Wiggins Amanda
Professor Laudani
Composition 1
09 July 2015
Abolish the Death Penalty Since the state has no power to give life, it should not exercise its power to take a life either. After all, the judicial system is not a fool-proof system. The risk of putting an innocent human being to death by capital punishment, cannot be ruled out. The only purpose it serves is retribution or revenge. Therefore, the death penalty must be abolished. The death penalty is prone to errors that may have led to the execution of wrongfully convicted people. There have been 330 post-conviction DNA exonerations here in the U.S (Innocence Project).
The Supreme Court should bring the United States in line with the rest of the world and hold that death is a cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The death penalty process consumes tremendous amounts of money and resources and fails to deter murders.
The average cost to put someone to death is 1.1 million dollars that Americans are paying for (Huddar, Buzzle). That money can be used for a lot more things, such as, helping homeless veterans, who served our country, or children who live in poverty right here in America. It is used in an often arbitrary and racist manner. In a study commissioned by the governor of Maryland, defendants who kill white victims were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed a black (McElwee, Huffington Post) Not only does the death penalty
Elliot Spitzer states, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don 't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” Although the Death Penalty is meant to kill the ones that have murdered, many innocent people have been executed due to the ignorance of facts during trial. Since this has come to me and my partner’s attention, we are resolved that The United States should change its penal code to abolish the death penalty. The Death Penalty is execution following someone’s conviction of murder or any other serious crime. Abolish is to end the observance or effect of. The Penal Code is a set of criminal laws of a particular country, society, etc. Our courts are not steady, which is why we need to abolish the death penalty.
Fifty eight countries in the world participate in the use of the death penalty, in 2010 the United States ranked fifth in having the most executions even though only thirty five states in the US legalized it. The death penalty is inhumane and you can argue it violates the constitution by using cruel and unusual punishments, that said The death penalty has many flaws with the system and it it should be abolished because it has a risk of discrimination and wrongful execution, it is not effective, and the cost of the system.
The United States should make the death penalty illegal because, the death penalty models the behavior it seeks to prevent, it does not deter crime, and the death penalty costs more than life in prison. With these reasons, it is justifiable that the death penalty should no longer be legal in any state of the U.S. No person should have to make everyone else suffer; there needs to be a stop to this manner of justice. Bringing the death penalty to an end would offer a sense of closure to the many people who are involved including the families who have suffered along the
I would like about whether or not the United States should abolish the death penalty. The United States should not abolish this because those who commit a capital felony which is punishable by imprisonment or death, should serve a capital punishment which is the death penalty. Many believe that certain crimes such as rape and murder should punishable by the death penalty. Although many also see it as inhumane, many also view murder and rape as inhumane. One can view this as part of Hammburi’s Code law that states “An eye for an eye.” Capital punishment has ben around for thousands of years; beginning even before the ancient Greeks and Romans. At that time, there were many different ways to carry out capital punishment such as, beheading, stoning and electrocution (PBS).
Since 2000, there have been over 200 exonerations from death row. More than half of these exonerations are because of DNA evidence that is found which proves a defendant innocent. The reason for these exonerations is that people make mistakes, there is no way to be fully positive of somebody else’s guilt. In some cases, evidence found against a defendant could just come down to bad timing. People may agree or disagree with capital punishment because it can become a very controversial topic. The main argument against the death penalty is that it is no longer morally correct and goes against certain beliefs. The death penalty should remain illegal in Canada because it costs more for taxpayers than life without the possibility of parole, it
Life is precious and should not be taken for granted. In the United States capitol punishment has been abolished or overturned in 20 states. According to Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the nation's opinion is split right down the middle. The death penalty has been the topic of discussion in recent years, it has been very controversial primarily based on how it is permanent. Once action is taken and the punishment of death has been dealt wrongful execution of an innocent person would be an injustice that can never be rectified.
