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The flaws in capital punishment
Capital punishment in the justice system
The case for and against capital punishment
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Innocent Victims of Capital Punishment are Possible
Try to imagine yourself being convicted of a crime you did not commit, and even worse being told you have die for that crime. This nightmare is actually a reality for some inmates on death row today. The death penalty should be abolished because the potential for even one death of an innocent man violates all principles of justice. "Can the justice system ever be 100 percent right? Not likely. Then how can it administer punishment that's 100 percent irreversible" ("Lock Up" 2)?
"On October 23, 1989, the phone rang at Officer Gary McLaughlin's desk. He picked it up immediately answering, ‘State Police, Boston,’ from the other end of the line he heard a man's voice: "My wife's been shot. I've been shot” (Baird and Rosenbaum 95). Charles Stuart and his wife had been shot leaving Stuart critically wounded and his wife dead. The police were under considerable pressure to solve the crime. Charles Stuart gave a rough description of the gunman. He was described as being 6 feet tall, about thirty years old, and black.
Two weeks after the murder of Charles Stuart’s wife,
police in Boston arrested Willie Bennett for a traffic
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violation. "Bennett, who had a previous criminal record, was a thirty-nine year old black man. Potentially a suspect the police showed a picture of Bennett to Stuart and also arranged a line-up for Stuart to view. "Stuart promptly fingered Bennett as the man who looked 'most like' the killer of his wife"(Baird and Rosenbaum 96). Bennett was later arranged on murder charges and would face the death penalty. Fortunately for Willie Bennett, on the morning of January 5, 1990, Charles Stu...
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... even for a crime is ok.
The impact on the families of the condemned prisoners
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and the homicide victims creates considerable amounts of stress. The criminal justice system offers death to the
family of the victim and, in turn, destroys the defendant’s family. The families of the defendant are often ignored.
Capitol punishment is a final sentence. There is no room for a mistake because once the execution is carried out there is no going back. Looking back, we see that the potential for innocent men to die exists, inmates must struggle to receive a fair trial, and that our society will suffer because of those who seek vengeance. Capitol punishment should be abolished. In the end, we must ask our selves one question. Is the potential to detour murder or get even with a killer enough of a reason to sacrifice even one innocent man’s life?
Curtis McGhee was charged for the murder of John Schweer who worked as a security guard at a car dealership. Even though there were various suspects after the crime McGhee was charged based on a false statement, which was made by Kevin Hughes. Kevin Hughes was under police investigation for a stolen car ring, however while he was under police investigations the detectives pressured and instructed Hughes to confess, and Hughes stated that he, Harrington, and McGhee attempted to steal a car where Schweer used to work, and when he came to check Harrington shot him with a shotgun.
Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.
The case involved a line of duty shooting that took place between Illinois Officer Mary Redmond and suspect Ricky Allen, whom Redmond fatally wounded, and revolved around the family’s excessive force complaint, which they filed on the grounds that the witness testimony differed from Redmond’s account. [1]
Capital punishment is not an effective punishment or deterrent for murder or any crime for various reasons. To many prisoners, being detained in a prison is much more of a punishment than death as is it a constant, conscious deprivation of liberty and rights. This idea is represented though US Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who claimed after dropping his appeals against his death sentence that he would rather die than...
The story of Ryan Ferguson is a bizarre case that many find difficult to comprehend. In 2001, a murder was committed and although DNA evidence was left behind, no suspects were found. The case became cold, until two years later when an anonymous call came saying that the murderer was Charles Erickson. Apparently, Chuck Erickson blacked out the night of Halloween and thought that he may have committed the crime because he was in the vicinity of the scene. When interrogated, his story was loose and full of doubts.
Capital punishment has been a hot topic debate the past years, especially now that it is slowly dying out throughout the states. In this paper I have brought out four people’s opinion on their views about capital punishment. With these people ideals, I wanted to bring forth a small sample of people’s ideals to leave the you, the reader, with some perspective on others
The use of capital punishment has progressively become problematic since the very first day it was put into practice. There are many great arguments both for and against capital punishment, but in my opinion the benefits of capital punishment outweigh any possible negative aspects. Although capital punishment sounds extreme, sometimes it is necessary when people execute extreme crimes. I would like to argue that in certain situations the use of capital punishment is morally acceptable.
