Questions on The Criminal System

Solution Preview

I need help answering the following questions the response for each should be 500 words each (not counting sources and references) and each should have at least 2 different sources properly cited in accordance with APA the questions should have well supported views, and critical thought.
1. Discuss the pros and cons of the death penalty and place your response within the parameters of whether the death penalty is ethical.

The pros for the death penalty include retribution and punishment that feasibly could deter a like minded criminal from engaging in similar behavior. In addition, the family gains a sense of ultimate justice to witness the person who violent took their loved one's life have their life taken in response to the crime that was committed. The primary objective for the death penalty is to deter future criminal behavior, and the belief is that by eliminating the life of the person who committed the most heinous of crimes, murder, the next potential murderer will be deterred from engaging in a similar crime. Therefore, the adage an "eye for an eye" applies as it allows the justice system to restore the balance in society when someone who is murdered by a criminal is avenged through the taking of the murderer's life.

This is the approach that is taken, and the impetus for taking such an approach is predicated upon attempting to prevent future murders, but the evidence on such an approach is not supportive of the death penalty reducing murders after someone has been executed for committing the crime of murder. Therefore, many detractors voice opposition to the use of the death penalty because they believe that it doesn't deter future homicides and only serves to provide blood lust for family members and for a society that seeks to gain vengeance instead of justice. These opponents of the death penalty voice outrage that a country that champions itself as the leader of the free world and a beacon of light uses the most barbaric practice to issue vengeance under the auspice of justice. They argue that using the death penalty makes a mockery out of the criminal justice system as it uses barbaric punishment that disproportionately is issued to historically marginalized groups such as African Americans.

It is true that African Americans are at least three times more likely to receive the death penalty for the murder of a white person than if some white person were to murder an African American. This racial disparity that is fully in existence is another reason that many people who opposed the death penalty oppose it. They see it as a continuation of the overall racially discriminatory criminal justice system that targets African Americans for arrest, incarceration, and execution at rates much higher than their white counterparts. Therefore, this system could be construed as a racist system that seeks to execute African Americans for the same crimes that whites are ...