Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

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Over half the countries in the world use the death penalty as a form of punishment. Is this a proven deterrent to heinous crimes; or is it a barbaric practice that has been perpetuated by society since its inception under the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon in the eighteenth century B.C.? We will examine the death penalty from several perspectives and ultimately show the decency of today’s civilized society has progressed beyond the need for the death penalty.
A prisoner on death row costs more than twice as much as a prisoner in general population. The cost of housing a prisoner on death row averages $49,380 per year whereas prisoners in general population only averages $24,690 per year. However, inflated costs for death row inmates do not end with housing; their …show more content…

They should have to sit in jail for the rest of their life and think every single day about their crime. If we as a society truly believe in human rights and two wrongs don’t make a right, then the death penalty should be abolished. The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of abolishing the death penalty. Let’s now revisit the original question we started with- death penalty deterrent or barbaric practice? We have seen that there is no defintative information that shows the death penalty deters crime. Additionally, there are over 3,000 people on death row in the US. If we were to abolish the death penalty we could save over 150 million dollars per year and eliminate the risk of killing innocent people. The evidence leans more towards the death penalty being a barbaric practice that violates the basic human rights that are the bed rock of a civilized society. The term an “eye for an eye” is as old as the death penalty itself and the reasoning is just as antiquated. We as a society have advanced past this way of thinking and it is time that our judicial system does the same and abolishes the death

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