Persuasive Essay Abolish Death Penalty

The death penalty disproportionately targets minorities especially African Americans. In the United States of America there is an unequal and unfair burden against African Americans in the criminal justice system. In 2011, African Americans were only 13.6% of the American population (Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, & Drewery, 2011). However, African Americans in 2011 made up 42% of the total death row population (Snell, 2011). Although a minority of the total population in the United States, African Americans make the majority of inmates on death row facing execution. Furthermore, the death penalty in many states is used as tool that following the racial legacy of Jim Crow laws. Sentences resulting in death are higher in states with a history of lynching (Schweizer 92). States with a history of lynching are predominately found in the Southern United states. The Southern United states has the highest population of death row inmates. In 2009 alone there were 1,630 inmates currently on death row in the South compared to 226 in the North and only 988 in the West (Schweizer 92). In addition, the race of the victim often will determine the sentence. Results from the Baldus Study suggested evidence of racial disparity in the state of Georgia based on the victims race (Schweizer 92). The Baldus study argued African American defendants who committed murdered white individuals had much higher probability of receiving the death penalty. Prosecutors in Georgia pursued a verdict of death in 80% of their cases if the defendant was African American and the victim was white (Schweizer 92). This is purely racial discrimination and prejudice. Finally, “Since 1977, the overwhelming majority (77%) off death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims, even though African Americans make up about half of all homicide victims (Amnesty International).”The race of the both the victim and perpetrator in criminal is irrelevant.

You can see it as if the person who performed the crime actually deserves to die. You can also see it like does the federal government's actually get to choose to kill the people who killed. It is so messed up, because they are teaching that if you kill someone or do some other major crime, then they will kill you. They arn’t teaching a lesson. They are teaching that murdering someone is ok, as long as they murdered someone else. That makes absolutely no sense. For those who witness the death and for the doctors who have to insert the injections, after the death they may feel sick, dizzy, dazed, numb and empty. They also may feel nothing at all, then later realize what they have just done and start to have nightmares. Some have post-traumatic stress after having to watch someone they love put on the death row. They aren't even thinking about how bad death row is to watch for the people who love the person who is being killed.

The death penalty is one of the greatest controversial punishments in the world. There are numerous people who agree with this practice and plenty more who do not agree and believe we should be done with it all together. Some important credential people who give compelling arguments for abolishing the death penalty is Diann Rust-Tierney and Barry Scheck, whereas; the people against abolishing it is Robert Blecker and Kent Scheidegger.

Hammurabi once said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” As of April 1, 2017, there were 2,843 death row inmates in the United States. Society has changed at some point over time. At some point people have forgotten the difference between right and wrong and have forgotten that some things aren’t okay to do. People think that it is okay to kill, rape, torture, etc. They think they can do all of this stuff and not get punished for their actions. How can we as a society think that we can make a change in this world if people continue to do hateful things and think that those things are okay to do? We need to continue to punish people so they understand that they will have consequences for their actions? None

There are people in the world who have done things that are so severe and heartbreaking they cannot be forgiven. People that harass society and put fear in the minds of our citizens such as rapists, mass murderers, and terrorists deserve the punishment that they gave to the innocent victims. The United States is still a part of the minority of countries that still use the death penalty, also known as capital punishment. The death penalty should be used because it gives closure the victim’s family, acts as a deterrent for any other people wanting to attempt a crime of the same extent, and permanently prevents any further horrendous crime from that person.

Since the year 1976, around 1,462 people in the United States have been executed by lethal injection. Practiced in 31 states and abolished in 19 the death penalty has remained a center stone of debate since its launch in 1976. With so many differing viewpoints, arguments pertaining to the moral issue, legal considerations and possible alternatives have been left unsettled since. The ongoing tug-of-war within these topics slowly tries to chip away at the big question. Should the death penalty be allowed?

There are various topics of discussion that cause people discomfort, one of those topics is the death penalty. The vast majority of people can agree that justice should be served and there should be consequences for those who break the law. The question then becomes, where does one draw the line? All crimes are punishable through either jail/prison time, community service, or fines, however larger more severe crimes are punishable through the death penalty. Such crimes include, treason, airplane hijacking, and murder. The death penalty is meant to serve as a consequence to those who committed a major crime and a warning to other criminals. However, this form of punishment should be abolished.

The death penalty is a last resort punishment or is used to protect civilians from criminals having the opportunity to kill again. It is used on those only most deserving. Those considered deserving are cold blooded killers. Dick Hickock stood by and aided Perry Smith as he brutally murdered a family of four, the Clutter family, in their own home. These men never intended on the murders occurring, they hold no regard for the horrible things they have done, and they are dangers to society.

