Death Penalty In The United States

Using the death penalty cost more than life in prison. Having to execute someone costs about 1.26 million dollars while life in prison costs 740,000 thousand dollars. 31 states out of 19 still use the death penalty. There is a noticeable difference between the states that use and those that do not use the death penalty like lower homicide rates and the effects it has on society. The death penalty is a tool that people say helps stop crime and makes the world a safer place but studies show that the death penalty has bad effects. The death penalty actually increases crime and has bad effects on society. There have been studies and statistics used to see how the death penalty affects people and if it is actually helping or increasing crime. There

Despite this on going argument, outlawing capital punishment in America could create many unhappy citizens, and cause a division in the U.S. government. By enforcing the death penalty prevention in crime could occur. If death is the punishment for murder then criminals are not gaining from their crimes, but receiving the punishment they have inflicted on others. The crime rate is lower in the states that do not invoke capital punishment, but as Walter Burns stated “the number of murders tend to rise with the crime rate in general - and not only in America,” (105). Capital punishment is maintained to hopefully show criminals that when they kill they will eventually meet the same fate. By enforcing the death penalty the government could be trying to scare criminals from their crimes, and in some cases it has worked. When the death penalty was restored in Kansas, for example, the homicide rate dropped considerably (Bedau 122). According to research done by Bedau the crime rate continued to sore between 1960-1969 when capital punishment was rarely being used in most states (Bedau 127).

The death penalty for starters essentially, doesn’t provide an end to the murdering. The death penalty basically “approves” murdering on terms of what is “just” and what isn’t just. However, who gets to determine ones actions as being “just” enough? Some death penalties are granted to people who have committed murder to many people, some death penalties are granted to criminals who have killed one person; there is no one law that specifies how one gets the death penalty. It isn’t a consistent form of punishment. Also, the death penalty just imposes fear among the people. Granted, if one is to get the death penalty they clearly are doing something that is highly against the law, but the death penalty promotes fear from the system. The death penalty doesn’t allow for much rehabilitation for the victim. They know going into prison what their sentence will consist of, the worst that they can get is a faster death day, so it doesn’t allow them to grow and change their

Werent we taught as little kids that revenge is never the answer? Then why is there such thing as a death penalty? "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." This is what is stated in the 14th amendment of the Bill of Rights. So why is there still a death penalty in the United States? The first laws created towards the death penalty go as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which allowed the death penalty to be carried out for 25 different crimes. In these early times death sentences were done by means of crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Newer ways to go about the death penalty, more nineteenth century, include hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection. What do all these methods have in common? Well, they are all used to execute someone who has committed an extremely wrongful crime when there are better ways to deal with such individuals. Capital punishment is barbaric and goes against what is said in the Bill of Rights. There are numerous reasons why the death penalty should be removed from the 32 states that still allow it.

Weren’t we taught as little kids that revenge is never the answer? Then why is there such thing as a death penalty? "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." This is what is stated in the 14th amendment of the Bill of Rights. So why is there still a death penalty in the United States? The first laws created towards the death penalty dates back as far as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which allowed the death penalty to be carried out for 25 different crimes. In these early times death sentences were done by means of crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Newer ways to approach the death penalty, more nineteenth century, include hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection. What do all these methods have in common? Well, they are all used to execute an individual who has committed an extremely wrongful crime when there are better ways to deal with such individuals. Capital punishment is barbaric and serves against what is stated in the Bill of Rights. There are numerous reasons why the death penalty should be removed from the 32 states that still allow it.

