By definition, capital punishment is the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. With a sensitive subject such as this, the question is, is revoking a human being’s life justifiable for the severity of their crimes? Is it acceptable to take away someone’s life out of revenge or does it makes us as immoral as the criminal? As the reader learns more about all the different aspects that make up the murderers in In Cold Blood; Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, we are left with this very same question as to whether or not they deserved the death penalty. A person’s first reaction of what a murderer’s punishment should be is typically the death penalty for the purpose of finding closure/justice but in all reality, revoking someone’s life doesn’t solve anything at all in the long run. All things considered, various articles mention how even criminologists have noted that capital punishment does not effectively deter murder rates. For this reason, the death penalty should not be imposed on anyone for how barbaric and inhumane it is, as well as how there is no deterrent factor and …show more content…
When asked about his opinion on capital punishment, Dick states, “I’m not against it. Revenge is all it is…” (Capote 335). With this intention, Dick clearly affirms that to give someone the death penalty is more about revenge for what they did rather than seeking justice. As a result, people tend to be biased towards inflicting capital punishment on others but if one day they were put in that position, would they still believe in it or be strictly against it? If we strive for criminal justice then there having an unbiased mindset is essential determining what a criminal’s punishment should really be. Just as we are taught as children, we should remember to treat others as we would want to be treated, thus we must avoid having emotion take over