Persuasive Essay On 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.

Some may be shocked to be informed that capital punishment actually costs more than life in prison; that is without parole. Many would figure that the costs would be less for the death penalty because of the food, place of living for the prisoners, etc., but quite frankly, it costs more for a prisoner to be punished to death rather than to having life in prison (Hyden). Some state’s taxes differ but for the state of California, capital punishment costs taxpayers more than $114 million a year (Bushman). Additionally, the taxpayers of California spend $250 million per execution (Bushman). According to the nonpartisan state legislative analyst’s office, the average cost of imprisoning an inmate was around $47,000 per year in 2008-09. In comparison, the death penalty can lead to an additional $50,000 to 90,000 per year, according to the studies found (Ulloa). In more studies, they have estimated the taxpayers to spend $70 million per year on incarceration, plus $775 million on additional federal legal challenges to convictions, and $925 million on automatic appeals with the initial challenges to death penalty cases

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.

The death penalty is truly a waste of time and money. When people go after a death penalty sentence, it usually ends up costing more than twice more than a regular trial. When an inmate gets sentenced the death penalty, they go to death rowe. Death rowe is a separate part of the prison. It is separate from the rest of the general population. This is to keep the rest of the prisoners safe. On average, housing an inmate on death row costs 90,000$ more than a normal inmate. This is because they have to provide extra security for the inmate. (Interview) When someone is being charged with the death penalty, they can be on death row for an average of of 20 years. This is because they get a certain amount of appeals. An appeal is when the judge and

According to Death Penalty Information Center, (DPIC) As of July 1,2016, there were 2,905 death row inmates being held in prisons. Roughly each one of those inmates are still currently be held for their execution date, on average each criminal that is waiting death row is being held for 14 years. Each prisoner cost 43,352 dollars (roughly) each year. For one inmate to be put on death row for 14 years it would cost 606,928 dollars. Some say that Capital Punishment would put our country into more debt than it already is in. I agree with this theory, but if we would stop holding death row inmates for multiple years, it wouldn't be as much of a punishment to our taxpayers who fund the operations. Also fellow criminals would be detoured from the

Some may say that this punishment is necessary, but I don’t think taking someone’s life is also necessary. This punishment cost so much that there over 800 people being executed because they can’t afford to save their lives. In Tennessee,” forty eight percent more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.” In Maryland, “ three times the cost of non-death penalty cases, or three million dollars for a single case.” So federal governments and states are paying so much money just to execute someone when they could just be sent to jail and die in prison. The cost also shows how the whole system works, because an execution shouldn’t high price expensive. Money and the many people being put on death row could change the fact that we even have a death penalty which in that case we don’t need to penalize death on

The reason I added potential to my answer is because, there are many areas in the criminal justice process that needs to be overhauled. I personally believe that the lengthy appeals process wasted on death sentences, drains the american tax-dollars and allows the condemned to sit on death row for decades without the fear of execution. The political powers of the United States have to correct the injustice to the families of victims in these capital

One-hundred thirty million dollars are wasted each year on the death penalty, while it costs eleven million dollars for the same number of inmates per year to be put in prison for life without parole. The death penalty is when a person is executed by the state as a punishment which consists of lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and hanging. The death penalty has been proven to consume a lot of time. For many cases, they will be denied, therefore wasting time and money that could be used for other problems that the country is facing. All this money that is wasted on the death penalty can be used for something useful like using the money for schools, hospitals, or other sections of the law enforcement like paying more

The death penalty is very costly in more ways than ever thought. One of the more obvious ways the death penalty is costs so much is paying for the prisoner. They are fed three times a day which costs money, as does the water used for them to bathe and brush their teeth. For one year to be properly housed it costs the county anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 dollars, an average of 30,000 dollars a year (Hirby, 2015). If the inmate is waiting anywhere from 10-15 years, according to Madelyn Farfan a Torrington Police Department Detective who has been in service for thirteen years, to be officially put on death row that’s anywhere from 300,000- 450,000 dollars while waiting for a final verdict. These expenses are outrageous. The inmate is waiting this extensive amount of time when they could have already served a full sentence of someone who previously had a clean record before committing a murder. It is insane that all this money is being used towards a killer and will just keep multiplying as long as the evidence against or for the defendant keeps accumulating. The

The cost of the death penalty cost a lot. If the prisoner stays in jail and they are on death

Instead of doing the death penalty the states could just put the people in prison for life and the government could make more money instead of losing money. The death penalty costs $1.03 to $1.3 million. That’s how much the government loses. By doing the death penalty.

Even if all post-conviction proceeding (appeals) were abolished the death penalty would still be more expensive than alternative sentences.” (AIO). I would point out that in states where the death penalty is executed such as Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, and many more there is an statistic also found in the AIO that says the following “Using conservative rough projections, the commission estimates the annual cost of the present system ($137 million per year), the present system after implementation of the reforms ($232.7 million per year) and a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty (11.5 million).” This show the different sides of the death penalty is less expensive to have a criminal in jail rather than sentencing him to death, all the money that is going to be spent on the case, can be used for much greater issues that need to be resolved. Many people that are pro the death penalty can argue that why do we have to have a criminal that murdered an innocent, in jail where they will be getting privileges that they don’t deserve, when we have people who work hard every day and are not able to have the necessary privileges due to insufficient resources. In a sense I can agree with this thought, but what really comes to my mind is that If I was ever put in a situation, where one of my family members was murdered by a criminal I would rather

The capital punishment is expensive. It costs more to sentence a prisoner to death than giving him/her life imprisonment. The capital punishment cases have long and complex process. Therefore, they are much more expensive than life imprisonment. Every step is time-consuming and expensive. “The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (CCFAJ) roughly estimated the capital punishment costs in California. The Commission estimated that California currently spends $137.7 million on death-penalty-related costs each year” (Petersen & Lynch, 2012, para. 19). In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, which is about three times the cost of imprisonment for life (Death penalty facts, 2013, para. 1). The death penalty is a waste of taxpayer’s money. This is money that could be used for the better of the

According to Deathpenaltyinfo.org, as of July 1st, 2017 there were approximately 2,817 prisoners on death row. CNN.com says that, as of now, the death penalty is only legal in 31 out of the 50 states. Did you know that the average death row inmate will spend roughly 15 years in prison before they meet their final day; nearly a quarter of death row inmates die of natural causes while waiting for execution, and exhausting all of their appeals? How about that in Virginia death row inmates are now able to play games, watch TV, send emails, and have physical contact with visitors along with much more? Death row is for criminals that have committed heinous crimes and have been convicted by 12 unanimous jurors to death. So, why give them that many privileges?

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