Capital Crime Examples: How to Write an Excellent College Essay About the Death Penalty

The best topic for your college essay is a controversial one. A controversial topic allows you to present the most solid arguments, select the most reliable data from a large pool of sources, and compose a high-quality paper to impress your professor. We always recommend taking time to consider the best subject for your future essay because a properly chosen subject is half the work in achieving academic success.

It is wise to never write essays on underdeveloped topics because there will not be enough information or credible sources to reinforce your thesis. Your professor will not be happy to read weakly argued essays without references to reliable academic sources. However, we also recommend not picking extremely widely covered topics because there will be no space to present creative thinking or bring something new and innovative into the discussion; your professor will not be happy to read simple and flat papers either.

The best solution always lies in between. It would be best if you chose a topic controversial enough to leave an opportunity for presenting fresh and exciting arguments but covered enough to contain enough information to support your thesis and statements. The death penalty and capital crime are perfect examples of such golden topics and will be ideal starting material for your persuasive speeches on death penalty.

How to Choose a Central Statement for Your Essay on Death Penalty

The choice of topic is an imperative stage for writing a perfect college essay. Whether you can choose a topic yourself or have to work on one that you’re given, you can always find an angle to cover it from that suits you. The best topics for essays are controversial topics, that is, those topics in which there is still active debate and there is no consensus in the form of a solution that suits everyone.

The death penalty is one of the best potential topics for your college essay because, in all of modern sociology, it would be difficult to find a more pressing and, at the same time, controversial issue.

But how exactly do you choose your paper’s central statement? We recommend conducting primary research and finding the point of view that most appeals to you within the context of the subject. You can then choose the arguments and research that support your POV and that will help persuade the reader.

To form a central statement and start sketching out the outline, you first need to answer the following questions:

1. Why is the death penalty a controversial topic?
2. What are some major examples of capital punishment?

Read on to find detailed answers to these questions, better understand the topic, and form the central statement of your future essay.

Why Is the Death Penalty Controversial?

The death penalty is probably one of the most controversial topics in the history of humanity. There are several major arguments against capital punishment, and many strong voices are in favor. You can choose any side when writing your college essay and aggregate the most convincing arguments to impress readers. However, we recommend considering your professor’s view on the subject to ensure that the merits of your paper are maintained.

Arguments for your against death penalty essay

The value of human life

Life is precious, in everyone’s opinion. The worth of every human life is so great, according to some of those who oppose the death penalty, that not even the most heinous of murderers deserve to have theirs taken away. This point of view maintains that a criminal’s poor behavior, even in the face of murder, cannot diminish the worth of a person’s life.

However, this is not the case with all abolitionists. Some of them argue that killing should not be legal unless it is absolutely necessary and that proponents of the death penalty should provide evidence to back up their claims.

The right to live

Even murderers have an inherent right to life, and it is a violation of this right to sentence someone to death and then carry it out. Looking at it through the lens of human rights, this is quite similar to the “value of life” argument.

However, a person’s acts can revoke their human rights, and the counterargument posits that murderers revoke their right to life. To illustrate this point further, consider the following scenario: Someone loses their right to life the moment they initiate a homicidal attack, and the only way for the victim to protect themselves is to murder the assailant.

The risk of executing an innocent person

The most popular and persuasive defense of the death penalty is that errors or weaknesses in the legal system will eventually result in the deaths of innocent people. Witnesses, prosecutors, and juries are all human and can make mistakes when involved in the process. Innocent persons will inevitably be found guilty of crimes due to these systemic weaknesses. Such errors cannot be corrected when the death penalty is used.

There is considerable proof that errors of this kind can occur: Since 1973, 130 death row inmates in the United States have been declared innocent and released from their sentences. Before these dismissals, their average time on death row was eleven years. The experience of those who are wrongfully convicted is made even more terrible by the constant prospect of execution. The risk of executing an innocent person can become a strong central argument in your thesis statement for death penalty abolishment.

The belief that retribution is wrong

• The Death Penalty’s Uniqueness: Some contend that a death sentence employs vengeance in a novel manner. The penalty for certain crimes does not reflect the nature of the act; for instance, rapists are not subjected to sexual assault as a form of retribution, and those found guilty of battery are not ritually beaten.

• Vengeance: The primary justification for the moral objection to retribution is that it only represents a more civilized version of vengeance. A large portion of the public’s support for the death penalty seems to stem from a desire for retribution, as shown in scenes of angry crowds storming prison vans transporting murder suspects to and from court or shouting violently outside prisons during an execution. However, revenge and vindictiveness are distinct from righteous retribution, which aims to restore justice.

• Retribution and the Innocent: However, the retribution argument faces another obstacle in the form of the possibility of innocent people being executed. This is because, according to one of the fundamental principles of retribution, which states that individuals should receive precisely what they deserve, the present capital punishment system in the United States and every other country where mistakes have been made violates this principle.

