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Killing Off The Death Penalty Research Paper

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Killing off the Death Penalty

Most people learn throughout their lifetime that two wrongs don’t make a right. So why is it any different with the death penalty? Each year, there are multiple people sentenced to death, but is this truly the right solution? Not everyone seems to think so. The death penalty should be abolished because it is morally wrong, people may later be proven innocent, and it is expensive. First of all, the death penalty should be abolished because it is morally wrong. For example, when Richard Wolf was discussing the death penalty in California, he states “...only 13 of 900 people sentenced to death since 1978 have been executed. The majority will die in prison or spend decades fighting their convictions.” …show more content…

In fact, according to some research, Dieter states, “In California, capital trials are six times more costly than other murder trials.” (Dieter 1) If the death penalty was abolished, and prisoners that were usually sentenced to death row were sentenced to a life without parole, then it would cost so much less. There isn’t any reason to continue with the unethical practice of sentencing people to death row if it’s not cost-efficient. Also, when Sandy Banks is talking about economics, she states, “Economics undoubtedly drive some of that shift. Taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since 1978. That translates to $308 million for every execution.” (Banks 1) That’s a lot of money. If there wasn’t so much money being spent on the death penalty, it could be put towards another cause, something that will benefit society as a whole. Having the death penalty just means that the taxpayers will have to spend even more money. Now, some may say that these prisoners deserve their fate. For example, Greg Dobbs, who, when talking about murderer Nathan Dunlap, stated, “He deserved the fate he sealed for them.” (Dobbs 1) Although some may believe this, it just isn’t ethical to take life away from a human being. If somebody steals something, are they going to be punished by having someone steal something from them? So why should the punishment for killing someone be getting killed? As well, the death penalty has been shown to not deter any crimes, so what’s the point? People shouldn’t wish death upon even their worst enemy. It just doesn’t make sense to spend so much money on the death penalty when it doesn’t help anything

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