Quan Huynh
Jeff
Pre-Degree III
30 May 2014
Death penalty should be abolished.
Have you ever been punished for something that you did not do? What would you feel if someone sentenced you to death because of a crime that you absolutely had nothing to do with? The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) clearly states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” (). Life is the most fundamental and basic right that humans have since they are born until they die. They deserve to live and no one has the right to take their life away. However, capital punishment violates this very
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Despite of having many proofs or trials, every system still has error and fraud, there is always the possibility that the wrong person is executed. It will be a big loss since death penalty is irreversible and dead people cannot be brought back to life. For this reason, life without parole also allows the government to return criminals back to their normal life if they are proved to be innocent afterward. Cases such as Anthony Porter or Ray Krone clearly indicated that our justice system does not always work. Porter who was sentenced to death even though many question arose as to whether he was guilty or innocent because of his mental illness. Eventually Porter was spared and released just two days before his execution thank to a group of investigate journalism students at Northwestern University (Hugo 160). Ray Krone is a Arizona citizen who was charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault. He was sentenced to death in 1992 but later he was found not guilty of the sexual assault. After being held and laboring in prison for ten years, a DNA testing, which was conducted on the victim, matched another man named Kenneth Phillips and proved Ray’s innocence. He was exonerated in 2002 and became the 100th person to be exonerated from death row since 1972 (Frank 88). One other important thing is the death
Elliot Spitzer states, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don 't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” Although the Death Penalty is meant to kill the ones that have murdered, many innocent people have been executed due to the ignorance of facts during trial. Since this has come to me and my partner’s attention, we are resolved that The United States should change its penal code to abolish the death penalty. The Death Penalty is execution following someone’s conviction of murder or any other serious crime. Abolish is to end the observance or effect of. The Penal Code is a set of criminal laws of a particular country, society, etc. Our courts are not steady, which is why we need to abolish the death penalty.
I would like about whether or not the United States should abolish the death penalty. The United States should not abolish this because those who commit a capital felony which is punishable by imprisonment or death, should serve a capital punishment which is the death penalty. Many believe that certain crimes such as rape and murder should punishable by the death penalty. Although many also see it as inhumane, many also view murder and rape as inhumane. One can view this as part of Hammburi’s Code law that states “An eye for an eye.” Capital punishment has ben around for thousands of years; beginning even before the ancient Greeks and Romans. At that time, there were many different ways to carry out capital punishment such as, beheading, stoning and electrocution (PBS).
Imagine that you are arrested and going to be tried for a crime that you did, or did not, commit. What if you cannot afford the cost of a lawyer? Will you be able to handle the physical and mental toll that all of the appeals have on a person? The death penalty, or capital punishment, is one of the most debated topics in America. It has been used for centuries, but many claim it to be barbaric, and want the practice to end all together. The death penalty should only be used in cases where there is absolute evidence that the criminal is guilty, because life in prison can be an alternative, there are many flaws in the justice system, and it can be a cruel and unusual punishment.
The death penalty has been a controversial topic among society for ages. An issue often brought up when discussing the legality of capital punishment is wrongful convictions. Advocates of the death penalty say that, while wrongful convictions are an issue, those few cases do not outweigh the need for lawful execution of felons who are, without a doubt, guilty. On the other hand, the opponents argue that the death penalty is wrong from both a legal and moral standpoint, an ineffective form of punishment, and should, ultimately, be outlawed. With both advocates and challengers constantly debating on this topic, the death penalty and wrongful convictions continue to be hot buttons issues for Americans and people throughout the world.
Capital Punishment is not a fair choice to do and it violates the human right to life. Everyone is born with the human right to life, even those who commit any type of crime; sentencing a person to death and executing them violates that right ( ). Just because a murderer killed someone, it does not mean their life should be taken away for punishment. It is generally accepted that people should not be punished for their actions unless they are guilty ( ). Whether the person is guilty is guilty or not they should not be given a deadly punishment. He inmates should just be locked up in prison and die from natural causes. When the prisoner becomes executed it is painful and cruel.
The death penalty is a very controversial topic in America today, the question is do we keep the death penalty or abolish it for life imprisonment without parole. America should abolish the death penalty and should stick to life imprisonment. One reason is that the death penalty is not undoable once your dead there is no going back. There has been many miscarried death penalties in the U.S., and these mistakes cause a lot of sorrow and depression for families and their loved ones. The death penalty is also too expensive. It costs America less to keep an inmate in jail for life than it does to execute them. This is why America should abolish the death penalty.
