According to deathpenatlyinfo.org, currently there are 32 states with the death penalty and 18 states without the death penalty. Society has always punished people that do unlawful actions. Being that murder is the most is in highest interest of preventing, the strongest punishment available, the death penalty, is used. People may think when states sentence murderers to death that it would prevent future murderers from doing the same actions seeing that they will receive the same punishment. Deathpenaltycurriculum.org reports, “Moreover, even if some studies regarding deterrence are inconclusive, that is only because the death penalty is rarely used and takes years before an execution is actually carried out”. Not only that but some states that don’t have the death penalty have lower crimes rates than those that do. In my opinion the death penalty should be abolished due to many purposeful reasons including: financial costs, the process slowing down the court system, life in prison being far more effective, possibility of convicting and killing an innocent person, and violating “cruel and unusual” punishment clause. According to balancepolitics.org, it cost two to five times more than keeping that same criminal in prison for life. The reasons for such high financial costs are the endless appeals, additional procedures, legal processes, paying people, lawyer costs, and even the execution itself based on which type. Not only do the financial costs affect the state but it affects the taxpayers. Most criminals who are convicted to penalty are on death row for up to 20 years which slows down the court system and makes the death penalty useless in some way. Deathpenalty.procon.org notes that, “Everything that is needed for an ordinary... ... middle of paper ... ...ations but in fact it’s a irrational response. Deathpenalty.procon.org states, “Expressing one’s violence simply reinforces the desire to express it. Just as expressing anger simply makes us more angry”. In conclusion, our justice system is full of flaws and proves to show why the death penalty should be abolished. The reasons for it to be abolished include: financials cost, long drawn out process, more effective sentencing styles, the conviction and execution of an innocent person and the violation of the “cruel and unusual” punishment clause in the Bill of Rights. While the death penalty may seem like the right thing to do under the philosophy of “Eye for Eye”, it only encourages the ongoing process of criminal behavior. Our criminal justice system is blurred and sometimes ineffective when it comes to certain cases. Moreover, justice can be bought rather served.
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Show MoreHundreds of people each year are punished for crimes they didn’t even commit. Some have spent at least 14 years in prison, while others have spent time on death row. In 2015, up to 149 people were cleared for crimes they didn’t commit. (Ferner) This was because of DNA exonerations, eye witness identification reforms, criminal justice reform commissions, petitions, protests, news stories, preservation of evidence, and access to post-conviction DNA testing. Some causes that triggered wrongful convictions are: a younger defendant, a criminal history, a weak prosecution case, prosecution withheld evidence, and a weak defense (Predicting and Preventing Wrongful Convictions). Kirstin Lobato fits the shoe! She has been in jail for the past 15 years
Although capital punishment may seem like the perfect deterrent it does not lower the crime rate. According to FBI data, states that have abolished the death penalty have homicide rates consistent with or below the national rate.(Diehm)
Additionally, capital punishment is absurdly expensive. In the article, “ Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects & Capital costs” Jeffery A. Fagan discusses how expensive death penalty cases can be. He
The death penalty, capital punishment, in the words of the Oxford English Dictionary is the legally authorized execution of an individual as discipline for a crime (“Death Penalty”). Exactly one hundred and sixty-nine years before the establishment of the United States of America, in year 1607, George Kendall was the first to meet his fate to a firing squad in Jamestown, Virginia as retribution for discord, mutiny, and espionage (Green 1). Some four hundred and seven years later, the fate of the death penalty itself has become one rather controversial—in the landmark Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia (1972), the implementation of absolute justice was ruled unconstitutional; yet a mere four years later, this decision was overruled. One thousand
Since the 13 colonies were first established in America, the death penalty has been the main form of capital punishment as a firmly deep-rooted institution in the United States. Today, one of the most debated issues in the criminal justice system is the issue of capital punishment. While receiving disapproving viewpoints as those who oppose the death penalty find moral fault in capital punishment, the death penalty has taken a very different course in America while continuing to further advancements in the justice system since the start of the new millennium. While eliminating overcrowding in state jails, the death penalty has managed to save tax payers dollars as well as deteriorate crime and apprehend criminals.
Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Losing one life is enough, the government should not take another. The death penalty is the sentence of execution for murder or other capital crimes. In the United States, thirty-one states currently have the death penalty. The only crime that is punishable by death at the state level is murder. In October of 2015, Gallup reported that 61% of people were in favor of the death penalty, 37% of people opposed the death penalty, and 2% had no opinion (Gallup). The death penalty in America should be abolished in all 50 states because it is immoral and economically ineffective.
