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.”
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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
The most important reason why the death penalty should not be abolished is because we need capital punishment for those cases in which a killer is beyond redemption. “Some claim lift without parole is an appropriate alternative to the death penalty” (23). Others say if you kill, you should be killed or if you commit a crime that is bad that you should be killed. “According to Gallup polls, 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty for a person convicted of murder” (23). Therefore more than half of Americans are for the death penalty/capital
The United States should make the death penalty illegal because, the death penalty models the behavior it seeks to prevent, it does not deter crime, and the death penalty costs more than life in prison. With these reasons, it is justifiable that the death penalty should no longer be legal in any state of the U.S. No person should have to make everyone else suffer; there needs to be a stop to this manner of justice. Bringing the death penalty to an end would offer a sense of closure to the many people who are involved including the families who have suffered along the
I completely disagree with the archaic and obsolete way of the death penalty since it's way to expensive, it doesn't make the crime go away and the person could be innocent. First off , the amount of money spent on the death penalty is tremendous. Los Angeles Times Study Finds California Spends $250 Million per Execution in a 2005 article, ACLU has reported that "California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year post-trial seeking execution of the people currently on death row;Executing all of the people currently on death row, or waiting for them to die there of other causes, will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if they had been sentenced to die in prison of disease, injury, or old age; California death penalty trials
Over the course of history, the death penalty is a very heated and debatable topic. The death penalty is often viewed as inhumane and cruel. As a country that prides itself on American values and justice, we need to call attention to the criminals sitting in our jails. This is a monumental decision that no one wants to make, but someone has to. My personal stand point of the death penalty is that the death penalty is in place to help rid our society of criminal's that are incapable of being rehabilitated and released back into society. I support the death penalty because these criminals have caused emotional upheaval and are costing our society more funds required to sit in our jails with the life sentence with no parole rather than exercising
The United States should abolish the death penalty because there is a chance of wrongful execution and discrimination. In 2011 Illinois became the 16th state to abolish it, the main reasons were because the governor believed
“To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice,” stated Desmond Tutu. In 2011, studies found out that in the state of California, they’ve spent over four billion dollars on capital punishments since 1978. Trials that can result in the death penalty are 20 times more expensive on tax payers than those that can’t. The death penalty should be abolished world-wide. There are plenty of reasons that the death penalty should be outlawed. Cost, wrongful convictions and executions of innocent people, and the suffering of the accused are the main reasons (EJUSA, n.d.).
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
Since when was it okay to take someone’s life away as a punishment? To take someone’s life, future, everything away is not right, at all. The death penalty should be banned in the United States. 18 out of 50 states still allow the death penalty, and that number needs to go down to 0. To help stop innocent people from being executed, and drive society away from “an eye for an eye” phrase, stop the death penalty!
I believe that capital punishment should be abolished, but not for the subjective reasons just mentioned. It should be abolished because it is objectively ineffective. The purpose of the death penalty and incarceration in general, is to act as a deterrent, to prevent, or at least to reduce the frequency of a specific type of crime. However, sending criminals to death row has not been proven to decrease the number of homicides, and in some cases, data suggest that it has actually increased it. A survey in 2009 of the United States’ top criminological societies showed that “88.2% of the polled criminologists do not believe that the death penalty is a
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Bible). The death penalty seems like a fair execution for inmates who have committed murder. In reality, people need to realize that they're putting the blood of another person on their hands, the death of a murderer will not make a victim return back to life. It makes them as guilty as the person who committed the crime, but the only difference is that they didn't use a weapon. The whole purpose of criminal justice is to prevent crime and rehabilitate convicts. Life in prison allows inmates to change and pay for their crime but the death penalty will just give them an easy way to escape. Capital punishment brings no benefits and should be abolished because of its cost, discrimination and condemns who were innocent.
Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished because of many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also. People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person life on their hands. This makes them just as guilty as the person who committed the crime: the only difference is that they didn't use weapon except their mouth to kill them. The death penalty should be abolished because it is racist, punishes the poor, condemns those who are innocent to death, and is a cruel punishment.
The issue of capital punishment is a difficult one and the opinions are as diverse as the people giving them. The death penalty exists in 38 states and those that have it spend enormous amounts of tax payer dollars to engage the justice system in what is a long and drawn out series of court dates and appeals that are lasting years. In addition, the trials and appeals of those on Death Row will have attorneys, prosecutors, experts and judges with more experience creating a major strain on the budget and manpower of the state. Nationally there is no study identifying the cost associated with the Death Penalty, but each state uses their state laws and pay scales in determining the cost of the Death Penalty. Prior to the Death Penalty being abolished New York has spent millions of dollars on Death Penalty cases and the result was there were no executions. Those in favor of the death penalty believe that the cost associated with incarcerating an individual for life will far outweigh those associated with the Death Penalty, due to old age, medical issues, food and other essentials needed to keep one alive. This would be true if the Death Penalty was a swift method of justice. The monies spent on Death Penalty cases could be far better spent on local budgets and programs that are evidenced based and proven to provide needed services, such as law enforcement, drug treatment and youth programs.
The issue of the death penalty is widely disputed. So disputed that maybe I shouldn’t have picked this topic. But nevertheless, the death penalty is an issue that needs to be addressed. Should the death penalty be abolished from our criminal justice system? Well, that depends on whom you ask. If you ask me… no. I personally don’t see anything wrong with the death penalty because there are a lot of criminals that are just too dangerous to society and death is the only punishment they deserve.
Death penalty should be scrapped because it can lead to the execution of innocent people. The justice system is bound to make mistakes and so, the accused people should be given a chance to appeal, and prove their innocence other than being murdered because of mistakes made by judges. There are many cases whereby individuals are imprisoned and
Since the year 1973, there have been nearly 1600 people put on death row. Of those 1600, 151 of the people were exonerated, or proven not guilty. These people were very fortunate and were able to keep their lives, but not everyone is that lucky. At least 8 people have been suggested to be innocent after an execution; however nobody has been proven innocent. After an execution, there is no way to overturn a verdict. It is possible for there to be flaws such as false testimonies, inaccurate forensics, and even bias from the jury that could cost an innocent person his life. Therefore, the death penalty should be repealed because it is impossible to be one hundred percent certain every time that an individual is guilty of the crime he is being charged with.