Synthesis Essay On Capital Punishment

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Recommended: Capital punishment is it inhumane or not

Widely accepted and practiced in the United States, capital punishment is the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. The issue of capital punishment has been a controversial debate since 1972 when the death penalty was suspended and declared unconstitutional. Since then, thirty-one states have reinstated the death penalty, but the question of whether it should be permanently eliminated or maintained in the United States still remains. In cases with capital punishment, there is always a risk that the person sentenced to die may not have actually committed the crime he is being accused of. Of course, there is a long process to hopefully ensure that the wrong suspect does not die, but even the slightest risk of a mistake …show more content…

Source G represents a graph that clearly displays the extraordinary high price of cases in which the death penalty was successfully sought in Maryland, $3,017,000, compared to the price of cases in which the death penalty was not sought, $1,103,000 (The Cost of Capital Cases). Between the local and state governments and taxpayer dollars, an excessive amount of money each year is paid toward capital punishment cases when it could be used for much more productive and needed causes. Some people, like Dr. David B. Muhlhausen, argue that the death penalty saves innocent lives, so the high cost for taxpayers is worth the added expense, but “counties have been threatened with bankruptcy by the cost of death-penalty cases” (Blethen). If the costs of capital punishment cases are so extreme that certain counties are on the brink of bankruptcy, authorities should take a step back to deliberate the priorities of the community, and hopefully the innocent, law abiding taxpayers would be more important than the death of criminals who would be just as threatening in prison as they would be if they were dead. Even though prison security has the slightest chance for error, “the cost of lifetime imprisonment pales in comparison, and ensures the same level of public safety

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