An Alternative Legislative Proposal to the Current Death Penalty Laws in Georgia

Keeping a prisoner in jail for life will be very expensive considering that it costs $80,000 a year; and the bad news is that the money comes from the taxpayer's pocket. Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man who might be executed. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year. This may sound awkward, but the death penalty saves lives. It saves lives because it stops those who murder from ever murdering again (Bryant). These opinions represent some of the strongest and most influential views that proponents hold. However, if our prison system could rehabilitate more effectively, perhaps those who murdered once, could change.

Many counties complain about the high costs and the financial difficulty it causes. The document, What Politicians Don’t Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty, written by Richard C. Dieter, executive director of The Death Penalty Information Center states, “Georgia is laying off 900 correctional personnel and New Jersey has had to dismiss 500 police officers. Yet these same states, and many others like them, are pouring millions of dollars into the death penalty with no resultant reduction in crime.” These cost of these trial are not only immense amounts of money to the local governments, but also people’s jobs and lives. It is an unnecessary process that millions of dollars are being poured into each

Lawmakers in Florida voted on whether or not they should change the state’s death penalty statute. The death penalty system in Florida is a bit different than it is in other states. Instead of the jury deciding who is given the death penalty, the judge decides. The new bill that was passed stated that at least 10 out of the 12 jurors had to recommend the death penalty, not just a majority. A judge in Alabama, “ruled that her state’s capital sentencing setup was unconstitutional.” The judge said judges are overriding jury recommendations when it comes to the death penalty. Alabama attempted to halt an inmate’s execution because of the similarities it had to the Florida system that was shut down. After hearing these things about both Alabama and Florida, Utah actually abolished the capital punishment. Due to the changes being made, two different executions that were supposed to occur this month were put on hold.

In my opinion the death penalty truly does help to eliminate the problem of overpopulation in prisons. When prisons become overpopulated more money is needed to pay for supplies for inmates. Why should taxpayers have to pay for criminal that have murdered people? Murdering someone is honestly one of the worst things a person could ever do. Americans should not have to pay to provide inmates with television. The person that was murdered is not going to be able to watch television, so why should the killer be able too. Inmates just sit in jail watching television, doing crafts, playing sports, eating, working, and sleeping. Many people say life without parole is better than the death penalty. I strongly disagree with this statement, because life without parole allows a killer to keep living their life after they took the life of another person. Plus keeping everyone just in prison without parole goes back to the fact it is very costly to pay for prison inmates. Overpopulation in prisons can lead to many riots, injuries, and even deaths. These riots can be from the cause of not enough food or supplies in the prison. Many prisoners have been known to kill their fellow cellmates, but yet all they get is another life sentence for taking another life. I do not agree that life without parole is better than the death penalty. After learning what talks place with killers in prison and

In David M. Oshinsky’s book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, he discussed the case of Furman v. Georgia. He explores the controversy that capital punishment holds in the United States of America. The death penalty has been in practice for many centuries. For example, “In Massachusetts, where religion had played a key role in settlement, crimes like blasphemy, witchcraft, sodomy, adultery, and incest became capital offenses, through juries sometimes hesitated to convict” (Oshinsky, 2010). For the punishment of death these offenses do not fit the crime. However, capital punishment at this time was rarely criticized. The death penalty demanded many executions including public ones. Many of these were hangings and were public events. After the American Revolution the death penalty began to be questioned. For example, Benjamin Rush stated, “Capital punishments are the offspring of monarchial governments. Kings believe that they possess their crowns by a divine right. They assume the divine power of taking away human life” (Oshinsky, 2010). By the 1840’s there were organized groups opposing the death penalty such as the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. Within the coming years, the support for capital punishment fluctuated. Throughout the book, Oshinsky explores the many cases leading up to the Furman v. Georgia decision.

In many cases the person in question is sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Do you know how much that costs you? The current annual cost for keeping an inmate in a state prison is $47,102, times the thousands of inmates also in prison for life is roughly around 59million a year. For a person to be put on to death row is around $7.2 million for three years. For a year of life in prison compared to three years of death row is a huge difference. Which means it could cut down the amount

The death penalty is supposed to deter murder and bring the justice that the murder families of the victims should be rewarded (Hyden). Although many scientific researches can conclude that it does not deter murder and the members of the murder victims’ family have rejected/rejecting the program because it retraumatizes them with long process of trials, appeals, and of course the media (Hyden). In contrast, a sentence of life in prison is certain and instant, allowing the families to move on knowing that the justice of the crime is being served. Comparing whether or not the death penalty should be legalized, the reasons as to why it shouldn’t be, are strong enough to change one person’s mind. The death penalty still should be illegal in the United States.

