Capital punishment is a current and ongoing controvery. In the textbook, The SociologyProject 2.5 in Chapter 18.3.3, Manza, indicates four main goals of punishment: Retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. Retribution means an eye for an eye. I think the desire for retribution will vary among individuals, I personally wouldn’t want retribution but I can understand where others come from.
As I mentioned on the My Opinion page, deterrence doesn’t have a lot of data to back it up. I think the idea of punishing people to try to decrease crime is a great idea. But I don’t think the death penalty is the way to go. A criminal could be punished with a 10 year sentence in prison, 20 years and so on, or even a life sentence without the possibility of parole. By punishing the criminals with time in jail, it will incapacitate them and remove them from society.
Overall I hope the justice system will focus more on rehabilitating criminals rather than killing citizens. What I mean by rehabilitating is not taking criminals and putting them in a cinder block with a stone bed and a metal toilet; they are not animals and shouldn’t be treated like one. What I mean by rehabilitating is giving them a decent place to sleep and actually respecting them as humans. I also think it is important to communicate with criminals individually and help them overcome mental illnesses or other causes that led them to committing a crime.