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." This is what is stated in the 14th amendment of the Bill of Rights. So why is there still a death penalty in the United States? The first laws created towards the death penalty go as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which allowed the death penalty to be carried out for 25 different crimes. In these early times death sentences were done in ways such as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Newer ways to go about the death penalty, more nineteenth century, include hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection. What do all these methods
While one person lays with their wrists circumscribed to the worn leather of the gurney, another person holds two skin-piercing needles. The individual holding the needles is an inexperienced technician who obtains permission from the United States federal government to murder people. One needle is held as a precaution in case the pain is too visible to the viewers. Another dagger filled with a lethal dosage of chemicals is inserted into the vein that causes the person to stop breathing. When the cry of the heart rate monitor becomes monotone, the corrupt procedure is complete. Lying in the chair is a corpse when moments ago it was an individual who made one fatal mistake that will never get the chance to redeem (Ecenbarger). Although some people believe that the death
Many people, including some higher educated people, tend to believe that executing someone is a lot cheaper than the alternative, which is life in prison without the possibility of parole. Indeed, this thought seems like common sense. However, extensive research has been conducted that contradicts that belief. For instance, a study conducted in Maryland, in 2008, found that the state spends roughly 1.9 million dollars more per capital case, compared to non-capital cases (Warden, 2009). But how can this be some may ask. Well, the reason capital punishment costs more than life without the possibility of parole, is because death penalty cases are longer and more expensive. Because the capital punishment is an irreversible sentence, the state, or government, is required to heighten the defendant’s due process in order to decrease the chance of the defendant being innocent (DPIC). Furthermore, not only is it more expensive for the trial phase, it is also a higher price for a state to imprison death row inmates compared to other
The cost of the Death Penalty is highly expensive. A case to put someone in jail costs on average two million three hundred thousand dollars on average while to put an inmate in jail for forty years cost on average seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars (Friedman 11). In Texas the death penalty cost three times more money than putting an inmate in the highest security level in a jail for forty years (4). It also takes time for a death penalty case to be processed and a convict to be sentenced to the death penalty. Then it takes more time for the state to act and to administer the death penalty to people on death row. On average it takes ten to twenty years to execute a convicted criminal on death row (Friedman 11). Costs could be lowered by shortening the appeal process but this would only increase the risk of executing an innocent person.
One major reason that I believe that the death penalty should be abolished is because the expenses of the death penalty greatly exceed those of life imprisonment. “Maintaining a system of Capital Punishment is far more expensive than sending murderers to prison until they die of natural causes. No systematic study has reached a contrary conclusion”(Costanzo 62). When various states conducted research on reinstating the death penalty, it was found that the cost would be enormous. A study in New York showed that the cost would be $118 million dollars each year to restore the death penalty within the state. Another study conducted in Kansas illustrated that the cost of the death penalty would be $11.4 million for the first year of reinstatement, and that the expenses would only rise each year as more prisoners were placed on death row (Quoted in Hanks 125). When compared to the cost of life imprisonment, these figures are astronomical. “A life sentence in prison without parole is estimated to range from $750,000 to $1.1 mi...
Capital punishment has been a controversial topic in association to any person condemned to a serious committed crime. Capital punishment has been a historical punishment for any cruel crime. Issues associated to things such as the different methods used for execution in most states, waste of taxpayers’ money by performing execution, and how it does not serve as any form of justice have been a big argument that raise many eyebrows. Capital punishment is still an active form of deterrence in the United States. The history of the death penalty explains the different statistics about capital punishment and provides credible information as to why the form of punishment should be abolished by every state. It is believed
If someone brutally beat and killed one of your family members, would you want them sentenced to death? In the United States, the death penalty is legal in 31 states, while illegal in 19. This topic is universally controversial and generally debated upon. Different forms of execution are performed throughout all including Electrocution, Lethal injection, Gas inhalation, and hanging in Washington. As of 2018, the death penalty continues to be enforced and should stay that way as long as the crime can be proven as a form of purposeful homicide!
In order to keep inmates on death row, it costs America’s taxpayers more of their hard earned money. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Cases without the death penalty cost $740,000, while cases where the death penalty is sought cost
“The FBI has found that the states with the death penalty have the highest murder rates” (Bedau). Although the death penalty hasn’t been proven to deter crimes, it is still taken as an option to lower the crime rates. Other countries like Japan, India, Thailand, and a lot of the Caribbean islands, such as Barbados, do not have very much commitment to the death penalty as a crime deterrent. The death penalty is very costly for just one execution. To send someone to death row in Florida, the state with the most people on death row, it would cost around 3.2 million dollars all together (Bedau 16). For someone to be in a state prison annually, it would cost around 16 thousand dollars (Hood 84). It is cheaper to punish someone with life in jail rather than putting criminals to