Literature Review Of Capital Punishment

The death penalty or in other words capital punishment is a form of execution used for a long time. It is a form of punishment that was and still is used by several countries for various types of crimes for hundreds of years. However the death penalty has become a very debatable and confronting issue for last decades due to the fact of people having different opinions on this issue. In some countries it is considered to be a part of the judicial system, while

Many counties complain about the high costs and the financial difficulty it causes. The document, What Politicians Don’t Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty, written by Richard C. Dieter, executive director of The Death Penalty Information Center states, “Georgia is laying off 900 correctional personnel and New Jersey has had to dismiss 500 police officers. Yet these same states, and many others like them, are pouring millions of dollars into the death penalty with no resultant reduction in crime.” These cost of these trial are not only immense amounts of money to the local governments, but also people’s jobs and lives. It is an unnecessary process that millions of dollars are being poured into each

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

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

Despite this on going argument, outlawing capital punishment in America could create many unhappy citizens, and cause a division in the U.S. government. By enforcing the death penalty prevention in crime could occur. If death is the punishment for murder then criminals are not gaining from their crimes, but receiving the punishment they have inflicted on others. The crime rate is lower in the states that do not invoke capital punishment, but as Walter Burns stated “the number of murders tend to rise with the crime rate in general - and not only in America,” (105). Capital punishment is maintained to hopefully show criminals that when they kill they will eventually meet the same fate. By enforcing the death penalty the government could be trying to scare criminals from their crimes, and in some cases it has worked. When the death penalty was restored in Kansas, for example, the homicide rate dropped considerably (Bedau 122). According to research done by Bedau the crime rate continued to sore between 1960-1969 when capital punishment was rarely being used in most states (Bedau 127).

Gangsters, thieves, killers, and every other criminal who commits a capital offense knows that without capital punishment, they can “run the town”. They will be able to evoke fear into everyone’s hearts knowing, if they got arrested the worse punishment they would have to endure would be a few years in prison with a good chance of parole. Serial killers, manslaughters, would be released back into civilization on “good behavior” to walk next to you to the bus stop, work with you, or even live next door to you if they were thought to have changed. According to David Muhlhausen, each execution, on average, results in 18 fewer murders. Capital punishment doesn’t just take lives, it saves them.

Although some people believe capital punishment will help get rid of more criminals, Diamond and Donahoo emphasize how capital punishment is not justified in our judiciary system and should be outlawed.

America’s strategy of capital punishment believes that killing someone actually solves the problem of reducing crime rates, when in reality it is more of a method to avoid the real issue with the criminal justice system. We are killing all these prisoners and not really getting the answers we need. For instance, are we really stopping crime? Also, the death penalty puts innocent lives at risk because of how flawed it is. Since the introduction of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from Death Row, including some who came within minutes of execution with the death penalty. Therefore, I am against the death penalty and wish for it to be terminated due to the fact that it is morally wrong and has little to no impact when it comes to reducing crimes rates. This makes it practically useless and straight-up stupid; it also distracts us to a point of making us avoid the true ways to actually reduce crime in America.

America’s strategy of capital punishment believes that with killing someone actually solves the problem of reducing crime rates when in reality it is more of method to avoid the real issue with the criminal justice system. We are killing all these prisoners and not really getting the answers we need. Like are we really stopping crime. Also, the death penalty puts innocent lives at risk because of how flawed it is. Since the entry of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from death row, including some who came within minutes of execution.With the death penalty . Therefore, I am against the death penalty and wish for it to be terminated. Due to the fact, it is morally wrong and does little to no impact when it comes to reducing crimes rates. Making it practically useless and straight up stupid and distracting us to a point of making us avoid the true ways to actually reduces crime in America.The majority of the United States perspective and value of capital punishment is to punish and kill prisoners but with it nothing is accomplished. Plus, There is no evidence that the death penalty reduces crime. In fact, most people on death row committed their crimes in the heat of passion, while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or while suffering from mental illness. They represent a group that is highly unlikely to make rational decisions based on a fear of future consequences for their actions. The idea that the death

Capital punishment comes at a hefty price. A lot of tax dollars go to this supposed “justified deterrence” that is intended to reduce the rate of murder and crime. The money could be put to better use, such as reforming the criminal justice system and put funding into low-income neighborhoods and programs for at-risk youths. These would be better alternatives to the death penalty. Another point is the level effectiveness of the death penalty.

There are 31 states with the Death Penalty and of those is California: which has the highest murder rate out of all 50 states. My point is the Death Penalty does not change the crime rate at all, in fact, states with the death penalty rule have more violence than those who don’t. In 2006, the FBI Uniform Crime Report revealed that the area of the U.S. that was responsible for the most executions (the South with 80 percent) also had the highest murder rate, whereas the Northern areas that had the fewest ­executions (less than one percent), had the lowest murder rates. Capital Punishment is useless and it wastes resources and time. It wastes the time of judges, jurors, prosecutors and police officers. According to a study conducted by the University of Florida, approximately 90 percent of the nation’s leading criminologist say that using capital punishment is an extreme waste of time and as well as

Chapter nine begins with a description of Mississippi’s first traveling executioner. Something that Oskinsky explains as a “Truly American contribution to capital punishment” (pg 206). Oshinsky give a graphic depiction of the first victim to the portable electric chair that took place on October 11, 1940. This invention was used until 1955, when the state of Mississippi took control of executions and instituted a gas chamber. Although short lived 73 people were put ot death 56 black males, 16 white males and 1 black woman (pg 207). These deaths also included 2 14 year old black boys who were sentenced to death for killing a white lumberman in 1947. As with Parchman farm capital punishment was deeply rooted in race. Oshinsky notes that legal

Capital punishment has been around for many years as a way of executing criminals. Despite what most believe, capital punishment is not functional in the American society. Defenders of the death penalty often claim that the execution of criminals will teach others not to do bad, initially decreasing crime rates. Unfortunately, statistics prove that thought to be wrong. Capital punishment also has great flaws. For example, many innocent people have been put to death because of capital punishment. There also is no consistency. Two of the same crimes can be convicted in two different states and the consequences with be different for both offenders. The death penalty shows to be

Putting people to death for committing murder makes other potential murderers think twice about killing someone. Capital punishment deters many murders every day. If all that had to be done was spend life in jail, getting free meals, having a roof over their head, and place to sleep at night, then killing

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