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Opinions on the death penalty
Impact of the death penalty
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Since the beginning of modern law, capital punishment has been present in our world. Ranging from the guillotine to lethal injection, over time people have discovered more “humane” ways to execute a convicted criminal. Opinions on the subject may vary depending on certain situations, such as the victim being a family member or close friend. Although there are solid pro-arguments for the death penalty I believe there is enough evidence that implies it should not be legal in any way, shape or form.
Imagine if you knew the day and exact time that you would die. How would you want to spend those last few hours? Answers would clearly vary greatly from person to person, but I am certain that not a single soul would choose their last few hours on earth spent in a tiny room alone. Before the execution inmates are brought to what is called the death house cell to spend their final hours. Alone with nothing to do but think about the unavoidable fate that rests ahead of them. Here they have the last meal of their choice, which I’m sure goes great with the feeling of knowing that it is the last meal of your life. They have their final phone call, and are then led down the hall to the death chamber. When in the death chamber there is no turning back. The only thing that can save an inmate at this point is a telephone pardon. So an innocent man or woman, who is now strapped to a bed waits, watches, and prays for that telephone to ring. They die waiting.
In the 1995 movie Dead Man Walking, Sean Penn played a death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. Poncelet was convicted of the murder and rape of two young teenagers. He was sentenced to the death penalty and his accomplice was not. This proves that there are ways to get out of capital ...
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...nformation Center. 4 Apr. 2007 < http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6>.
“The Death Penalty – Amnesty International.” 30 Mar. 2007. Amnesty International. 4 Apr. 2007 < http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng>.
“Capital Punishment; The Death Penalty.” 6 Jan. 2007. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 4 Apr. 2007. < http://www.religioustolerance.org/execute.htm>.
“Death Penalty Focus.” 2007. Death Penalty Focus. 13 Apr. 2007 < http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=cost&menu=1">.
“Death Penalty Arguments.” 2007. Death Penalty Arguments. 13 Apr. 2007 < http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/OrnellasPaper.htm>.
“Exonerated Death Row Inmate Speaks Out.” Dec. 2003. The New Abolitionist. 13 Apr. 2007 < http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/newab030/06_Exonerated.html>.
Dead Man Walking. Dir. Tim Robbins. DVD. MGM, 1995.
...eter, Richard C. “Death Penalty Information Center” A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts about the Death Penalty. 2007. 1-30 Print.
Since 1967, a total of 1392 executions have occurred in the United States ("Executions by Year"). What a shocking amount! This staggering number creates questioning on the topic of capital punishment. Is the death penalty really constitutional? Research and study over the topic leads to the conclusion that capital punishment should not be instituted in the United States for various reasons. The death penalty is immoral, unconstitutional, and inaccurate due to human errors.
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
Main Point 1: Imagine someone that has been accused of murder and sentenced to death row has to spend almost 17-20 years in jail and then one day get kill. Then later on the person that they killed was not the right person.
Mappes, Thomas A., Jane S. Zembaty, and David DeGrazia. "The Death Penalty." Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 105-53. Print.
Bedau, Hugo Adam. “The Case Against the Death Penalty.” ACLU.org. 2012. Web. 4 December 2013. https://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/case-against-death-penalty
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
Travelling around the world, this paper presents the various religious perspectives evidenced in recent actions taken regarding the death penalty.
Guernsey, J. B. (2010). Death penalty: fair 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=false
“A Death in Texas” by Steve Earle is the true-life story of a friendship that occurred over ten
Tucker, William. "Society Needs the Death Penalty to Deter Murderers." Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Shenendehowa Public Library. 24 Nov. 2003
“Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from the death row, including some who came within minutes of execution. In Missouri, Texas and Virginia investigations have been opened to determine if those states executed innocent men. To execute an innocent person is morally reprehensible; this risk we cannot
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Inmates are six times more likely to get off death row by appeal than by execution. The argument that murderer’s are the least likely of all criminals to repeat their crime is not only irrelevant, but also increasingly false. Six percent of young adults paroled in 1978 after having been convicted of murder were arrested for murder again within six years of release (“Recidivism of Young Parolees”).
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be