Capital Punishment And The Death Penalty

The justice system is filled with opposition. Those who support the use of Supermax, the death penalty and the execution of those who are mentally retarded and juveniles, and those who oppose the above mentioned. The following essay will discuss all mentioned topics.

The majority of the United States’ perspective and value of capital punishment is to punish and kill prisoners, but with that system 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

The FBI has found that states that enforce the death penalty have a higher murder rate than those who have abolished it. I believe we should increase the number of police officers, reduce drug abuse, and improve our economy so that it has more jobs to lower the rate of crime in our nation, not kill people who want to be killed (Hugo).

But, as mentioned earlier, in 2012, only 39 inmates were executed. The other 3,000+ stayed on death row. “Death penalty inmates typically spend over a decade awaiting execution” (deathpenaltyinfo.org). Gary Alvord, who was sentenced to death in 1974, spent nearly 40 years on death row, only to die of a brain tumor in May of 2013 (deathpenaltyinfo.org). In a study done by Vera Institute, it shows that “the average per-inmate cost was $31,286, and the forty states surveyed spent $39 billion maintaining prisons in 2010” (vera.org). This is not justice. Inmates are sitting on death row for decades, wasting taxpayers money and time.

"Two Fishermen" examines the use of the death penalty within the justice system. Share your

The history of the death penalty is a long and brutal one. From the stoning and crucifixion killings of the B.C. era to today’s methods of the electric chair and lethal injection, governments of one kind or another have sentenced people to death for thousands of years. Capital punishment does not work, there is an interest of mounting evidence that proves this .The death penalty, both in the U.S. and around the world, is discriminatory and is used disproportionately against the poverty-stricken, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities. Since humans are fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated. Death row inmates in the U.S. typically spend over a decade awaiting execution. Some prisoners have been on death row for well around 20 years. During this time, they are consistently isolated from other prisoners, excluded from prison educational and work

A second area of disagreement in the death penalty debate that rages in America is the actual “cost” of the execution. For example, the supporters of

I once was a strong proponent of capital punishment, trusting the criminal justice system would do the right thing. Moreover, I assumed that the justice system involved honest, ethical people all working together for the good of all mankind. I often argued the need for capital punishment and believed that it increases public safety, and acted as a deterrent to other would be heinous crimes and possibly saved countless lives while acting as a deterrent. As faulty as this thinking may have seemed these were my assumptions, and like most I truly believed in the criminal justice professional, after several years in law enforcement I have learned that there are unethical, criminal justice professionals that use the peoples power

Capital punishment began in the mid-twentieth century and was intended for all crimes committed. Capital punishment is still practice in the United States in 38 states but used in today’s intent for more horrific crimes. Fourteen of the states have abolished capital punishment for many reasons from being unlawful to being inhumane.

Capital punishment has been a part of the U.S criminal justice system for centuries. The death penalty has been the most controversial aspect. The death penalty is legal in 33 states but the rest of the 19 states abolished it. There are over half of Americans that support the death penalty while the rest of them believe that it is unacceptable. People who support the death penalty believe that capital punishment lowers future crime rates, but people who are against it believe that it is a cruel and think innocent people could be mistakenly put to death for something they did not do. Capital punishment should be allowed because it saves lives, decrease the homicide rate, and saves more money for the government.

While there are studies that support this claim, the cost of housing and feeding a criminal for life is much more than the cost of executing one. The yearly cost of housing and feeding an inmate is around 47,000 dollars, where as it cost around 85 to purchase the equipment for execution.

The country has spent billions already on executions of around 120 a year. The extensive money we spend on a practice that insufficient and hardly impacts society in a positive matter is the reasoning why capital punishment should be abolished. It has done more harm than good in society, tearing this country into two by having conflicting debates about the execution of a human. Time and money that can be spent on the production of good in America. Capital punishment doesn’t affect society in the matter it is attended too and because of its inefficiency, the abolishment of capital punishment is a resolution America should lead towards. Citizens should push for the highest capital punishment to be lifetime in prison. It is a reliable alternative rather than killing a human’s life, they can die of natural age. It’s human to keep them living until they die off naturally and doesn’t condemn them to death. As a nation, Americans should vote for candidates that oppose the death penalty and support them in order to have change in

The death penalty and capital punishment were brought to America from Britain when America was colonized. This paper will argue why the death penalty is an outdated punishment and that it needs to be banned in America. When analyzing certain key points as crime rates, costs to maintain death row inmates, wrongful convictions, and ethics it becomes evident that the death penalty should be ruled illegal in the United States.

that 350 people who were convicted of crimes for which they could have been put

The death penalty is also known as capital punishment, a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial ruling that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. 41 capital offenses punishable by death were listed by The United States federal government. The capital offenses include espionage, treason, murder while transporting explosives, attempted murder of a witness in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, large scale drug trafficking, and death resulting from aircraft hijacking. However, they mostly consist of various forms of murder such as murder committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and genocide. The time in prison is meant to take the criminal’s freedom to go anywhere he or she may want to go, or whatever he or she chooses to do in the world. Which will cost the criminal to think about the crime and not want to come back. But when the person is put to death, they are taught absolutely nothing because they are no longer alive to learn from it.