Putting another human to death is unimaginable and unbelievable. Yet our society allows this to happen. Imagine hearing your name called on death row. Leaving all your friends and family for good. Your life is about to be over, no one can help you. Since the year of 1976 about 1,392 death sentences have been given. The death penalty should be abolished because it is more expensive than a lifetime in prison, it puts innocent lives at risk, and it is a cruel and unjust punishment, going against 8th amendment. The death penalty is a brutal and ruthless punishment, that should be abolished from our society.

The death sentence has been a part of our society for as long as the concept of laws have been in place. It has always been looked at favorably, due to the idea that it would punish the wicked people of society, or traitors of a society. Even as society has progressed, the death penalty remains a staple as punishment handed down to those that were deemed as not being part of society; whether it was criminals, heretics, or people that may have challenged the status quo. However, as our societies have entered its current modern age, the idea of the death penalty as punishment has begun to decrease across the world. As of now, 140 countries have banned it by law, and in practice. (International) Out of the countries that still implement the death penalty, the United States of America ranks fifth among those countries that still use it. Within the United States, it has been observed that African-Americans are more inclined to be sentenced to death when the victim is Caucasian, while Caucasians are sentenced to life when the victim is African-American. (ACLU) With such a disparity between sentencing for both races. Would those that are part of the African-American community look less favorable on capital punishment than Caucasians would?

Our forefathers fought in many great wars and struggled valiantly to craft the United States of America into the proud country it is currently. A well known, and still standing, way that they strengthened and shaped our government was through the creation of the United States Constitution. The U.S. Constitution was established in 1787, The Constitution was written in a particular manner which, if necessary, allowed for it to be amended, and over time it has. The most recent amendment that has been made was the 27th amendment, in 1992. The eighth amendment of the U.S Constitution states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (U.S. Const, amend Vlll) The eighth amendment, although seemingly to the point, is deceitful in its brevity and contains many ambiguities, particularly upon the last phrase of the sentence. It raises the question of what constitutes as cruel and unusual. As the amendment was passed in 1791, is it what would be considered cruel then? Or rather, what is cruel in today’s society?

“Would you choose to be the person that pulls the switch that snuffs out a human life?” (www.oadp.org) Really think about that. Would you want to be the person who does the execution? Many things come into factor when thinking about the death penalty. Cost, guilty or not guilty, humanity, social changes, and so much more.

On October 12, 2011 Laura Webb-Elody and seven others were killed in the Seal Beach Salon Meritage (Webb, 2017). Laura’s mother was also shot, but she did not die. The man went to the Salon where his ex-wife Michelle Fournier worked right beside Laura. He felt the need to punish Michelle so he shot her. He referred to the other victims as “collateral damage”. When he was done in the salon, he went to his car and felt the need to shoot the guy who happened to park next to him. People that saw this happen got his license plate number and then called 911. He was then pulled over and arrested. He still had possession of his three guns that he killed these people with, but he did confess to the crime. Bethany Webb wanted the man that shot her sister to sit in prison for the rest of his life so that he could suffer and think about what he had done. There are several reasons for why the death penalty is not a good solution for punishment. It is not cost effective, it does not allow the individual to sit and think about what they have done, and too many innocent people are killed because of capital punishment. The death penalty should be abolished in the United States Of America. If an individual commits a serious crime or murder they should suffer, which means life in prison.

The death penalty should be enforced because of overpopulation, resources, money, some crimes being so monstrous, and for the irreversible mistakes. Overpopulation is a problem in some places and slowly becoming a problem in others. This added with the fact that this population is graphicly “useless”. They also always have the chance of escaping or even killing or hurting others. This can be either other prisoners, security, or visitors. Most aren’t helping anything, in fact taking away from society, especially if they have done something so heinous to earn them even the consideration of a death penalty. Leading to my next point these people are using resources and space which sadly shouldn’t be worth the commonwealth’s taxes and consideration. Following that is why waste the money on these people who have taken away from society and earned their punishment. As inhumane as all this sounds in reality they have done more harm than good; hurting society. For even the local Michigan's sake the death penalty brings down some of the costs of maintaining these prisoners. There are 11 states that spend more on prisons than education. These states consist of Michigan being the largest following smaller states such as Rhode Island, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Other bigger states include Colorado, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon, Arizona, and all of this is as is since 2015. Some crimes are so heinous and take so much from people why should they be allowed to stay alive

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