In this essay I will argue that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States. Capital punishment is a legal process where the state sends individuals, convicted of treason, murder, and terrorism just to name a few, to death row to be punished to their deaths by execution. Also known as the death penalty, these convicted prisoners are then put to death by such methods as a firing squad, gas chamber, electrocution, hanging, or lethal injection. All of which are lethal social injustices.
In recent discussions of the death penalty, a controversial issue has been whether or not to abolish the death penalty. On the one hand, some argue that the death penalty should remain illegal. From this perspective, the death penalty rids the United States of criminals who have committed horrible crimes. On the other hand, however, others argue that the death penalty should be illegal in all fifty states. From this perspective, the death penalty could also send an innocent person to their death. According to President Obama race is a factor, at least in his opinion. He stated, “In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems – racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations
Death row is not only morally wrong, but it is telling the murders that killing someone for doing something wrong is right. Since August, 6, 1912, there have been two hundred and eighty-two executions, done by the state of South Carolina (South Carolina Department of Corrections, 2016.) Death row should be abolished, not only does it give inmates the impression that an eye for an eye is okay, but it puts innocent people lives at risk. Death row costs taxpayers millions of dollars, and it is a violation of the eight amendments.
Capital punishment has been argued to be a violation of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 recognizes that every person has a right to life and further states “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” . Death penalty however, is a violation of both these fundamental human rights as it
Capital crime is something that is meant for people that are found guilty of committing a serious crime, such as murder, rape, or theft. These are offences that should not be taken lightly but by killing the offender, the government is carrying about the action that they are trying to prevent. Also, the wrong person may be sentenced to death. After this person is executed, there is obviously nothing that can be done for the terrible mistake to be reversed. The death penalty should be abolished because it is more expensive than life imprisonment, numerous innocent people are condemned to death row, and it is cruel and inhumane.
The sun is overshadowed today with the cloud of death lingering in the air. Everything is somber, watching a man prepare to take his last breath in the name of justice. As the clock ticks away to the man’s fate, so do his crimes. For the crimes he committed can’t be forgiven and shall be given the justice of the ancient times. The life for a life shall be commenced as the clock ticks his final moments. As the countdown ends, the world watches the man’s last breath. The man is dead and justice has been served, but what if this man was innocent? What of the executioners who were serving justice, actually killed an innocent man? Who should take responsibility for this? Nothing can be done, the man is dead. Documentation of executions by capital punishment, or the more commonly known death penalty, has been engrained in America since the colonial times. However, wrongful convictions are a world of unknown. By definition, they are unobserved when they occur. So, why do we allow such unobservable events a chance to end an innocent person’s life? Due to this, the death penalty is a detriment to the American judicial system, because it allows errors when compared to many other humbler methods, such as life without parole. You can see the differences by the expenses and length of time it takes to execute both of these justices. Not to mention the current standards of evidence that still can convict people wrongfully, as well as the supposed deterrence of the death penalty.
Every human being has a right to life whether you are criminal or not and no human has a right to infringe the right to life of any individual regardless of their deeds. Capital punishment is a death penalty, if a criminal is given a death penalty, the individuals right to life is being deprived of his or her right to life. In the society today, we have so many cases of individuals being condemned to death and later found innocent of the crimes they were being convicted for. We can see this in the case of Levon James.
The death penalty, also known as capital punishment is a legal procedure in which a state executes a person for crimes he/she has committed. This punishment has been used by many states, and is normally used for serious crimes, especially murder. It is also used on crimes against the state such as treason, crimes against humanity, espionage, and violent crimes while other states use it as part of military justice. There are mixed reactions on capital punishment depending on one’s faith, and the state they come from. In my view, I am not in favor of death penalty, as I strongly believe that, death penalty is unacceptable and an inhumane practice for it denies one the right to live. Death penalty does
In an interview with the Death Penalty Information Center, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990, Justice William J. Brennan Jr. said, “Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent (Dieter).” In every case of the death penalty, there is always a small percentage of chance that the victim might be innocent. As described by the Justice Brennan, the death penalty is terrified.