Topic: The Death Penalty (Against)
Purpose: To show people the cons of the Death Penalty and to convince them to take action against it.
Thesis Statement: (See item “C.”)
I. Introduction (Attention Step)
A. “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.” J.R.R. Tolkein
What happens when the mistake is discovered after a man has been executed for a crime he did not commit? What do we tell his mother, his father, his widow, or even his children? No apology could comfort the friends or family of a man who was executed whom was innocent. Nothing can bring a man back from death.
B. The death penalty is currently legal in 35 states; including Oklahoma and Texas. Since 1976 there have been 1,384 executions carried out. Oklahoma is ranked number 2 in executions at 110, and Texas has executed the most people
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Body
A. Economics
1. The problem is, it costs more to execute an inmate than life imprisonment. For example, In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. If the 515 executions hadn’t occurred, and these offenders were sentenced life imprisonment without the option of parole, Texas tax payers could’ve saved approximately $790 million.
2. New Jersey, for example, laid off more than 500 police officers in 1991. At the same time, it was implementing a death penalty which would cost an estimated $16 million per year, more than enough to hire the same number of officers at a salary of $30,000 per year.
3. In Texas, the early release of prisoners has meant that inmates are serving only 20 percent of their sentences and re-arrests are common. On the other hand, Texas spent an estimated $183.2 million in just six years on the death penalty. The money used for the death penalty can easily be used to keep dangerous criminals
The Fact sheet found on the Death Penalty Information Center showed that solely in Kansas, there was an average of $400,000 per case for defense costs by inmates placed on death row compared to the average of $100,000 paid per case to defense attorneys when there was no death penalty (DPIC). Alarcon and Mitchell conducted a study in 2011 that showed that just in California getting through the process of having an inmate on death row was over $4,000,000,000 (DPIC). This was due to the various amounts of fees that had to be paid for court trials, appeals, housing death row inmates in preparation for their incarcerations etc. (DPIC) lastly just in the state of Texas, the cost of carrying out a death penalty case, which is $2.3 million is three times as much as housing an inmate in solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison for 4 decades (DPIC). This huge difference in numbers add to how unrighteous it would be to keep the death penalty legal in the U.S.
In this article it states what all methods are used for the death penalty. In Eight states it allows electrocution (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). Three states it allows the gas chamber (Arizona, Missouri, and Wyoming). Three other states allow hanging (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington). Two other states allow the firing squad (Oklahoma and Utah), though only Oklahoma is the one that uses it. Utah allowed that option before it was banned in 2004.
Although keeping someone in a prison may cost a lot, sentencing someone to death is not cheap as well. It has actually been proven that the death penalty is more expensive than a prison sentence. This is because the trails for death penalties are long, and very complicated. In order to go through with the death penalty you need to have more experts, double the amount of attorneys and there will be a trial for guilt and a separate one for punishment. The criminal on death row is also held in a high security prison (Top Ten Pros and Cons). Though the death penalty may sound simple, it is much more complicated currently then it was multiple years
In Texas, the cost of an average death penalty case is nearly three times higher than imprisoning someone in maximum security for life, according to a study by the Dallas Morning News. Harris County alone accounts for 126 executions, more than any state except Texas. Dallas County accounts for 55 executions, and Bexar County accounts for 42. Executions in Texas peaked in 2000, when 40 people were put to death. Death Penalty in Texas became a major issue when re-instituted in 1982.
they allowed the electric chair and in other states they use lethal injections. Only four states;
Over the next two centuries, more and more crimes began to be punishable by death. Stealing, cutting down a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren were only three of the total of 222 crimes. America’s death penalties were carried out in some of the same fashions, as they were heavily influenced by the British. In 1977, the preferred method of execution became lethal injection, with Oklahoma becoming the first state to adopt it.
