Between Affliction and Alcatraz
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document in English
social sciences
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published 19/10/2007
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SummaryHistory is littered by the decaying carcasses of punishment, institutions that will forever be remembered for their severity, even amidst the global hunger for something worse. The tortured ghosts of this nation’s blackest memories still walk the halls of Alcatraz. The billowing sails of the Sydney Opera House rise above England’s greatest prison. But the modern era has given birth to a new generation of punishment, a new means to the utter control of the individual by the state: the death penalty. However, such a drastic measure will never be absorbed into American society without debate. As Anthony Amsterdam states, “capital punishment is a fancy phrase for legally killing people,” and a harsh step above life imprisonment. This debate, a debate between life and death, between abolitionists and retentionists, has uncovered facts and arguments long since lost in the shadows of the federal legal system. While the points made on both sides of the issue are crucial, the validity of the reasoning behind retaining the death penalty is unclear. Capital punishment is unnecessary, and like Alcatraz and Australia, it should fade to a distant reminder of humanity’s attempts to establish the perfect institution of punishment.
Table of Contents
- Although life imprisonment is a strict implication of incapacitation, proponents of capital punishment find it to be inaccurate, a ticking time bomb that threatens the lives of innocents.
- Yet abolitionists question whether the death penalty is not incapacitation overload.
- There is a blatant fallacy in this 'commonsense argument,' directly in the center of its definition of common sense.
- Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of capital punishment is the notion of retribution.
- Vengeance is a direct result of discrimination, natural prejudices that are introduced into the courts through juries, lawyers, and the murderers themselves.
- Proponents and opponents alike must admit that the arguments in favor of capital punishment are deeply flawed, and in many instances, they do.
- But is there not a better way?
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