Cons of Capital Punishment Symphony Downey
Ms. Pearson
Fourth Hour
“At yearend 2013, thirty-five states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons held 2,979 inmates under sentence of death,” (Snell,2014) . Approximately ten percent of those people have severe mental illnesses. It also costs millions of dollars for every case associated with capital punishment which is significantly more than cases not associated with the death penalty. There has also been little to no research done that actually proves that it deters crime at all. Capital Punishment is negative in several aspects, it kills many mentally ill men and women, it’s very expensive, and it’s inefficient. To begin, many people who suffer from mental diseases have been killed due to the death penalty. Ten percent of people on death row have extremely severe mental issues (The Facts: 13 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty, n.d.).One seventy-four year old man from Missouri, Cecil Clayton, was killed after killing a cop although he
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A case lacking death penalty costs $520,000 less than a case with it. A case with the death penalty costs 1.26 million dollars whereas one without costs $740,000. In Washington, the cost is a million dollars apart; cases with the penalty cost an average of $3.01 million and cases without cost $2.01 million. Also, to support prisoners on death row, it costs taxpayers ninety thousand dollars more annually than a normal prisoner (Costs of the Death Penalty, n.d.). The reason why it’s more costly is because the Constitution requires a long judicial process for capital cases to ensure they don’t kill an innocent person, which still occasionally happens. In fact, in California studies show that to assure fair judgements in capital cases they would have to spend approximately 232.7 million dollars yearly, but they only spend $137 million (Costs of the Death Penalty,
Not only does the death penalty not deter crime but it is also very expensive. The death penalty costs so much because of the appeal process. The appeal process is a very long and expensive process that can go on forever and costs the government millions. Many assume that abolishing the death penalty is wrong because it becomes unfair to the taxpayers because they think the cost is less than that of life in prison without parole. However life in prison is less expensive than the death penalty (Bedau). The death penalty is actually three times more than keeping a prisoner in prison for life without parole (Messerli). Death penalty trials are costly as well. “[S]tudies estimate that death penalty trials cost $1
) Moreover, the pattern of this kind of murderer, the killer, is almost by definition a person who takes his chances like the soldier of fortune he thinks he is. (37) Most killers do not engage in anything like a cost-benefit analysis. They are impulsive, and they kill impulsively. If capital punishment does deter criminals, it can do so only indirectly. Potential murderers must have some standard of right and wrong. They must acknowledge morals issues. They must be without mental illness and they know and have the capacity to think about what they are doing. This conception of general deterrence seems deeply flawed because it rests upon a doubtful conception of how this murderous population internalizes social norms. Although the perpetrator
It has been suggested by the American Bar Association as well as Philological associations, to prohibit the death penalty for people with these severe mental illnesses. It is theorized that these people are being sent to death row because there is simply not enough funding to help these people in mental health facilities. Texas is number “47 nationally in terms of per capita spending on mental healthcare.” (Holle, Fellow) Are these
The death penalty has been battered backwards and forwards by the questions of abolishment and replacement, with mixed results. There seems to a jagged line in the sand on where people stand, and due to the continuous use today (albeit at a slower clip than in the past), it is still very much a prevalent topic of punishment. Those who argue for it believe that taking it away will take away a great deterrent, that families find peace, and that those who commit egregious crimes deserve only death. Anything less “would fail to do justice because the penalty – presumably a long period in prison – would be grossly disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime” (“Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments,” 2016). Those who don’t believe in this punishment as a modern-day, useful tool of deterrence and punishment for crime, continuously counter these arguments, as well as any others, daily at every turn. Though many states have made it illegal, others placing moratoriums or refusals to use it, the death penalty can still be found active today. But why can’t it be replaced with life without parole, and it if can why should it?
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
“…Over 600 people were falsely convicted and 35 faced death for crimes that they did not commit…”(Johnson). The death penalty is an ineffective and expensive way of dealing justice to the American people. It is easier and cheaper to send someone to prison for life than to have them face the death penalty and be executed. Capital punishment is an unnecessary punishment because criminals are already managed at prisons.
Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man or woman who might accidentally get an execution sentence. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year by the hands of heartless murderers. There are more murderers out there than people who are wrongly convicted, and that is what we must remember.
