For many years, the death penalty has been used to execute people who had committed horrific crimes. Even though it is still practiced by the justice system, there are people who support it while, there are others are against it. Many people feel that the death penalty is a cruel way to kill a person, while others believe it is capital punishment. When someone is sentenced to death, you have to think about the possibility that person might be innocent and you will end up putting their family through a lot of suffering and heartache. Is the justice system really willing to go through all this in order to gain some form of closure? I recently came across an article “Punishment should fit the crime,” in which they were supporting the use of The death penalty. It was definitely against my beliefs about enforcing the death penalty.
In the article the author stated that ‘convicted killers, once released from their short sentence, are free to slay the minute they walk out of the penitentiary,’ the author is making it seem that because they weren’t in jail for so long, that is the reason why they end up committing another
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According to the Death Penalty Information Center, ‘they weren’t able to tell how many of the 1,000 people executed since 1976 maybe have been innocent. Defense attorneys have already moved on to a new case, in which a clients’ live can still have been saved.’ One example is the story of Todd Willingham. In 1992, he was accused of setting his house on fire which killed all of his three children. The court had thought he killed them on purpose, sadly, he was sentence to be executed. After a few years, the court found that the evidence they collected against him was false. The fire was accidental and he was found to be innocent. Sadly, it was too late to bring him back to live. Like the many others who were executed while innocent, he was also a
“How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” According to DPIC (Death penalty information center), there are one thousand –four hundred thirty- eight executions in the United States since 1976. Currently, there are Two thousand –nine hundred –five inmates on death row, and the average length of time on death row is about fifteen years in the United States. The Capital punishment, which appears on the surface to the fitting conclusion to the life of a murder, in fact, a complicated issue that produces no clear resolution.; However, the article states it’s justice. In the article “How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” an author David B. Muhlhausen illustrates a story of Earl Ringo , Jr, brutal murder’s execution on September ,10,
Hundreds 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
However, Jeff Jacoby from The Boston Globe argues in his article that “there is also protection for the living (When Murderers…, 1). For instance, when the judicial system condemns someone to life in prison there is always the possibility that the criminal may escape. If that criminal escapes he could potentially use his anger to murder the remaining people that had him sent to prison to begin with. Also he could injure or even murder other people that are not even connected with the crime. For the individual that committed the crime there is no sense of self consciousness. However, if the individual responsible for putting the criminal in jail was to find out that he escaped and continued his spree of crimes it could cause that individual to feel guilty about not doing something more to the person who does not care about what they have done or how it has affected anyone
Critics of capital punishment hold that because most homicides are situational and are not planned, offenders do not consider the consequences of their actions before they commit the offense” (Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2015, p.133). Most people on death row committed their crimes in the heat of the moment, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or, in some cases, due to suffering from mental illness. These individuals are highly unlikely to make rational decisions based on a fear of future consequences for their actions. Criminals are mainly concerned with whether or not they’ll be caught, not what might happen to them afterwards.
For centuries, the death penalty has been used by nations throughout the world. Practices such as stoning, the guillotine, firing squads, electrocution, and lethal injections have all been common practices to condemn criminals who had enacted heinous crimes. In concurrent society, however, capital punishment has begun to be viewed as a barbaric and inhumane. From these judgments, arguments and controversies have erupted over whether or not the United States should continue to practice the death penalty. With advocates and critics arguing over the morality of the death penalty, the reason to why the death penalty exists has been blurred. Because of the death penalty’s ability to thwart future criminals through fear and its practical purposes, the practice of capital punishment should continue in the United States.
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.
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
By placing convicts on death row, America has found a just way of preventing repeat offenders while decreasing the rate of homicide as justice deteriorates crime rates. For instance, “There is overwhelming proof that living murderers harm and murder again, in prison and after improper release. No one disputed that living murderers are infinitely more likely to harm and murder again than are those that are executed murderers” (Williams). Accordingly, with the chance of facing the death penalty and going on death row, criminals are discouraged from committing the crime they are proceeding in, apprehensive of being placed on death row. Revealing likewise, this also shows that punishing criminals by benefiting them with shelter, food, and basic accommodations does not discourage them from committing more crimes after an improper release occurs. Continuing on, “For every inmate in America who was executed on Death Row, seven innocent lives were spared because other criminals were deterred from committing murder”(Williams)....