    There has been about 15,760 executions in the United States since 1700, (http://time.com/deathpenalty/), but that is counting all types of executions, for example: burning, firing squad, hanging, gas, electrocution, injection, and others. Now looking from when the capital punishment was approved in 1976 (Death penalty Information Center), only 1,448 executions have been made. The capital punishment was made for “retribution, theory which demand for ‘tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye’ … if the criminal snatches liberty, peace, and lives… [they] should also be deprived of all these,” (http://listovative.com). It was also made to help have a more pure society, by placing fear, “best method to prevent

The death penalty is a huge controversy in the United States. There are many different feelings regarding the death penalty. Some feel like it is the easy way out for people who have committed heinous acts, and others feel like it is the perfect justice for those individuals. An argument made by the website ListVerse explained, that people teach their children not to steal, or commit crimes because they will be sent to prison and punished (ListVerse). Completing their argument, the same website also explained that if the same child, who was taught not to commit crime, commits murder, and is sentenced to the death penalty they are taught nothing (ListVerse). It is important that the criminal justice system not only serves justice, but also deters people from committing the same offense. On the opposing side of the argument, the website Phil for Humanity explains the importance of the death penalty. Phil for Humanity points out how expensive it is to house inmates, and that these individuals are extremely dangerous to society (Phil for Humanity). This paper will discuss the pros and the cons of the death penalty in greater detail.

The United States is a country whose ideals is founded on protecting the rights of its citizens, making sure each action they take will benefit its people without compromising the liberties America had fought to earn. However, once those liberties are compromised, this may lead to protests and violence which in turn may cause large rates of incarceration and possibly death. The issue of capital punishment has existed since the 18th century BC, and it is an issue that will continue until justice and individual liberties find a common ground that they share. With a growing debate over universally banning capital punishment in the states, as shown by 61% of voters in a 2010 poll, or forcing all states to conform to using the death penalty, the

While innocent people can sometimes be wrongly executed, we the people have the responsibility to punish those who deserve it and to the degree they deserve it, and in some cases the death penalty should be enforced. The death penalty costs the government less as opposed to life imprisonment without parole. Justice requires punishing the guilty even if only some can be punished and sparing the innocent, even if all are not spared. We reserve the death penalty in the United States for the most heinous murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers, and the death penalty deters such heinous crimes. The death penalty is currently used by 32 states and the federal government and is illegal in 18 states.

The death penalty is defined as the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The death penalty goes as far back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of Hammurabi. In the Code of Hammurabi it had a death penalty for 25 different crimes. Back then methods of execution were crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. (Source #1).

Support for the death penalty in the U.S. has risen to an average of 80%

Unlike popular belief, the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to criminals. As stated by Alfred Blumstein, "Expert after expert and study after study has shown the lack of correlation between the treat of the death penalty and the occurrence of violent crimes." (Blumstein 68) Isaac Ehrlich's study on the limiting effects of capital punishment in America reveals this to the public. The study spans twenty-five years, from 1957 till 1982, and shows that in the first year the study was conducted, there were 8060 murders and 6 executions. However, in the last year of the study there were 22,520 murders committed and only 1 execution performed. (Blumstein 54) This clearly shows that

The death penalty should remain an active form of punishment due to the fact that it is a deterrent for possible criminals and lawbreakers. Tom Head states in his article “5 Arguments for the Death Penalty” that the death penalty would act as a deterrent for homicide and crime because nobody “wants to die”. By applying the death sentence to a specific person's it prohibits them from preventing future crimes and shows possible criminals that committing heinous and abhorrent crimes will result in a severe and permanent punishment. Studies show that states that do not represent the death penalty have increased homicide rates when compared to those who use the death penalty as a form of capital punishment. David Muhlhausen, PhD, Research Fellow in Empirical Policy Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, said the following in his Oct. 4, 2014 article "Capital Punishment Works:

The death penalty is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there are many supporters of it, there is also a large amount of opposition. Currently, there are thirty-three states in which the death penalty is legal and seventeen states that have abolished it. I believe the death penalty should be legal throughout the nation. There are many reasons as to why I, and many others, believe that the death penalty should be legalized in all states, including fear of consequences, retribution, and mortality.

Another argument is that the death penalty is deterrence. The death penalty deters the future crime the possibility of facing the death that people who do crimes which will lead them to death punishment. Criminals will think twice before doing murders, after all no any criminals will take any risk of their own death. According to kenneth land student of duke university, “from 1994 through 2005, each executing in Texas was associated with modest short-term reduction in homicide, a decrease up to 2.5 murders rate”. In short capital punishment does, in fact saves the lives.