Improvements for the Texas Capital Punishment System Essay

Capital Punishment, also known as the Death Penalty, has been a part of the United State’s justice system for the majority of the country’s existence. Today, 31 out of the 50 states still recognize the death penalty as a viable option when dealing with high profile crimes, most notably murder and sexual assault. While many people argue that the death penalty should be made illegal, there is also widespread support in favor of keeping the death penalty, leaving the nation divided on the issue. Both sides of the argument possess valid evidence that supports their claims, but in the end, the arguments in favor of the death penalty are noticeably stronger. The death penalty is an appropriate sentence that should continue to be allowed in the

Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.

The death penalty was established as a form of punishment as far back as the 1600's. There are many controversial issue's in our world today whether it goes against our civil rights or not. As of today there are thirty-two states who still allow the death penalty and seven states who have completely abolished it ( Norton,W.W.& Company, Inc 115.) Even though the use of the execution has gradually decreased, there have still been many cases in the past years that states have still used it. At one point there was a time the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, but after a couple years the court allowed states to bring back the death penalty. The courts have struck down many laws where states have tried making it mandatory in

The eighth Amendment states that the government is prohibited from cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is a complete violation of this amendment. Every one, guilty or innocent has the right to live freely, and the government taking away this simplicity of rights, is unconstitutional.

There are laws and decisions of United States government and higher orders that present controversy to the people of America. In the state of Texas the application of the death penalty is difficult to interpret, especially for the mentally ill, because there is no written law or bill that explains the execution implication in complete detail. The death penalty is a capital punishment of death for those who have committed such high crime. This penalty goes for everyone who does such act no matter who you are, how rich how poor, or where you stand in society. For the longest time, even with the mindset and understanding that those who commit crime to a certain level can receive the execution punishment, the concern and debate whether the mentally

In the United States, the use of the death penalty continues to be a controversial issue. Every election year, politicians, wishing to appeal to the moral sentiments of voters, routinely compete with each other as to who will be toughest in extending the death penalty to those persons who have been convicted of first-degree murder. Both proponents and opponents of capital punishment present compelling arguments to support their claims. Often their arguments are made on different interpretations of what is moral in a just society. In this essay, I intend to present major arguments of those who support the death penalty and those who are opposed to state sanctioned executions application . However, I do intend to fairly and accurately

Putting people to death for breaking the law is a punishment that has been in existence for thousands of years of human history and has been enforced in all corners of the

Having to execute prisoners in Texas is a critical issue in our criminal justice system. The executions are carried out on capital murderers. It all started back in the 1800’s when counties carryed out their own exectution method; prisoners were hung. Than, in the1920’s the state of Texas ordered that all executions were to be carried out to Walls Unit, Huntsville for “The Electric Chair.” Ever since 1982, Texas was the first U.S state to execute with the “Lethal Injection.” The executions in Texas are carried out in various ways, but the primary way of executing inmates now is by lethal injection.

The life it took thirty-seven years for Lester Bower to build, was taken from him in slightly under four hours when a jury with no murder weapon, without fingerprints, witnesses placing him at the scene, or a confession, found him guilty and sentenced him to death. During the next thirty-one years of waiting he was separated from his wife and two daughters; he spent about 23 hours a day in the 5 by 9-foot cell that held him as he awaited his execution. In 1994, he reported that his life on death row was a lonely one saying, “You have people around you all the time, but you have very few friends. There is too much dying on the row, so you don't build really true bonds.” Finally on June 3, 2015, Bower died for the crime that he maintained he

This chart shows how many executions there has been since the year 1976 to how many there are in 2015 and 2016. In the state of Texas, it has the highest death penalty with Oklahoma coming in second. The state of Texas has executed 538 people since 1976 to which 279 occurred when Rick Perry was governor of Texas which is more than any other governor had in their term. The executions had risen up in 2000 in the state of Texas where 40 people were put down. According to the chart from where it is at this year compared to the year 1976, the death penalty has declined to very few numbers to where some states abolished it because it violated the state’s

In many eyes across the country the death penalty is widely criticized. The state of Texas has the death penalty whereas nineteen other states in the United States do not including the state Maine. The death penalty is a way for the states to declare that they don’t tolerate the heinous crimes that some individuals commit. In Texas there are numerous ways that one could be sentenced to death row. Murdering a police officer or firefighter in the line of duty and if the individual knowing that they are a police officer or firefighter, murder for hire or promise of pay, to employ another to commit murder, murder during the act of or attempted act of kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction, retaliation or terroristic

In the United States, there are around 40 to 50 executions per year, Texas with 10 or more prisoners put to death each year. Texas has the highest rate of deaths out of all the other states with the death penalty. Texas currently has three prisoners put to death already. The United States has currently 31 states with the death penalty; the remaining states abolished it. The death penalty should be abolished because of the cost, it shortens punishment for the person who did the crime,and it puts innocent lives at risk.

The sentencing structure in Texas is in need of reform within several different areas of the state’s death penalty system. The American Bar Association with their Texas Capital Punishment Assessment Team reports recommendations in regards to the areas that need to be assesse: [(Law Enforcement Identification Procedures, Law Enforcement Interrogation Procedures, Preservation of Biological Evidence, Access to testing Biological Evidence, Crime Laboratories and Medical Examiner Offices, Forensic Science Commission, Texas Capital Sentencing Structure, Jury Instructions, Treatment of Persons with Mental Retardation, Treatment of the Severely Mentally Ill, Proportionality Review, State Habeas Corpus Proceedings, Clemency, External Review of

Since the death penalty was reauthorized in 1976, 1,362 people have been executed, almost exclusively by the states, with most occurring after 1990. Texas has accounted for over one-third of modern executions and over four times as many as Virginia, the state with the second-highest number. The Walls Unit prison in downtown Huntsville, Texas is the nations busiest execution chamber.

If we examine some arguments presented from both sides, opponents of the capital punishment claim that executing someone is nothing more than an immoral, state-authorized killing which undervalues the human life and destroys our respect for our government which itself says that killing is wrong. But the supporters of the death penalty think that certain murderers