Agree: The Death Penalty Does Thesis

Total Length: 617 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 2

Page 1 of 2



Disagree: trying to get tough on gun crimes, especially through mandatory prison sentences, will not reduce gun-related crimes

Getting "tough on crime" has become a political code in the United States. The phrase has become a Republican Party platform issue and one used to galvanize citizens, one that signals the righteous intolerance of criminals but is a thinly cloaked measure for social control. Of course, Americans should hope for a society that is as crime-free as possible, one that does not restrict the right of citizens to possess a weapon while at the same time prohibiting criminals from doing the same. Tough on crime laws and mandatory prison sentences are not viable means of reducing gun-related crimes, though.

The way that "tough on crime" laws are phrased garners attention and votes. Voters have a hard time turning anti-gun laws down, but for the wrong reasons. The tough on crime laws fail to address the root causes of the problem: poverty and social injustice.
Mandatory sentences will not reduce gun-related crimes. The decriminalization of drugs would go a farther way toward reducing gun crimes than the laws intended to be tough on crime. Eliminating the black market of drugs would take power away from criminal organizations that sell guns too.

Furthermore, the true policies that result from "tough on crime" rhetoric are unsavory and un-American. To be tough on crime entails supporting laws like "three strikes" that penalize minor non-violent drug offenders, not necessarily murderers. The victims of gun-related crimes are often people of color: Latino and African-Americans. Impoverished regions of America are besieged by gun-related violence, because guns and related black market commodities are more lucrative than any low-wage job. Gun-related crimes are sometimes connected with drugs, but mandatory prison sentences are a poor, ineffectual, and inhuman means of dealing with preventable crimes in America......

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Agree The Death Penalty Does" (2008, October 08) Retrieved April 29, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/agree-death-penalty-27755

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Agree The Death Penalty Does" 08 October 2008. Web.29 April. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/agree-death-penalty-27755>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Agree The Death Penalty Does", 08 October 2008, Accessed.29 April. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/agree-death-penalty-27755