Persuasive Essay On Capital Punishment

The issue of capital punishment in the United States is a complicated and controversial one, one that is emotionally charged and morally perplexing. Some people believe that it is a necessary evil; the only punishment fit for the crimes that we as a society have come to abhor, and the only punishment that all criminals fear. Others see its continuing practice as a source of shame; a cruel, costly and archaic form of punishment that has no place in modern America. I feel THESIS – STILL WORKING
First, there is the issue of the logistics of execution. Whether it is right or wrong to execute, there is a cost factor that effects every American citizen. Although the cost of capital punishment varies from state to state (due to differences in court costs and appeal lengths), execution is always more expensive than a sentence of life without parole. Advocates of capital punishment like Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, say that "Having an effective appeals process might very well cost less.” (Associated Press) However true this may be, consider this: California, the

The process of execution is a slow one (it takes an average of 16 years to execute a prisoner), and full of pain and uncertainty for both the families of the victims and of the condemned. The sentenced are isolated for the majority of their time on death row, with only the anticipation of their death to occupy their mind. Many prisoners on death row experience a slide into mental illness during their time there. There are also the constant emotional ups-and-downs as the prisoner exhausts every appeal possible to save his life, and families must relive the experience again and again at hearings and court appearances for years. As tragic as this suffering is, there is the ultimate gamble we take when we execute: that this could happen to an innocent