The death penalty is a more expensive than the alternative life without the possibility of parole option in monetary terms, time, and resources spent. It is acknowledged that there is no national figure for the exact cost of the death penalty but many states and researchers do have estimates. All of which concluding that the death penalty is the more expensive than life without parole. This option is gradually becoming more expensive with each passing years due to factors that will be discussed from an article from The Marshall Project. The death penalty is more than the physical execution of the accused, it includes money and time dedicated to having inmates on death row. Death row does automatically imply heightened security and extra expenses. Maurice Chammah in his article “Six Reasons the Death Penalty is Becoming More Expensive” states that, “Felons sentenced to life in prison may eventually be placed in the general population, but death row inmates are virtually always housed in administrative segregation, or solitary confinement…” which can mean double or more the cost than of housing general population inmates (Chammah, 2015). The time inmates can spend on death row varies from months to years with the longest being close to 40 years. People do not realize that majority of the death penalty’s cost is not a part of any budget. Instead, they are buried in thicket of legal proceedings and hours spent by judges, clerks, prosecutors, experts and law enforcement
1,392 this is the number of executions since 1976. Seems like nothing compared to the 3,035 men and women who are still waiting for their last day. Men and women wasting our tax dollars sitting on death row waiting to be murdered since the cost of capital punishment is several times of that keeping someone in prison for life. Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million. That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years (CITE) and that’s JUST in Texas, imagine what that number would be world wide. As of July 2015, 101 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes but 31 states right here in American are still carrying
The death penalty is one of the most controversial forms of punishment in the United States criminal justice system. For many, the death penalty seems like a way to gain retribution, and to help make this country a better place, however there are many reasons why the death penalty is also not a good thing. My main points that I’m going to talk about for my paper is why I don’t believe in the death penalty. Throughout the paper the reader will be able to understand exactly what the death penalty is, the pros and cons of the death penalty, and eventually be able to depict for themselves whether the death penalty is “good” or not.
Texas being one of the states within the U.S. that allows Capital Punishment also has one of the largest death rows. Jim Mattox, former Attorney General of Texas, who supported the death penalty during his term of office, does not believe that murderers in Texas are hindered by the death penalty. Mattox interviewed nearly all the people executed in Texas between 1976 and 1988 and concluded that the death sentence never crossed their minds before they committed their crime. "It is my own experience that those executed in Texas were not deterred by
2. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years.
Firstly, the death penalty is a very expensive process with a lot of time and resources being pulled. In the state of Texas, it cost $2.3 Million per execution, which is the same cost to put that person in a maximum-security prison under solitary confinement for 40 years (Cary). This is completely absurd that the death penalty is even thought to be a better option, especially since the person is most likely not to be in solitary confinement for 40 years. Assuming the person on death row is around the age of nineteen by the time they would reach that price of $2.3 million they would be lucky to be still alive. To put the money being used into a much larger perspective in the state of California taxpayers can pay anywhere from $63 million to $114 million a year on the death penalty which is more than it would cost to put them in prison
The exorbitant costs of capital punishment are actually making America less safe because badly needed financial and legal resources are being diverted from effective crime fighting strategies. Before the Los Angeles riots, for example, California had little money for innovations like community policing, but was managing to spend an extra $90 million per year on capital punishment. Texas, with over 300 people on death row, is spending an estimated $2.3 million per case, but its murder rate remains one of the highest in the country.
The capital punishment is expensive. It costs more to sentence a prisoner to death than giving him/her life imprisonment. The capital punishment cases have long and complex process. Therefore, they are much more expensive than life imprisonment. Every step is time-consuming and expensive. “The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (CCFAJ) roughly estimated the capital punishment costs in California. The Commission estimated that California currently spends $137.7 million on death-penalty-related costs each year” (Petersen & Lynch, 2012, para. 19). In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, which is about three times the cost of imprisonment for life (Death penalty facts, 2013, para. 1). The death penalty is a waste of taxpayer’s money. This is money that could be used for the better of the
"In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years". In terms of cost, capital punishment costs more than a lifetime of imprisonment. The government has to pay more money for a person who was sentenced to death because of more trials, which would result to more fees. The death penalty requires a lot more trials because a life will be taken away. The government could save about $500,000 from each prisoner by putting them in