dollars for a single death penalty case; where a life sentence only costs
on average about 1 million. She also talks about reports that show that after surveying police
chiefs throughout the U.S. more than half believe that based off the murder rates, the death
penalty is not reducing the amount of homicides in the U.S.
Egeberg, Gary. "Capital Punishment Is Simply Murder." Capital Punishment. Ed. Mary E. Williams.
San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Changing Sides on
the Death Penalty." National Catholic Reporter 2 June 2006. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2013
Gary Egeberg is a former chaplain in a California state prison. He had always supported the
death penalty because he didn’t think it was fair for prisoners to have rights like recreation
periods in prisons or being able to watch T.V. in their cells. He thought that the prisoners
should be executed for taking away the rights of another individual. He stated that his opinion
changed over time being a chaplain in a prison, because he saw many death row inmates
change to be better people. Although at first they did not feel sorry for their crimes, being
taught morality in church services in prison the murderers began to feel sorrowful for the
things they had done. It got to the point where some of these murders felt so bad that they
could not live with themselves. He states that if you want to really punish a murderer, force
them to learn morality, and then force them to live out the rest of their lives feeling horrible for
the things they had done.
Johnson, Robert, and Sandra McGunigall-Smith. "Incarceration for Life Without Parole Could Replace the
Death Penalty." The Death Penalty. Ed. Jenny Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven
Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Life Without Parole, America's Other Death
Penalty." The Prison Journal 88.2 (June 2008). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Nov.
2013.
Robert Johnson and Sandra McGunigall-Smith believe that the death penalty should not be the
ultimate form of punishment in the U.S. They also say that they believe that putting a prisoner to
death is not the worst form of punishment they can receive. They say, according to several
interviewed inmates, that the life sentence without parole is actually more painful than ending
their suffering by taking the easy way out, execution. They say that a life sentence without parole
technically has the same result as the death penalty, because it ultimately ends in the death of
the inmate. They call this “death by incarceration.” They believe that forcing an inmate to live in
isolation, having everything they do controlled and supervised, and knowing that there is no hope
of them ever getting out until death, is a worse punishment than the death penalty, and it should
be used instead.
Goldberg, Jonah. "Why Death-Penalty Opponents Can't Win." Rpt. in The Death Penalty. Ed. Jenny
Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Jonah Goldberg is an award winning journalist, who is in favor of the death penalty. He
believes that it should be used in cases where there is DNA proof and no doubt of the
suspects guilt. He says that all who oppose the death penalty cherry pick their cases,
choosing only cases where there is doubt of the person’s innocence. He says that the death
penalty is not primarily used as a deterrence factor, but as a way to punish someone for
something horrible they had done.
Koch, Edward. “Justice is Served with the Death Penalty.” New York Times. 27 April. 2013. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12. Nov. 2013.
Edward Koch, former Mayor of New York City expresses his opinions that the death penalty is a
good thing and should be continued. He thinks that the death penalty should be there for cases
of brutal murder, so there can be justice. He believes that all death penalty studies in the last
ten years stating that the death penalty doesn’t reduce amount of homicides are wrong because
on average only 1 out of 6 cases where the death penalty was sentenced was the person
actually put to death. He believes murderers see these statistics and don’t believe they will be
put to death. He says that every person sentenced to death should be executed as sentenced,
and doing so will lower amount of homicides.
Lesniak, Raymond. "Justice Is Not Served with the Death Penalty." The Death Penalty. Ed. Jenny Cromie
and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Road
to Justice and Peace." blog.nj.com 2 Feb. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Nov.
2013.
Raymond Lesniak is a New Jersey state senator who helped push for the abolition of the death
penalty in New Jersey. He is extremely against the death penalty. He does not believe the death
penalty is necessary because he says it promotes a violent, revengeful nation instead of a
peaceful, forgiving nation. He says that the murder rate in states with the death penalty is higher
than the murder rate of states without the death penalty. Because of this, he believes that the
death penalty has a brutalization effect, making murder rates go up. He believes that many
innocent people have been put to death for the crimes they haven’t committed, and the death
penalty must be abolished.
Scalia, Antonin Gregory. "The Death Penalty Does Not Violate the US Constitution."The Ethics of C
Capital Punishment. Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At I
Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Antonin Gregory Scalia argues that the death penalty is completely constitutional. He says
that it is specifically sanctioned under the constitution in the fifth amendment. He disregards
the argument that the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment because of the pain it
causes the convict because without pain for the murderer, there is no retribution for the
death penalty. He also says that according to some research, the death penalty does have a
deterrence factor. A single execution prevents around 18 murders. He is for the death
penalty.
Schmidt, Derek. "The Death Penalty Is Essential, and Its Cost Is Irrelevant." The Death Penalty. Ed.
Jenny Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints.
Rpt. from "A Case for Retaining the Kansas Death Penalty." The Kansas Prosecutor 7 (Fall
2009). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Derek Schmidt, former Republican senator and attorney general in Kansas, believes that the
death penalty should remain an option for prosecutors, juries, and judges. He believes this
because in cases where the murders are extremely heinous and horrific, the only justified
punishment for the crime is death. He believes that the death penalty should not be used
often, but it should remain an option for the defendant’s peers.
Vaknin, Sam. “Many People with Mental Illness Should Not Be Exempt from the Death Penalty.” The
Death Penalty. Greenhaven Press. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Sam Vaknin runs a website about narcissistic mental disorders. He believes that some people
with mental disorders should not be exempt from the death penalty. He thinks that the insanity
pleads are mostly used as loopholes for guilty criminals to get around the law rather than by
actual people with mental disorders. He says that unless a person is completely disconnected
from reality then they should be prosecuted normally for their actions. He believes that he only
way to determine this is by a reality test. If the defendant passes the reality test then they are to
be punished for their crimes. Overall, he is for the death penalty.
Whitehead, John W. “The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished.” Rutherford.org. 2011. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
John Whitehead, an attorney, states his position on the topic of the death penalty as being
completely against it. He shows facts that since 1976, 138 people that have been convicted and
given the death penalty were released based on new evidence proving their innocence. He says
he thinks that if that many people have been wrongly convicted, then there has to have been
people wrongly convicted and executed. He says even if there was just one instance in which an
innocent person was put to death, it is still too many. With a system so flawed and corrupt, he
doesn’t see why the death penalty is an option, and he believes it should be abolished.