Death penalty, or also known as capital punishment, today is still used. Many oppose many support it. In the case Furman v. Georgia, the death penalty was abolished. But not fully, because it is still used today. In 1991 more than 2,600 people awaited execution but only fourteen were executed. Capital punishment should be legal, and should be used more often.

This brings forth Stevens’s main points, namely preventing a murderer from murdering again and deterring murder. Incarcerating the individual (who supposedly committed a crime of high enough degree to be imprisoned for life) in a maximum security prison without parole would be enough to prevent them from committing any more crimes and thus preventing said crime from occurring again. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the death penalty prevents more crimes than the amount that occurs. Many individuals that have murdered another citizen do so for a “reason.” While serial killers, rapists, and arsonists do exist, catching one would not prevent the hundreds of individuals from committing a single murder, resulting in individual murders stacking up and eventually causing more deaths than that of a single serial

At least as early as the year of 1735, since colonial times, capital punishment was employed by Georgia with recorded executions. Nine hundred and fifty executions were carried out by Georgia, before the year of 1976. Upholding in particular the death sentence imposed on Gregg, the approval of the death penalty's use in the United States was reaffirmed by the United States' Supreme Court by Gregg v. Georgia (1976). In order to comply with the 8th amendment band on unusual and cruel punishments, main features were set forth by the Supreme Court that must be employed by the capital sentencing procedures.

There was a proposition on the ballot this year that was proposing to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead. This proposition would have also increased those inmates’ wages. The proposition claimed that doing this would have reduced the costs of around $150 million dollars annually within a few years. When saving money supersedes punishing those who have committed crimes so atrocious that is when we have failed as a state, and as a country. The death penalty is saved for those who have committed crimes that were so unforgivable and heinous that they cannot be allowed to live. The crimes that they committed were so wicked that they were shocking to the public,

In the Gregg v. Georgia case in 1976 tells how the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment on terms that it was no longer administered in an arbitrary and capricious manner and that it also serves to important social objections deterrence and retribution (Class notes, Module 10, Pg 2-3). I agree with the court's ruling, I believe if someone murders an innocent person by stabbing them to death because, they needed some drug money then why should that person have the right to continue living their life in prison and be able to get a education and be able to go to the doctors? They do not, because they killed an innocent person why do they get a chance to continue living a nice life, they should be punished by the way they killed or harmed

Callahan, Tarrah. "Failure to Deter Crime Archives - NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty." NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, 2008. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. In this article, the author explains how the Death Penalty does not change or impact crime rates. Specific information I want to use is the comparison of the crime rates between non-death penalty states vs. the states with the death penalty. This article is believable and interesting because it gives out examples of state(s) which show the impact(s) that the death penalty

There are many problems facing our criminal justice system today. Some of the more important ones are overcrowded jails, the increasing murder rate, and keeping tax payers content. In light of these problems, I think the death penalty is our best and most reasonable solution because it is a highly effective deterrent to murder. And, tax payers would be pleased to know that their hard-earned tax dollars are not being wasted on supporting incorrigible criminals who are menaces to society. In addition, they would not be forced to fund the development of new penitentiaries in order to make room for the growing number of inmates in our already overcrowded jails. Moreover, the death penalty would

The problem with the death penalty is that it is a big waste of money. Yes, in some cases it can make people feel better, like they are getting revenge on the people that did the crime to their loved one or someone they know but that is really cruel. In the article, The Price of Justice it shows how the price were a few years ago and it can only of up from there “in 1988, The Miami Herald reported that the cost of the death penalty in Florida was $3.2 million per execution compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment.103 Similarly, The Dallas Morning News reported in 1992 that the trials and appeals of a capital case alone cost Texas $2.3 million per case on average”. Making the criminal sit in a jail cell that is not that big with other bad people is more of a punishment then just killing them. And it is a lot cheaper to do it that way as well. The cost of the death penalty is not reasonable because the state can’t even perform the death penalty the right way. And we can use the money for better things for our states and for our society so we can improve our comity’s so