Abolish Capital Punishment

The death penalty disproportionately targets minorities especially African Americans. In the United States of America there is an unequal and unfair burden against African Americans in the criminal justice system. In 2011, African Americans were only 13.6% of the American population (Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, & Drewery, 2011). However, African Americans in 2011 made up 42% of the total death row population (Snell, 2011). Although a minority of the total population in the United States, African Americans make the majority of inmates on death row facing execution. Furthermore, the death penalty in many states is used as tool that following the racial legacy of Jim Crow laws. Sentences resulting in death are higher in states with a history of lynching (Schweizer 92). States with a history of lynching are predominately found in the Southern United states. The Southern United states has the highest population of death row inmates. In 2009 alone there were 1,630 inmates currently on death row in the South compared to 226 in the North and only 988 in the West (Schweizer 92). In addition, the race of the victim often will determine the sentence. Results from the Baldus Study suggested evidence of racial disparity in the state of Georgia based on the victims race (Schweizer 92). The Baldus study argued African American defendants who committed murdered white individuals had much higher probability of receiving the death penalty. Prosecutors in Georgia pursued a verdict of death in 80% of their cases if the defendant was African American and the victim was white (Schweizer 92). This is purely racial discrimination and prejudice. Finally, “Since 1977, the overwhelming majority (77%) off death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims, even though African Americans make up about half of all homicide victims (Amnesty International).”The race of the both the victim and perpetrator in criminal is irrelevant.

America’s strategy of capital punishment believes that with killing someone actually solves the problem of reducing crime rates when in reality it is more of method to avoid the real issue with the criminal justice system. We are killing all these prisoners and not really getting the answers we need. Like are we really stopping crime. Also, the death penalty puts innocent lives at risk because of how flawed it is. Since the entry of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from death row, including some who came within minutes of execution.With the death penalty . Therefore, I am against the death penalty and wish for it to be terminated. Due to the fact, it is morally wrong and does little to no impact when it comes to reducing crimes rates. Making it practically useless and straight up stupid and distracting us to a point of making us avoid the true ways to actually reduces crime in America.The majority of the United States perspective and value of capital punishment is to punish and kill prisoners but with it nothing is accomplished. Plus, There is no evidence that the death penalty reduces crime. In fact, most people on death row committed their crimes in the heat of passion, while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or while suffering from mental illness. They represent a group that is highly unlikely to make rational decisions based on a fear of future consequences for their actions. The idea that the death

I completely disagree with the archaic and obsolete way of the death penalty since it's way to expensive, it doesn't make the crime go away and the person could be innocent. First off , the amount of money spent on the death penalty is tremendous. Los Angeles Times Study Finds California Spends $250 Million per Execution in a 2005 article, ACLU has reported that "California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year post-trial seeking execution of the people currently on death row;Executing all of the people currently on death row, or waiting for them to die there of other causes, will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if they had been sentenced to die in prison of disease, injury, or old age; California death penalty trials

“…Over 600 people were falsely convicted and 35 faced death for crimes that they did not commit…”(Johnson). The death penalty is an ineffective and expensive way of dealing justice to the American people. It is easier and cheaper to send someone to prison for life than to have them face the death penalty and be executed. Capital punishment is an unnecessary punishment because criminals are already managed at prisons.

The role of race in the history of American politics is important, as a country with a longstanding legacy of racial inequality. This legacy seems to continue to modern day through the use of the legal system, with people of color far more likely to be imprisoned than their white peers. In fact, “African Americans represent 39.4% of the incarcerated population, yet only 12.6% of the total population; whites represent 34.2% of the incarcerated population, but 72.4$ of the total population” (Shuford, Nationwide Empirical Findings 4). Specific to capital punishment, “the victim’s race is the single best predictor of whether the death penalty will be imposed,” with the African Americans up to twenty times more likely to be executed for killing a white person than the reverse (Shuford, Nationwide Empirical Findings 4). In the same way, black Americans are ten times more likely to be imprisoned for a drug charge than are white Americans (Shuford, Nationwide Empirical Findings 4). This may be related to a “racial empathy gap” which leads people to assume that “relative to whites, blacks feel less pain” (Silverstein).

Even though giving out capital punishments has been a controversial topic for years, many American states still use them as a form of resolution.