The death penalty is immoral and should be removed from every justice system across America because it puts the lives of innocent people at risk. If someone is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death, there is a chance that they could be executed. Now an innocent victim and an innocent accused killer have died while the real killer is still free. Approximately 156 prisoners on death row have been exonerated, and it is impossible to tell how many more prisoners were innocent and still were executed (DPIC). An example of an innocent person being executed is the case of Cameron Willingham. Willingham was convicted of murdering three children in 1991 in a house fire. He was executed in 2004. A
The problem with this is that, once done, there’s no going back. Since the death penalty was reinstated, 144 men and women has been released from death row. That is 144 people who were wrongly convicted of a crime and released, sometimes moments before execution. One study says that 1 out of 25 (4.1 percent) sentenced to death did not commit the crime accounted for. Regarding the 144 men and women previously mentioned, “As a percentage of all death sentences, that 's just 1.6 percent. But if the innocence rate is 4.1 percent, more than twice the rate of exoneration, the study suggests what most people assumed but dreaded: An untold number of innocent people have been executed” (Levy). The study puts into play a number of factors, but the statement still stands. Yet another aspect that affects those on death row, is
Throughout the years the death penalty has been a very controversial aspect when it comes to punishment. Some groups of people believe that is should be abolished and other think that America should keep it. I’m here to say that I am not for the death penalty at all. To me the death penalty has a couple of flaws that I have an issue looking past. The death penalty is very unconstitutional for anyone who is put through it and it is very bias on who it chooses for the punishment.
We’re only human, we all make mistakes. It is certainly that if a person who commits a crime deserves punishment, but there is a difference between making someone serve a punishment and killing them. The death penalty does not provide injustice, there are still criminals who continue to break the laws. There are still murder cases going on while a criminal is being punished for committing a crime. It does not deter the crime. It still continues. Who is stopping it? The government is committing a crime itself. They claim that killing someone means you shall be killed too. Well, that all is part of a murderer as well. Burning, hanging, drowning, crucifixion, breaking on the will, boiling to death, and, electrocution are such barbaric acts. Capital
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
One of the most repetitive and controversial topics discussed in the criminal justice system, is the death penalty. Capital punishment has been a part of our nation’s history since the creation of our constitution. In fact, as of January 1st, 2016, 2,943 inmates were awaiting their fate on death row (Death Penalty Information Center). Throughout my life, I have always been a strong advocate for the death penalty. During the majority of my undergraduate degree, I was a fierce supporter of capital punishment when discussing the topic in classes. However, throughout many criminal justice courses, I found myself in the minority, regarding the abolishment of the death penalty. While debating this topic, I would always find myself sympathetic to the victims and their families, as one should be, wanting those who were responsible for heinous crimes to
One in twenty-five or 4.1% of people sentenced to death are innocent(One in 25). A man named Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully sentenced to death. In Texas, during the year 2004 Cameron was accused of killing his three daughters in a fire. Cameron claimed that he was innocent from the very beginning, yet no one believed him. He was found guilty for the act of killing his three daughters in the fire. Later on after his execution, they found more information that helped them come to the conclusion that Cameron was indeed not guilty. As he said from the very beginning(Cameron Todd). This case is particularly weird because the court does not usually look back into a case after one is executed. Cameron is not the only one who was ever wrongfully executed. Cameron is one of many. “I’m actually really opposed to the death penalty”(Bill Paxton). Bill Paxton is one of many who agree that the death penalty is wrong. There are many reasons why one can oppose the death penalty, but the major reason one opposes the death penalty is because it puts the lives of innocent people at risk.