Death Penalty : A Controversial Issue

Capital punishment has been a controversial issue that still exists in America today. Capital punishment is a law passed by the government to punish any individual that has been convicted of committed a heinous crime. The death penalty has been a method used throughout history as punishment for criminals. The punishment also known as the death penalty is a scheduled execution, which would be done with lethal injection. The reason why this punishment is chosen is because when crimes are committed that shock the conscience, the immediate emotional reaction is to retaliate with severe punishment (Schnurbush 2016). The death penalty is debated when it is brought up, opinions vary from one group of people to another, one side says the execution is murder, and the other saying that it is justice being done. Each side presents valid arguments to why people should be for it or against it; people’s opinions are formed by personal beliefs.

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.

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

Since 1977 there has been 1,188 people executed in the United States. From 1973 there has been 7,482 people executed in the world. The death penalty has been a highly discussed topic in today’s news because it is a controversial issue that has endless reasons of if it is justified or not. Our world is changing at a rapid pace and so our the criminals in it. Some may think that the crimes being committed are getting out of hand. The issue now is what type of punishment do the murderers and brutal criminals receive? Or what type of punishment do they really deserve? Death row and execution is the best option in some people's eyes, but the problem is that some people strongly disagree with this idea. Is the execution of murderers and other brutal criminals really justified?

Over the years criminals were dealt with in many different ways: they were sent to jail, getting little punishment, or in worse cases, death. The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy, and it is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. The death penalty is the highest punishment administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. This is the only punishment that leaves room for no mistakes. The death penalty system buries its worst mistakes. Although the opponents of capital punishment believe it to be immortal, advocates of capital punishment have proven it to be effective and ethically correct. The death penalty should be enforced on

The monetary expense to taxpayers is much more than if one was kept in prison for life. Generally the public does not understand that executing one death sentence runs 2-5 times more than housing a criminal in prison for the rest of their life. There never-ending appeals, jurors have to be paid extra and there has to be a special prosecutor among many other things. Some prisoners sit on death row from 15 to 20 years while their appeals drag on in court. It takes a considerable amount of finances for all of the court services needed in a capital punishment case. Is that money that we can afford to waste?

The primary purpose of the criminal justice system is to protect society. All features of the system; detaining delinquents, trials, and punishments all have costs. Reduction in any part of the criminal justice system can potentially result in a harmful society. The question most asked about the death penalty is, “Why should honest, hardworking taxpayers, have to pay for murderers for the rest of their life instead of executing them?” Actually the death penalty is the most expensive part off the system. According to Dr. Ernest Gross, a Creighton University economics professor, who conducted a study in August 2016, the death penalty cost an average 23.2 million more per year than alternative sentences (Gross). The study found that states with the death penalty spend about 3.54% of overall state budgets on court, corrections and other criminal justice functions associated with the death penalty, while states without the death penalty spend about 2.93% on those functions (Gross). The death penalty is more expensive than life without parole because the constitution requires an extensive and complex judicial process for capital crimes. This is to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not

Johansen, Jay. "The Death Penalty Deters Crime." The Death Penalty. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2002. N. pag. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2016. In this article, the author examines the crime rates when it comes having the death penalty. The information I want to include is the dates of when crime decreased when the death penalty came in, in order to refute it. This article is different from the article I will be using to refute this, for it does have data compared to this article.

The crime I think is the most severe is murder. Taking another's person’s life without their approval is the most horrible thing you can do. So therefor it deserves the most severe punishment. It is here the huge debate about the death penalty comes in. Should it really be allowed to kill murderers? Everybody's opinion is different when it comes to this subject, people agree on some things, but disagree on others. I am deeply conflicted when talking about this but most of the time i think of it as the easy way out. In my eyes dying instead of spending your life in the prison is like taking a shortcut in a marathon. You get to the goal either way but one of the options are cheating. No matter what way the prisoner gets they are still going to

The death penalty has been in practice for almost everywhere in the world for centuries and seeing the growing pressure against it is a dramatic turnaround. Many nations which ceased the practice of death penalty argue that this is in violation of human rights. According to Dieter, “Spain abandoned the practice in 1995 stating that the death penalty has no place in the general penal system of advanced, civilized societies” (Dieter, 2000). It is acknowledged that Switzerland and South Africa abandoned the practice while linking it to violation of individual’s right to a holistic life. Generally, countries against this death penalty have always brought in issues of human rights. At the

The death penalty is a rather controversial topic, people tend to have a very strong opinion of being either for or against it. The reasons vary as to why a person is for or against the death penalty. Often those that oppose the death penalty argue for the sanctity of life, while proponents for the death penalty argue that it deters crime. The most convincing argument for the death penalty is retribution, the punishment must fit the crime.

During the 11th century, the first cases of established death penalty laws were formed. During this time period William the Conqueror initiated execution by another human being, only in the cases of a murder trial. The extermination of one life would result in the consequences of another murder, but in the eye’s of the law; it was justified. In 1976, the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, as of 2014 more than 1,300 people were sentenced to death. In those hundreds of deaths, 1 in 25 innocent people have been killed. Though not in violation ofthe United States Constitution’s Eight Amendment, the lethal injection is for societies criminals who have committed the most shocking crimes and is viewed as most logical. According

Philosophy branch which streamlines, protects and guides the concepts of being correct or incorrect is referred as Ethics. People learn this concept from their parents who got it from their parents and it is a chain. However philosophers claim that it is people’s belief which decide ethics along with human intuition. An individual at singular level conscientiously decides what is right and wrong and define a limit of pushing ethical behaviour and morality in being. Moral acceptability of any action can be judged from the points if action is understood by an individual well, the consequences of that action on public, fair treatment of action with all people respectfully and the way action is being performed, the motivation of people for it.

The death penalty is a very controversial subject for everyone, especially in the US. Some people think that it should be abolished and others think that it should stay a part of the government’s form of punishment. People think that the death penalty is a good way to deter crime because it should scare the person who is committing the crime. Some also feel that keeping the death penalty will cut down on government costs. The opposing side believes that the crimes would happen with or without the death penalty around. The different methods bring up many other issues as in are they humane or are they inhumane. Another argument they bring up is what is killing someone for killing someone teaching?

Death penalties back in the Eighteenth Century B.C. had different methods of execution, such as crucifixion, hanging, burning alive, and the guillotine. However, people began to see the death penalty as a "cruel and unusual" punishment in the early 1960s and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. I strongly oppose with the statement that the death penalty is reasonable —a life for a life. For the reason being, that capital punishment is not humane and violates human rights. In addition, the death penalty mistakenly gives governments the power to take human life where death has to occur naturally. Moreover, the capital punishment is not complete without race and class bias. Leading to irrevocable consequences and wrongly executing innocent people who had only been victims of our bad decisions. Ultimately, the death penalty is more like a desire for revenge than for justice. After all, these facts put emphasis on my disagreement of the thought that the capital punishment is reasonable.