The death penalty continues to be a controversial issue and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, writer of “The Death Penalty in America,” capital punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for various crimes. The Bible says that anyone who commits murder, theft, rape, and burglary should be put to death. It seems that the public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some who are in favor of the death penalty and will continue to believe that it is a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people firmly believe that if a criminal took the life of another, that should be taken too, and I don't see how the death penalty can deter anyone from committing crimes if you are about to commit the crime then at that moment you don't do not think that you are in the role of death. I don't think they should be put to death, they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their lives and think about how they destroy other families. A change in opinions and attitudes regarding the death penalty is likely attributed to social science research findings. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000). During the 1970s, the main argument in favor of the death penalty was general deterrence. This argument suggests that we must punish offenders to discourage others from committing similar crimes; we punish past offenders to send a message to potential offenders. In a broad sense, the deterrent effect of punishment is believed to be...... at the heart of the document ......erenzeDeath Penalty Information Center (nd). Deterrence: States without the death penalty have had consistently low murder rates. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-ratesGuernsey, J.B. (2010). Death penalty: right solution or moral failure. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=38slHSsFFrgC&pg=PA125&dq=death+penalty+in+other+countries&hl=en&ei=F6dQTZHLBsm_tgfD7rHBCQ&sa=X&oi = book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=death%20penalty%20in%20other%20countries&f=falseRadelet, ML & Borg, MJ (2000). The changing nature of death penalty debates. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 43-61. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/223436.pdf