Capital punishment is something no person should endure, no matter how awful the committed crime may be. It is a cruel and sick punishment, for example, someone who has killed somebody has to undergo various gruesome and awful forms of capital punishment such as electrocution where they strap you to a chair and 1000 watts of electricity flow through your body or decapitation where the person is restrained to a wooden device with a sharp blade and then the blade is released or even immurement where the person is left to starve and dehydrate to death. When they are convicted to capital punishment, they are just waiting for death, and how slow and/or painful the procedure might be.
and tension in our country. The controversy in our society is whether the death penalty/capital punishment serves as a justified form of punishment. Justice can be served by inflicting the death sentence for murder.
The death penalty, as administered by states based on their individual laws, is considered capital punishment, the purpose of which is to penalize criminals convicted of murder or other heinous crimes (Fabian). The death penalty issue has been the focus of much controversy in recent years, even though capital punishment has been a part of our country's history since the beginning. Crimes in colonial times, such as murder and theft of livestock were dealt with swiftly and decisively ("The Death Penalty..."). Criminals were hanged shortly after their trial, in public executions. This practice was then considered just punishment for those crimes. Recently though, the focus of the death penalty debate has been on moral and legal issues. The murderers of today's society can be assured of a much longer life even after conviction, with the constraints of the appeals process slowing the implementation of their death sentence. In most cases, the appeal process lasts several years, during which time criminals enjoy comfortable lives. They have television, gym facilities, and the leisure time to attend free college-level classes that most American citizens must struggle to afford. Foremost, these murderers have the luxury of time, something their victims ran out of the moment their paths crossed. It is time this country realized the only true justice for these criminals is in the form of the death penalty. The death penalty should be administered for particularly heinous crimes.
The capital punishment has been cited as a reasonable sentence by those who advocate for retribution. This is essentially when it comes to justice so that people take full responsibility for their individual actions. Studies have proved that the decision to take away life of a person because they committed a certain crime serves to perpetuate the crime in question. It also serves to enhance the progress of organized and violent crime. It has been noted that various flaws in the justice system has led to the wrong conviction of innocent people. On the other hand, the guilty have also been set free, and a plethora of several cases has come up when a critical look at the capital punishment has been undertaken. Killers hardly kill their victims deliberately, but they probably act on anger, passion, or impulsively. In this regard, it is not proper to convict them exclusively without
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.
If an error occurs in the procedure, the criminal will face a painful and cruel death. Even more horrifying, an innocent person can be placed on death row. “The reality is that there are few innocent people on death row; the vast majority of these inmates did, in fact, commit the crimes for which they were found guilty. These killers brutally took the lives of innocent victims. By not recognizing the lives of their victims as sacred, they cannot claim their own lives are sacred. In the end, the death penalty is an individual punishment for an individual crime” (Bowman and DiLascio). Although this quote tries to offer a counterpoint to the argument that the death penalty should be abolished, it still admits that there are innocent people on death row. An innocent man placed on death row results in two casualties of innocent men while the brutal murderer sleeps peacefully each night. Errors in the death penalty can destroy families, terminate friendships, and disintegrate love and companionship. Since there is no guarantee that every person on death row is guilty, it is too dangerous to risk more innocent
A man chooses to take cocaine. He understands the risks he is taking, and he believes that taking the cocaine is worth the risk. Should he be allowed to take the drug? Or should the government force him to abstain from it, in his own interest? He is not hurting anyone but himself, so why should there be a law against it? This debate has raged since the beginning of civilization. J. S. Mill, in his Essay on Liberty, takes the position that is commonly accepted: the government should not interfere with matters that do not involve more than one person. These matters are often called "victimless crimes." Mill - along with the majority of people in today's world - claims that if a person commits a crime against his or herself, such as harming the body by taking certain drugs or suicide, the person should not be prosecuted. The argument is that no other person is affected. All involved parties consent to the arrangement, so they should be responsible for whatever happens. A few common victimless crimes are prostitution, taking harmful drugs, and suicide. These are perceived as having no negative effect on anyone but the people who agreed to accept the negative effects. In reality, all victimless crimes cause problems for other members of society. J. S. Mill did not understand that "victimless" crimes do not actually exist.
While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that capital punishment is being used for vengeance or as a deterrent. Capital punishment has been used worldwide, not only by the governments to instill fear, but to show that there are repercussions to ones actions. From the time we are born, we are taught to learn the difference between right and wrong. It is ingrained in our brains, what happens to people that do bad things? Capital punishment is renowned for being the worst thing that could be brought amongst ones life.