Unfortunately, there are issues to this approach. As previously stated, there is a racial bias in sentencing of capital punishment. This racial bias places one person’s pain and pleasure over another’s. Since utilitarianism works by maintaining an equality, the death penalty cannot be morally good in the eyes of a utilitarian. Although the death penalty could deter possible criminals and promote their transformation into a productive member of society, it takes away the possibility of current criminals from attending a rehabilitation program, if applicable, and becoming an useful member of prison society. According to Amnesty, the death penalty costs more than any other possible sentences (“U.S. Death Penalty Facts”, 2012). Capital punishment

Although roughly thirty six people are executed each year, it is safe to assume that around eighty percent of those people put to death had killed a white victim. Because of this, the death penalty is discriminatory. The poor and minorities, especially African Americans, are the groups who get the metaphoric “short end of the stick.” Studies have shown that black defendants with less evidence against them than a white person who had committed the same crime were more likely to be sentenced to death. Black defendants are also more likely to be sentenced to death than a person of another race who had committed the same crime. An additional study showed that black defendants were almost three times as likely to get a death penalty sentence than

One reason that the death penalty lacks effectiveness is the high cost of carrying it out. Many dollars are being wasted on this fruitless form of punishment. The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole (Dieter, Internet). Life without parole is much cheaper punishment that is similar to the death penalty. Richard Dieter put it in perspective when he said, “The exorbitant costs of capital punishment are actually making America less safe because badly needed financial and legal resources are being diverted from effective crime fighting strategies.” Dieter is conveying that squandering money on the death penalty is not benefiting the

There are currently a number of Non Governmental Organizations dedicated to the task of abolishing the death penalty. National watchdogs like the Death Penalty Information Center collect and publish national statistics on the death penalty yearly and document all individuals executed in the United States. Though no large movement has been created by DPIC the work done by the organization had made it easier for abolitionists to collect information that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general public. This aids in the expansion of true information about the death penalty and humanizes those on death row by allowing individuals access to case and trial information. Large international organizations like Human Rights

How can America move forward when they are breaking their own laws and morals in attempt to punish prisoners? Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the act of killing a criminal whose offense was severe enough. Thirty-one of the fifty states in America practice the death penalty. The lethal injection procedure was first performed in Texas in 1982 and is the primary form of execution in America now (“State by State Lethal Injection”, 1). The injections are typically three separate parts, one to make the criminal unconscious, one to stop the breathing, and the last to stop the heartbeat. Capital punishment is viewed by some as morally good and just, however there is much more to this act of violence than people consider. The death penalty needs to be abolished in America due to the hypocrisy of law, moral being, global recognition, and financial benefits.

Did you know that there are 2,902 people on the death penalty in the United States! With so many people on death row, it all comes at a high cost. A death row inmate waited an average of 15 years before execution in 2010. Many people are in the death penalty for awhile, which means the cost gets even higher. Not only is it expensive for the death penalty, but so many people are innocent and are still put to death. 144 people were put on death row and have been found not guilty, while 10 of them were put to death in the year 1973. There are many reasons why the death penalty is atrocious. But, two main reasons why the death penalty should be banned is because it is very costly, and many people have been innocent of what they have done.

The death penalty is systematically racist with studies showing African Americans having a stronger presence in our current judicial system than other minorities. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People reports that “together African Americans and Hispanics comprised 58% all prisoners in 2008” (NAACP). Based solely on these statistics, readers cannot conclude that African Americans are living in a biased system. Additionally, The FBI Uniformed Crime Report shows that African Americans are responsible for a total of “2,491 murders” committed in 2013(Expanded Homicide Data Table 6); yet these statistics show that there is a strong possibility that sentencing, such as Capital Punishment, applies to a portion of the crimes committed by African Americans. However, there is a growing flaw in our judicial system, which makes relying on these statistics alone to justify why the death penalty is predominantly used in

The death penalty is legal in thirty-two states. I shall argue that capital punishment should be abolished in our country because it is never moral to kill a human being no matter what they have done, because it often costs more money to keep someone on death row than to keep someone in prison for life, because of the men and women who are wrongly accused of a crime they did not commit, and because death is the easy way out.

Death penalty cost money, in deathpenaltyinfo.org it was stated that “Cases without the death penalty cost $740,000, while cases where the death penalty is sought cost $1.26 million. Maintaining each death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000 more per year than a prisoner in the general population. There are 714 inmates on California's death row.” This is a lot of money wasted to give death penalty for criminals( murderer, rapists, and etc.) that has a potential of changing their lifestyle. According to deathpenaltyinfo.org, there are five different methods of execution that were prescribed: Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Lethal Gas, Firing Squad, and Hanging. Reading these