The death penalty is a very controversial topic in America today, the question is do we keep the death penalty or abolish it for life imprisonment without parole. America should abolish the death penalty and should stick to life imprisonment. One reason is that the death penalty is not undoable once your dead there is no going back. There has been many miscarried death penalties in the U.S., and these mistakes cause a lot of sorrow and depression for families and their loved ones. The death penalty is also too expensive. It costs America less to keep an inmate in jail for life than it does to execute them. This is why America should abolish the death penalty.
As all of us know that the death penalty is not a good thing, but it is a great way of reform and preventing something happening more than once. All of the US states should not abolish the death penalty.
In recent discussions of the death penalty, a controversial issue has been whether or not to abolish the death penalty. On the one hand, some argue that the death penalty should remain illegal. From this perspective, the death penalty rids the United States of criminals who have committed horrible crimes. On the other hand, however, others argue that the death penalty should be illegal in all fifty states. From this perspective, the death penalty could also send an innocent person to their death. According to President Obama race is a factor, at least in his opinion. He stated, “In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems – racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations
The death penalty is currently used by 34 states and is used by the federal government for punishing federal crimes. And in most cases the death penalty is used when the criminal has been convicted of murder. However, two people have been sentenced to death for the rape of a minor. The definition of the death penalty is: execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. This begs the question does the government have the right to take away someone’s life? And if so is it ethical and moral? Overall the goal of the Criminal Justice system is to give the right sentence and protect the people. Even though the death penalty does this, there are better more efficient ways to accomplish that
Capital punishment in the United States is becoming more and more of a topic of conversation and controversy; eighteen states have outlawed the death penalty and the governors of three other states declaring a moratorium, meaning they will not sign executions during their time in office (Lovett). The national trend of banning the death penalty should definitely continue. Many criminals on death row are exonerated, making it an unreliable system of punishment. Also, capital punishment is not used equally in cases. The death penalty can also be considered cruel and unusual punishment, which is against the 8th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The death penalty should be abolished because it is not the right way to deal with
In saying this it costs less money than to house feed and possibly treat medical conditions of criminals i’m not saying that it’s a scapegoat for saving money to not let them live. Ask the families of those lost of the Boston Marathon incident do those who did this horrible act be allowed to be fed better than children at our own public schools and a roof over their head when thousands of people in the U.S. are homeless. There are cases in which using the death penalty is deemed unconstitutional which supports people arguments against it but it does not apply for all cases. On the other hand other cases in which it is not used when it should be only exposes the corruption of our seemingly perfect just system. The death penalty should not be taken away and permanently stated as cruel and unusual
Although the crimes they have committed has brought pain to other families executing our criminals brings the same distress to their families. One of the most prominent and influential cases was 1972 Furman v. Georgia. Where William Henry Furman was burglarizing a home when a family member discovered him. While trying to escape Furman fell and his gun went off killing one of the residents. This case is known to be unfair considering some jurors voted to have life in prison while other voted for him to be sentence to death. Furman was also seen to be very immoral, dropping out of school in only the sixth grade. Furman tested the lowest four percent of the intelligence test range, and was later diagnosed with being mentally deficient and having psychotic episodes. This proves that the death penalty serves no integrity to the mentally challenge. Although Furman had a gun he got scared and ran, meaning he had no intentions on using it. The death penalty is also seen be racist, it is said a black person will be sentence to death before a white person. Which is not fair behavior considering both black and white commit the same number of crimes. However, the death penalty can be costly where if you do life in prison. A 1982 New York study shows that litigating a capital case is 1.8 million ,while 40 years of life is only 602,000. Now with all the money being waste on the death penalty is it worth it so kill someone? Most people want to remember in life as
The death penalty slowly rids the world of killers - or those worthy of being sent to death for their crime - but it takes a great deal of time and money to do so. Due to the unnecessarily expensive capital cases, the cost efficient availability of keeping these inmates in jail for life without parole, and the high price to execute prisoners on Death Row, the death penalty should be illegal.
The death penalty is very costly to not only the government, but also society. The death penalty has no benefits at all and should be