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Arguments For And Against Capital Punishment

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The issue of capital punishment is not a black and white in any way. There are both rational and reasonable arguments for and against capital punishment, even within the criminal justice community itself. Furthermore within our nation’s history there have been times that capital punishment has been abolished, even if only temporarily. The only obvious things about capital punishment is that it is and probably always will be a hugely controversial issue in both our nation’s and human history. Proponents of capital punishment would argue that one major reason that our country allows capital punishment is to deter crime and to punish violent criminals who commit atrocious and horrific crimes. The main reason that the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to enact the death sentence on those who commit crimes under 18, in the 2005 landmark case of Roper v Simmons, it that it is thought that these juveniles lack the ability to curb impulsive behavior and also are sometimes, unlike adults, unable to escape their environment, where criminality may be prevalent. The Supreme Court thus ruled that it is unconstitutional and a violation of juveniles rights under the 8th Amendment and constituted cruel and unusual punishment to inflict death on one so young. Whether this is actually a justified ruling comes under debate as well, when reading about some of the atrocities that juveniles commit, specifically in this case where the actions of the juveniles involved were

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