We know that crime rates have been increasing for some time. The United States is becoming a violent society for many reasons. The increase in crime cannot be connected to the death penalty which is used so rarely. There is evidence that capital punishment does play a role in reducing crime. And even if this is not so, it should be implemented because it will certainly save lives.
These same people who share these thoughts argue that it is not a true deterrent to crime are willing to give the benefit of a doubt to the criminal rather than the victim. The poet Hyman Borshay put it this way. "The death penalty is a warning, just like a lighthouse throwing its beams out to sea. We hear about shipwrecks, but we do not hear about the ships the lighthouse guides safely on their way. We do not have proof of the number of ships it saves, but we do not tear the lighthouse down".
If capital punishment is even a little deterrent that is a good enough reason to implement it. After all, why do so many criminals fight this, appeal it, and are fearful of it. Rare is the criminal that says, give me death.
Capital punishment will not deter all crime. Psychotic and deranged killers, members of organized crime and street gangs will kill whether the death penalty is implemented or not. But it will prevent murders from murdering again. If you lock someone in a cell and take away their television privileges (like a naughty twelve year old) you are still putting prison guards and other inmates at risk. What if they escape? There is no escaping capital punishment. About one in ten convicted murders will murder when released. Of the 2,575 prisoners sentenced to death in the United States in 1992, 1 out 11 had a prior conviction for murder. This means that hundreds of more people died because those convicted of murder were released only to murder once more. The following are some examples.
In a Washington Post article, on the morning of July 5, 1978 Michael Baker, left home with John Mayecki, also 16, one of his closest friends, drove to a fast food restaurant for lunch.