Arguments in favor of the death penalty

However, there are also many supporters of the death penalty in the world. These people actively promote the introduction of capital punishment in various states and provide their arguments in favor of it. Among the arguments, the most weighty ones are considered to be the following:

• Retribution: According to this line of thinking, for true justice, those responsible for wrongdoing must endure a punishment befitting their transgression. Every criminal ought to get a punishment that is commensurate with their crime; for a murderer, that punishment is death.
• Deterrence: A youngster learns quickly not to stick their finger in the fire because the pain is so intense, and this is an example of how punishment works best as a deterrent. The effectiveness of punishment as a form of deterrence decreases as the legal procedure lengthens the time needed to execute it.
• Rehabilitation: Putting a person to death does not help them become productive members of society again. However, there are several accounts of condemned individuals who used the time before their execution to reflect on their sins, show regret, and, in many cases, undergo significant spiritual rehabilitation.
• Prevention of recidivism: Executed criminals are obviously unable to commit additional crimes. Not everyone agrees that this is a good enough reason to kill someone; some point to alternatives, like life in prison without parole, as proof that criminals will not re-offend.
• Closure and vindication: The death sentence, proponents say, gives victims’ families a sense of finality. Since every family has their unique reaction, this is a weak argument. The argument fails to provide a sufficient rationale for the death penalty, since some families do not believe that another death will offer them closure.

Cases and Examples to Include Your Death Penalty Essay

Why Include Real Cases in Your College Essay

We always recommend reinforcing your paper with concrete arguments. The best method to strengthen your central statement is using real-life cases relevant to your situation in general and to the supported point of view in particular. Links to actual cases directly related to the issue under consideration are more powerful arguments than links to scientific publications or research.

The main thing that you are required to do is attach several relevant links to your argument to prove the consistency and systematicity of your evidence base. However, in no case should you spam links and references unnecessarily: add to your paper only those sources that are directly related to the topic and only in those parts of the paper where it is most relevant in the context.

Capital Offense Examples

To better understand capital crimes, one should understand the concept of capital offense. There are several types of crimes that can be classified as capital offenses: treachery, espionage, and fatalities brought on by hijacked airplanes. Nevertheless, the majority of them include different types of murder, like murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, murder during a drive-by shooting, and genocide.

Capital Punishment: Examples and Debate

There have been several cases of capital punishment in the United States, and most of them attracted a broad social resonance in their time. Let’s explore some of the most famous cases to give you valuable points to present in your paper. Some of these cases may even play a central part in your argument and act as a hook for death penalty essay.

• Inmates Sentenced Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988: Tipton, Roane, and their fellow defendant, Corey Johnson, were all Black and belonged to an inner-city gang in Richmond, Virginia. In February 1993, they received the death sentence for their roles in many drug-related killings.

• Jeffery W. Paul: In 1997, Paul received a death sentence for his role as an accomplice in the murder of an 82-year-old man at Arkansas’s Hot Springs National Park. Paul was eighteen when the offense occurred. Trinity Ingel, his older co-defendant, acknowledged he was the triggerman, but he was given a life sentence nonetheless.

• Mark Snarr (White) and Edgar Garcia (Latinx): These two federal prison convicts were recommended for death sentences by a Beaumont, Texas jury on May 24, 2010 for the murder of their fellow prisoner, Gabriel Rhone. In addition, they stabbed two prison officers, injuring them.

• Charles Hall and Wesley Coonce: On June 2, 2014, a jury found Hall and Coonce guilty of the murder of a Latinx prisoner in a federal prison located in Missouri. On July 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction and execution sentence of Coonce; on December 19, 2019, the same court upheld the death sentence of Hall.

• Dylann Roof: On January 10, 2017, a jury found Roof guilty of the racial killings of nine parishioners at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and sentenced him to death. On January 11, the death penalty was formally imposed by the court.

How to Sketch Your Death Penalty Outlines

Never forget about the outlining stage! Some students think that outlining wastes time and try their best to skip this daunting process. This is entirely wrong; you should think of outlining as planning your strategy. While outlining your future paper, you think through the structure and argumentation of the future essay. In addition, many experienced writers often combine the outlining process with research.

While searching for information, you can make footnotes in your notebook, highlighting important ideas and statements for the paper. On another page, we recommend sketching out an approximate structure and gradually filling the various chapters of your essay with certain statements from the general list. Thus, after completing the outline, you will have a ready-made sketch of the essay, and writing with such an outline in front of your eyes will become much more manageable.

Creative Topics for Your Capital Crime Argumentative Essay

1. Death Row’s Involvement with Minors
2. Euthanasia and the Death Penalty
3. No Crime Justifies the Use of the Death Penalty
4. Why the Death Penalty Is Ineffective
5. A Discussion on Capital Punishment
6. The Origins of Capital Punishment
7. Expenses: The Death Penalty vs. Imprisonment
8. The 8th Amendment Prohibits the Death Penalty
9. Unjust, Cruel, and Discriminatory Against the Poor: The Death Penalty in the Philippines
10. Major Crime Deterrence and Consequences
11. The Moral Controversy Over Capital Punishment and Mental Illness

Where to Search for Credible Info for Your Death Penalty Paper

An extensive examination of a selected topic is the first step in writing a research paper. You may need to sift through mountains of material to find a focus for your death sentence research. Allocate sufficient time to it because it is a crucial component of a high-quality research paper on the death penalty.

