Death Penalty for Murders

Keeping a prisoner in jail for life will be very expensive considering that it costs $80,000 a year; and the bad news is that the money comes from the taxpayer's pocket. Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man who might be executed. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year. This may sound awkward, but the death penalty saves lives. It saves lives because it stops those who murder from ever murdering again (Bryant). These opinions represent some of the strongest and most influential views that proponents hold. However, if our prison system could rehabilitate more effectively, perhaps those who murdered once, could change.

In my opinion the death penalty truly does help to eliminate the problem of overpopulation in prisons. When prisons become overpopulated more money is needed to pay for supplies for inmates. Why should taxpayers have to pay for criminal that have murdered people? Murdering someone is honestly one of the worst things a person could ever do. Americans should not have to pay to provide inmates with television. The person that was murdered is not going to be able to watch television, so why should the killer be able too. Inmates just sit in jail watching television, doing crafts, playing sports, eating, working, and sleeping. Many people say life without parole is better than the death penalty. I strongly disagree with this statement, because life without parole allows a killer to keep living their life after they took the life of another person. Plus keeping everyone just in prison without parole goes back to the fact it is very costly to pay for prison inmates. Overpopulation in prisons can lead to many riots, injuries, and even deaths. These riots can be from the cause of not enough food or supplies in the prison. Many prisoners have been known to kill their fellow cellmates, but yet all they get is another life sentence for taking another life. I do not agree that life without parole is better than the death penalty. After learning what talks place with killers in prison and

Over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries use of the death penalty was increasingly restricted to the most serious offences. It was removed from pickpocketing in 1808, and from many more offences in the 1820s and 1830s. By the 1840s only those found guilty of the most serious offences (murder, wounding, violent theft, arson, sodomy) were sentenced to death (though only murderers were actually executed), and the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act abolished the death penalty for all offences except for murder and High Treason.

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

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

Is sentencing one to death ever a justifiable action? For many years, capital punishment in the U.S. has been a viable sentence for those committing a serious crime, usually involving murder. While some believe that the death penalty is a well-deserved punishment for certain criminals, others feel as though it is cruel and should be eliminated. In "The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished," David Muhlhausen, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis, argues that the death penalty is a morally justified option within the American criminal justice system. Although some may still disagree with his position, Muhlhausen presents a valid argument through well

In the 1800s during the time of prison reform, the use of capital punishment and conviction with the death penalty became increasingly stigmatized- less and less was this an acceptable form of punishment and grew to be seen in a much more negative light. Throughout American history, the death penalty through hangings and other execution styles was a part of public society and was often a form of entertainment. Gradually these executions moved out of the public limelight and into a more private sphere, often within the prison walls, and eventually made their way to death by electric chair and lethal injection. Increasing focus on morality led the states and country to tend toward these more ethical ways execution, yet the death penalty has still

Throughout history, many governments were implementing the death penalty unfairly because of the unjust rulers, such as the Romans and the Ottomans. For example, they were executed people who were demanding for their rights. Furthermore, the penalty ways were very ugly and inhumane. To be more precise, Romans used the saw to cut up the accused into two halves and this execution-style was the favorite of the Roman emperor Caligula. Also, Ottomans were using the stake in the death penalty to make the victim suffer as long as possible before he died.

The justice system is filled with opposition. Those who support the use of Supermax, the death penalty and the execution of those who are mentally retarded and juveniles, and those who oppose the above mentioned. The following essay will discuss all mentioned topics.

The death penalty wastes the money of the tax payers and is ineffective in stopping crime (Delcour). The cost that it takes to maintain the death penalty could be used for much more important statewide matters. Many law enforcement officials in states with the death penalty claim the money used toward the death penalty is a complete waste of tax dollars (Delcour). An example being, the opinion of law enforcement in states with the death penalty, “The cost of one execution is significantly higher than life imprisonment without parole. At a time when state budgets are slim and cutbacks are the norm, Delcour maintains that the high cost of the death penalty system makes little sense—especially when so many law enforcement officials consider it an ineffective deterrent against homicides and the least efficient use of taxpayer dollars” (Delcour). There are much less expensive ways to punish an inmate that will have a better effect on crime in those states, and cost less. There are greater causes that the money used on the death penalty can be used for. Education is one of the main things that the millions spent on capital punishment could be used for productively. The needs of millions of people in a state are far more important than the execution of a extremely small amount of people. A life-without-parole system would be much better than the current execution system (Delcour). The small amount of

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

Even though there’s always going to be different opinions regarding the death penalty. I believe that the criminal should serve life in prison and pay for their crime that way. Rather than being executed because it is not really that accurate so instead of making a big deal about death penalty the government should focus on ways to prevent crimes. However the government pays more attention to what punishment the criminal will receive. In, Sentencing For Life, the author writes, In Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Edward Carnes, who headed the state's capital punishment division as assistant attorney general for many years, said that "life without parole in Alabama means just that--no parole, no commutation, no way out until the day you die, period." (Dieter 13). Life imprisonment is a more convenient way for not only society but it benefits the government too by not spending too many resources on the criminal. In, Sentencing For Life, the author states, “From all indications, America could be safer without the death penalty and would realize an enormous monetary saving as well. Judging by the crime rates in those states that have abolished capital punishment and

Furthermore, on top of not reducing criminal activities, Capital punishment is a waste of money. Dieter state that Over two-thirds of the states and the federal government have installed an exorbitantly expensive system of capital punishment which has been a failure by any measure of effectiveness. Literally, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent on a response to crime which is calculated to be carried out on a few people each year and which has done nothing to stem the rise in violent crime (Dieter n.d.)When in fact there is another way to go about it. The death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative -- life imprisonment with no parole. Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. (Dieter n.d.)Over the past three decades, there has been a downward trend in the number of murders that lead to arrest and conviction to the point that only

No issue posed by capital punishment is more disturbing to the public than the prospect that the government might execute innocent people. Proponents to the death penalty are, of course, also against executing an innocent person (Hook and Kahn 91). Most everyone would agree that killing someone is wrong. Proponents and opponents agree that murder is a heinous act and should be punished. Despite their hatred for those who kill, proponents support the killing of murderers as a just punishment for their deviant behaviors. In this sense, execution can be termed, “legal murder” because “executions shares enough of the characteristics of murder to be counted as part of the general category: it includes a victim who does not want to die, and an agent that nonetheless kills [the victim]” (Yanich 98]. Murder is synonymous with kill, as found in the Britannica- Webster Dictionary. To kill is to deprive one of life or to put one to death and murder implies motive and intent or premeditation. With respect

The problem with the death penalty is that it is a big waste of money. Yes, in some cases it can make people feel better, like they are getting revenge on the people that did the crime to their loved one or someone they know but that is really cruel. In the article, The Price of Justice it shows how the price were a few years ago and it can only of up from there “in 1988, The Miami Herald reported that the cost of the death penalty in Florida was $3.2 million per execution compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment.103 Similarly, The Dallas Morning News reported in 1992 that the trials and appeals of a capital case alone cost Texas $2.3 million per case on average”. Making the criminal sit in a jail cell that is not that big with other bad people is more of a punishment then just killing them. And it is a lot cheaper to do it that way as well. The cost of the death penalty is not reasonable because the state can’t even perform the death penalty the right way. And we can use the money for better things for our states and for our society so we can improve our comity’s so