death penalty
I. One of the requirements for the death penalty, is that the crime be carried out with malice aforethought. Close to 90 countries have the death penalty, but nowhere is it debated so often as in the United States where each state can formulate its own policy according to the Constitution. 38 of the 50 states allow the death penalty as a sentence although some, such as Illinois, have recently imposed a moratorium while they study the arguments for and against.(http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=106)
A. capital punishment deters murder on the assumption that people's behavior can be influenced(San Francisco Public Library,opposing viewpoints,resource center)
1. safeguard for society
a. The principle of capital punishment is that certain murderers deserve nothing less than death as a just, proportionate and effective punishment. There are problems with the death penalty, but these are with its implementation rather than its principle. Murderers forgo their rights as humans at the moment when they take away the rights of another human. By wielding such a powerful punishment as the response to murder, society is affirming the value that is placed upon the right to life of the innocent person. Many more innocent people have been killed by released, paroled or escaped murderers than innocent people executed(http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=106)
2. death penalty makes sense children killing
3. what about victims
B. cruel and unusual "The death penalty: Always cruel, always inhuman, always degrading ... there can be no masking the inherent cruelty of the death penalty." (Amnesty Internationa) http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/servlet/OVRC?vrsn=228&slb=SU&locID=sfpl_main&srchtp=basic&c=3&ste=17&tbst=ts_basic&tab=1&txb=%22Death+penalty%22&docNum=X3010313203&fail=16239&bConts=16239l)
1. Racism
a. Implementation of the death penalty, particularly in America, can suffer from social or racial bias and in fact be used as a weapon against a certain section of society. In the USA nearly 90% of those executed were convicted of killing whites, despite the fact that non-whites make up more than 50% of all murder victims.http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=106(
2. Innocence
3. cost
a. Capital punishment costs more than life without parole. Studies in the US show that capital cases, from arrest to execution, cost between $1 million and $7 million. A case resulting in life imprisonment costs around $500,000.(http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=106)