Death Penalty: An Outdated Argument Against Capital Punishment

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.

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, is a controversial subject which has been argued for decades due to the ethical decisions involved. People believe the death penalty is the right thing to do and that it is the perfect example of ‘justice’ while others believe that it is immoral and overly expensive. The death penalty is not a logical sentence for criminals, it doesn’t give them the right type of justice and it is immoral.

To date, since 1989, there have been over 1700 exonerations, or convicts proven innocent, in the United States (“The National Registry of Exonerations”). Recently, there’s been about 10 a month (Pelley). A 2014 study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences claims that 4.1% of people sentenced to death are innocent. It goes on to state that: “With an error rate at trial over 4%, it is all but certain that several of the 1,320 defendants executed since 1977 were innocent.” Furthermore, because capital cases are examined more thoroughly than others, the error rate is

Capital Punishment, also known as the Death Penalty, is described as a government practice where a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for crimes such as murder, treason, espionage, and genocide.

Unfortunately and likely from the lack of medical experiences when performing executions, there have been several documented botched executions since the Gregg v. Georgia decision which re-constitutionalized the death penalty. There have been 47 total botched executions including 35 by lethal injection and 1 attempted execution by lethal injection. Although the Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees state that isolated mishaps alone do not violate the Eighth Amendment, it is hard to see how the botched executions do not violate the Eighth amendment of the individual in question. For example in several instances, the executioners were unable to find an adequate vein which often required constant probing and stabbing. As a testament to the lack of medical

In the article "The Case Against the Death Penalty," which shows up in Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints, Eric Freedman contends that capital punishment does not discourage fierce crime as well as conflicts with decreasing the crime rate. This essay will analyse Freedman 's article from the perspectives of a working man, a needy individual, and a government official.

In 1940, Lawrence Bittaker, an infamous serial killer from the 1970’s, was born to two unloving parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was adopted but eventually left abandoned by his adoptive parents who could not put up with him anymore (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). By the age of 17, Bittaker dropped out of high school, never to obtain his GED. From the ages of 21 to 26, Bittaker was diagnosed “borderline psychotic” and “basically paranoid” multiple times by different doctors (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). Bittaker was in and out of jail before murdering five teenage girls in 1979 with a partner, Roy Norris (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 2). In 1981, Bittaker was sentenced to death. As of today, he is 70 years old and is still on death row at San Quentin Prison in California (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 3).

This brutal method of punishment has for a long time stay past its expiration date and needs to be put to an end immediately, just like the famous saying “Out with the old and in with the new.” Whatever the style of punishment might be maybe by shooting, electrocution, gassing, hanging or lethal injection it has accomplished nothing but terrorize not only the criminal, but the family and friends as well. There are a lot of negative scenarios that comes into mind whenever this divisive topic is raised, but the number one is that innocent people will be executed while the real criminals escape the punishment. The worst feeling of all is for the family to discover that their loved one was innocent. One of the most often asked questions associated with this brutal murder is what are the chances that an inmate being executed is innocent? The fact is that two out of every six inmates being executed is innocent. That information alone is enough to raise a lot of eyebrows. Throughout our history there have been mistakes in convictions of defendants and the death penalty prevents any opportunity to rectify any miscarriage of justice. Capital punishment is irrevocable, and the errors of justice cannot be rectified. All possibility of a change of heart is totally gone. An innocent person has been hanged or electrocuted and the judge, jury,

I have been on death row for twenty-five years now despite the fact that I am innocent. No matter what I say or do, I cannot be freed. It all started one day when I was nonchalantly walking down the street. Out of nowhere, I was tackled and arrested by several policemen for the “murder” of a wealthy businessman. The only evidence they had was low-quality security camera footage of an African-American man attacking this wealthy white man. It clearly wasn’t me, but that didn’t stop the team of plush lawyers his family hired from putting me on death row. The lawyer provided by the court didn’t stand a chance against them, and most likely in the five other cases he was handling at the time. It wasn’t his fault, but it is unfair that I only have

Capital punishment, defined by the Bureau of Justice, is “the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes and carrying out that sentence.” (1). Capital punishment has also been given the name ‘Death Penalty’. Convicted felons have been known to live on ‘Death Row’ before entering the death penalty. This sentence is the exercise of executing a criminal as a retribution for a particular felony following an appropriate lawful trial. Though states can use capital punishment legally, non-state organizations will be looked at as committing murder because it is illegal in their case. The only time states use the death penalty is in the case of a predominantly vulgar crime. The united states consider that vulgar crime to be murder, but in different countries they see capital punishment fit for rape or even fraud. Although capital punishment is universal, the extent of why it is used is clearly different around the

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, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a capital offender carried out by the state. As of 2018, 31 out of the 50 United States practice capital punishment. Although some may say capital punishment brings justice to the maleficent people of this world, it should be abolished throughout the United States because of its racial bias, its high costs to society, and its infringement upon basic human rights.

The use of the death penalty fails to protect the innocent. The possibility of executing an innocent person exists in any justice system. Executing innocent defendants are made because of reasons, including eyewitness errors and false confessions that are made under pressure. Capital cases can sometimes take several years before the case goes to trial. Therefore, an eyewitness might have a difficult time remembering certain important accounts of a past event that occurred. David Von Drehle, author of More Innocent People on Death Row Than Estimated: Study Time Magazine, “points out that at least four percent of all death row inmates in the United States have been wrongfully convicted of

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.

The capital punishment in North America is the government’s exercise to put a person to death for a crime, and was first recorded happening in 1608. Capital punishment continued to be the fix for crime until 1967 to 1977, when it was suspended. Capital punishment was advanced in 1977 and is still active today in 30 states. The United States government sees the capital punishment as ethical because it is seen as the culminate way to protect the citizens of our nation.