The Death Penalty is the punishment of execution to someone who legally by court of law convicted a capital crime. In the United States of America this is mainly used for aggravated murder. Additionally this means that the murder has circumstances that are severe. For instance it was planned murder, intentionally killed below the age of 13, killed someone while serving term in prison, killed a law officer, and killed someone or illegally terminated a person’s pregnancy while in the process of committing, trying to commit or escaping after the act of rape, kidnapping, aggravated arson, arson, robbery, aggravated robbery, burglary, aggravated burglary, terrorism, or trespass. The death penalty is balanced between pros and cons, where it
With all of the special lawyers, court dates, prison cells and maintenance, a death penalty case can cost millions of dollars. Like a lot of things, capital punishment is paid for with tax dollars. Cases with the death penalty can cost upwards of 1.7 million dollars while cases without it are usually about 740,000 dollars. Maintaining death row prisoners can also bring costs up immensely. One of the most severe instances of these high costs is California. Every year it costs California 180 million dollars more to maintain death row prisoners than it does to maintain LWOP prisoners. They have put thirteen people to death from 1973 until now, and each case has cost 137 million dollars. A 2011 study showed that California has spent four billion dollars on capital punishment since 1976, and that has only grown higher. This is only one of the horrendous examples of our tax dollars at work. Do we really want our hard earned money going towards the killing of what might be innocent
The judicial proceedings, lawyer fees, and with extended trials, the costs end up being way higher. Most statistics show that if we abolished the death penalty we could save at least $90 million per year. To continue this waste of money would be foolish. Not only is it unconstitutional and wastes millions of dollars, but it is extremely ineffective.
In the world we as people live in violence. Violence has gotten so out of control that it has affected everyone. The one thing about violence is that it also leads to crimes. And crimes leads to some people being imprisoned, while others are put on death row. But if crimes are crimes, what makes them minor or major? Who decides if they are minor or major? Nowadays minor and major crimes are being pushed together. For example, someone gets shot and the shooter gets 5 years in prison. But if someone is raped it cannot be proven and the victim is left suicidal while the rapist goes about their day. Both are major crimes but one has a sentence and the other one does not. With this happening in the world it makes me wonder if we as the people
The Death Penalty. Immoral or moral; just or unjust? These are just a few of the questions people ask themselves when debating the Death Penalty which is arguably the most controversial topic of the United States today. Every time these words come up, we start yelling out our opinions on what we feel is right. Pro death penalty people shout deterrence across the room while the anti death penalty supporters shout about potentially killing an innocent man; some argue that is just and the murders deserve their punishment while others say we are murdering people too if we kill the suspect.
The death penalty has always been an issue or debate in the United States, typically being asked if it should be illegal or not. As of right now there are thirty-one states, including Ohio in which I live, that still use the death penalty as it is illegal in the rest. There are many supporters of it, there is also a huge amount of opposition. There are things included in both sides that can make the argument harder to be one-sided but I believe that the death penalty should be legal throughout the entire nation. Not only does it create deterrence, it also creates morality and retribution.
Since the mid 1900’s, capital punishment has brought many individuals into many diverse view points throughout the years. Capital punishment is a way of punishing a convict by killing him or her because of the crime he or she committed. Capital punishment will always have its pros and cons. There are opponents who absolutely disagree with capital punishment. And then there are advocates who support the idea. In the advocates view point, capital punishment is a way to minimize the threat in the world today. In the opponent’s point of view, opponents disagree with capital punishment, because of the high expenses it brings to the states. Also, opponents argue that capital punishment
Envision a close family member or friend, they just died, you are grieving and feel like the world is going to collapse, then months pass so you find yourself becoming content with them being dead but you find out that they died for no reason. That emotion is what hundreds of family members or friends have to come into contact with when they are involved with a person who was accused of committing a crime, so they faced the death penalty. The death penalty also known as capital punishment is used as a punishment in the United Stated for crimes involving murder. If the defendant is found guilty then by law a judge can order for that person to be executed. While some argue that capital punishment sometimes makes mistakes, is morally wrong, and is expensive due to lengthy trials, others believe that by implying it will decrease crime rate.