By reinstating the death penalty, America has sent a clear message to criminals that the lives of our children are worth more than just a 15-year prison term. .
Capital Punishment is not revenge, but retribution and therefore just and proper. However, what distinguishes between revenge from retribution, besides the fact that it elevates human life even as it ends the killers. In Mexico it is legal to take matters into your own hands. If somebody killed a woman who was a mother, daughter, sister, etc., the family can legally kill the offender or one of their family members. As a form of retribution, the vast majority of Americans tend to focus on the act of murder and therefore favor capital punishment. Retribution is the most common reason given for favoring the death penalty. Justice requires the death penalty. Retribution would therefore reserve capital punishment for the most terrible crimes or cases. In such cases, however, the limiting effect of retribution would also require the death penalty rather than permanent incarceration because it would be too cruel to put a man in prison with the words, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here" posted on the opening gates. (O"Sullivan).
When an offender is incapacitated, they are unable to commit that crime again. If a murderer is executed they will never have the opportunity to harm another person again. If a murderer is sentenced to life imprisonment, then they have many opportunities to kill, whether it is in prison or in society. .
According to "A Logical and Just Practice" of National Review, John O"Sullivan reported that:.
Of the roughly 52,000 state prison inmates serving time for murder in 1984, an estimated 810 had previously been convicted of murder and had killed 821 persons following those convictions. Executing each of these inmates following their initial murder conviction would have 821 innocent lives. (O"Sullivan).
Incapacitation prevents future crimes against society by punishing the offenders properly.