However, you may be asking where you can find reliable sources of information. To make your search easier, we have produced a list of the top resources for learning more basic info about capital punishment.

• Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). This organization’s website has extensive data about the death penalty.
• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights). The death penalty is a topic that this United Nations agency covers in several articles and reports.
• Articles and journals. Scholarly literature, including research papers on the death sentence, is abundant and can be helpful. If you quickly search academic databases, you can obtain a wealth of reliable material.

Steps to Writing Your Death Penalty Thesis Statement

1. Understand the topic. Knowing all there is to know about the intricacies and depths of the death sentence is the first step in writing an essay on the subject. The legal process by which a state executes an individual as a form of punishment for a crime is referred to as “the death penalty” or “capital punishment”. People on both sides of the argument feel strongly about this contentious issue. Keeping in mind the many moral, legal, and ethical factors at play, it is essential to tackle this topic with care and objectivity. Data, statistics, and perspectives from different sources are crucial in this early part of research.
2. Structure the argument. Arranging your argument is the next step. An essay outlining your position on the death penalty must have a strong thesis statement. Do you support or oppose it? Next, in the essay’s body, you should provide well-organized arguments that support your thesis. Ethical considerations, the death penalty’s deterrent effect, and the possibility of erroneous convictions are just a few examples of the aspects that each paragraph should address.
3. Explore the ethical and moral dimensions. Examining the moral and ethical implications of capital punishment is crucial to any death penalty thesis. For this, we must enter the realm of philosophical disputes over the value of human life, fairness, and punishment. Several moral arguments, including “an eye for an eye,” are advanced in support of capital punishment; it is vital to examine and assess these claims.
4. Conclude your thoughts. Before you wrap up your essay, go back to your argument and review all that you’ve covered. If you want to have an effect on your readers and bolster your argument, this is your last chance. Think about possible future advancements in this field and discuss the more considerable societal consequences of the death penalty. You may also provide suggestions or ask questions to stimulate additional thought on the subject. Never forget that a reasonable conclusion does more than just restate the points made throughout the essay.

Additional Tips for Writing Your Death Penalty Persuasive Speech

• Be concise. Avoid unnecessary terms, jargon and filter words. Writing an essay is a test of not only your ability to collect information and present it in a clear structure but also of your ability to write beautiful texts. As one classic said, writing is effortless—you just need to cross out all the unnecessary words. Your essay should, first of all, be written quickly and beautifully, and only then everything else will follow.
• Research is the key. Academic research is vital for all persuasive speeches on the death penalty. The more information you collect and the more you support your essays with arguments, the better the professor will evaluate it.
• Edit and proofread your paper several times. Do not forget that even professionals find most of the errors in their texts only at the editing stage. Re-read your paper at least five times before submitting it, and if possible, ask for the help of a beta reader.

• Use writing apps to polish your essay. Use modern apps to speed up and streamline your academic paper proofreading process. Apps like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor can significantly help you speed up the editing stage.

The Bottom Line

The death penalty is an excellent topic for your college essay. Choosing a topic like this will allow you to write a top-notch paper and raise many controversial and socially sensitive points. Having contradictions in the topic of your paper will ensure that you have a good chance of writing an inspiring and controversial essay that can attract your professor’s attention and be appreciated. Besides, your professor has already read dozens of identical papers during his or her academic career and will not be interested in reading flat and identical essays without conflict once more.

Capital crime is one of modern society’s most controversial and conflicting topics. Two camps are in the debate, each offering a diametrically opposed solution to the dilemma. There are dozens of moral and ethical arguments on each side, some of which can be considered decisive and incredibly weighty. You can choose any side and select the most logical arguments to present your ethical research in an essay.

Death Penalty Papers FAQ

Why do many people oppose the death penalty?

The right to life, which is the most basic human right, is violated by the death penalty. It is the pinnacle of inhumane, humiliating, and brutal punishment. There is discrimination in the issuing of the death penalty. The impoverished, members of religious and ethnic minorities, and those with mental problems are among those most likely to be the targets of its use. The potential for the execution of an innocent person is ever-present in societies where judicial systems are imperfect and wrongful trials are common.

Does the death sentence deter criminal behavior?

No solid evidence suggests that capital punishment is more effective than a jail sentence in reducing criminal activity. Nations that have outlawed capital punishment have seen no increase in crime rates. They have even decreased in a few instances. Murder rates in Canada are less than half of what they were in 1976 when the country repealed the death penalty.

What is the only crime punishable by death in Anthem?

The only offense that carries the death penalty in Anthem is speaking the Unspeakable Word. The Unspeakable Word’s transgressor is burned alive in the town square for pronouncing it.

Should convicted terrorists get the death penalty?

As a show of force to “protect” national security, governments frequently issue the death sentence following violent assaults. People who are willing to die for their convictions, such as suicide bombers, are not deterred by the fear of execution. Just as executions produce martyrs whose memory serves as a rallying cry for their groups, so too do other forms of capital punishment.