Capital_Punishment

Capital Punishment Capital Punishment In the United States, the use of the death penalty has always been, and continues to be a controversial issue. Every election year, politicians, wishing to appeal to the moral sentiments of voters, routinely compete with each other as to who will be toughest in extending the death penalty to those people who have been convicted of first-degree murder. Both proponents and opponents of capital punishment present compelling arguments to support their claims. Often their arguments are made on different interpretations of what is moral in a just society. Proponents of capital punishment persuasively argue that a “central principle of a just society is that every person has an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Cauthen, 1). Within this principle, the deliberate (premeditated) murder of an individual is viewed as a heinous act, which prevents the person from realizing his or her right to pursue happiness. They strongly feel that persons convicted of first-degree murder must, themselves, pay the ultimate price. They claim that the death penalty must be imposed in order to maintain the moral standards of the community (Cauthen, 1). Proponents of capital punishment are aware that many people who oppose death, penalty, punishment, capital, been, united, states, people, safeguards, row, murder, convicted, weinglass, sentenced, public, proponents, persons, life, executions, executed, evidence, court, countries, community, cauthen, years, system, right, possibility, parole, out, opponents, new, must, moral, just