Persuasive Essay On 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.

The death penalty, by definition, is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. Each state has their own determinates of why someone would be given the death penalty, for example, in Missouri, it is first degree murder, but for Alabama it is intentional murder with 18 aggravating factors.

Since the beginning of time there has always been the question of what to do with someone that has committed a serious offense that has resulted in serious injury or even death to a person. The death penalty has always been a topic of whether it is humane or inhumane to put someone to death over their crimes against another human being. The death penalty to some is either acceptable to where a person should be put t death for their crimes or is not doing anything to deter people from committing crimes. the death penalty is starting to become less of a punishment and more of a costly expense to taxpayers whom for “Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million.” The death penalty for some think it should be abolished while others would rather see it extended.

There are diverse capital punishment, the death penalty is one of them. Considered as a deviant and barbaric act, the use of this method reflects the opposite view or the wrong message of what the society teaches us. Encouraging the death penalty is not different from encouraging a murder and by operating in such a way actually violates a fundamental law set forth by the federal government which is “ Murder is an illegal crime”.

Do you ever wonder what should happen to dangerous criminals? Watching the news just thinking “huh?” Well what do you think should happen to the dangerous criminals? There are many opinions. Some people think the only option is the death penalty. I honestly agree and disagree with that because there are some death penalties are justified and some are not .Listen to these two cases.

There is bias and corruption in the legal system that can lead to innocent people being put on death row, and many prisoners have been released from death row because of false evidence or lack of strong evidence. This is supported by Bethany Webb when she states “I now watch knowingly as every few weeks across this country some new person is freed from prison, having been exonerated by new evidence” (par. 13). Also, the people on the jury are sometimes biased, so

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

George W. Busch once said, “I support the death penalty because I believe, if administered swiftly and justly, capital punishment is a deterrent against future violence and will save other innocent lives”. Now you need to ask yourself why you are for or against this issue, and how it affects the world. I think that they should take away the death penalty it is costly and can be delayed. The problem is the cost to the United State of having the death penalty, the cause of it costing so much is the delays of people on death row and keeping them there, and the solution to this is eliminating the death penalty or making it a swifter way to execution.

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.

It happens too often which is why the Death Penalty should be abolished. “1 of 25 or 4.1 percent” of people get wrongly executed by the Death Penalty (Levy). For example, in 1989 a man name Carlos DeLuna was innocently put to death because of of his wife’s murder at a gas, only because he was closely associated with her and matched with several eyewitness descriptions (McLaughlin). It was an absurd reason why he was wrongfully convicted of murder, especially also because, a “failure to pursue another suspect, and a weak defense combined to send DeLuna to death row” (McLaughlin). Two years after the execution the real killer confessed to the killing of DeLuna’s wife. In conclusion to this paragraph the Death Penalty may kill innocent people, our justice system is not without flaws, and their are plenty of cases where someone is convicted of a serious crime and then found later innocent. With life in prison or other punishments they can at least be realized after evidence is discovered but however if they have already been executed there’s no way to bring them back even though they were

A majority of the studies conducted on the death penalty focus on deterrence, a few on costs, even less on the innocent and only one on plea bargains it is clear that the studies on this debate should be more diverse. This literature review aims at examining these different aspects to weigh the integrity of the death penalty. The death penalty does not bring what it used to into our criminal justice system with deterrence degraded, the number of innocent people stacking, practices in favor of the prosecutors, and an overcharged bill to sum it all up (Judge Alarcón & Mitchell, 2002; Rakoff, 2014; Land, Teske, & Zheng, 2009; Gross, Hu, Kennedy, & O’Brien, 2014). These are not the results that the

From public executions in the town square to lethal injections in a dark concrete bunker, the death penalty has been around since the dawn of mankind. The first documented cases of death penalty laws were noted to be in fifth century B.C.’s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets. Violation of said laws would result in drowning, impalement, crucifixion, and many other arguably barbaric means of execution. Nowadays, due to more active legal barriers, not as many executions are being carried out. The methods that are legal and can be practiced in the U.S. as of 2017 are lethal injection, shooting/firing squad, hanging, electrocution, and containment in a gas chamber. All of these methods are specific to certain states, and not as widely used as lethal injection. According to Cornell Law School’s “The Death Penalty Worldwide” database, “Since 2001, 673 executions have been carried out by lethal injection, ten executions by electrocution and one execution by shooting, and no executions have been carried out by hanging or gas chamber.”

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?

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 death penalty is a prosecute that is used to kill criminals that have committed crimes that are so bad they should not be left alive. The idea of putting another human to death is hard to completely fathom. The physical mechanics involved in the act of execution are easy to grasp, but the emotions involved in carrying out a death sentence on another person, regardless of how much they deserve it, is beyond my understanding. Knowing that it must be painful, dehumanizing, and sickening. The Eight Amendment says” Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Constitutions). And for the article Changing Views on\\e rate has gone down at a steady from the 1990 to now and that they death penalty is sometimes necessary, and it is our responsibility as a society to see that it is done.