Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The death penalty is still in use in the united states. The state with the most executions is in Texas with a total of 545 from 2017 to the year 1976 (Number of Executions, 2017). The death penalty is a very big debate. There are many reasons why and why people do and don’t like the death penalty.

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

The death penalty also known as capital punishment ,happens when the court makes the decision to put a prisoner on death row. Soon it will be the prisoner's time to be executed. On Deathpenaltyinfo.org they show the top five execution methods. #1 is lethal injection (injecting poisons into the bodies, #2 is electrocution A.K.A the electric chair, #3 is the gas chamber, #4 is where prisoners are strapped to a chair while executioners use them to practice shooting, finally #5 is hanging but the prisoners are normally injected first.

The death penalty has been battered backwards and forwards by the questions of abolishment and replacement, with mixed results. There seems to a jagged line in the sand on where people stand, and due to the continuous use today (albeit at a slower clip than in the past), it is still very much a prevalent topic of punishment. Those who argue for it believe that taking it away will take away a great deterrent, that families find peace, and that those who commit egregious crimes deserve only death. Anything less “would fail to do justice because the penalty – presumably a long period in prison – would be grossly disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime” (“Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments,” 2016). Those who don’t believe in this punishment as a modern-day, useful tool of deterrence and punishment for crime, continuously counter these arguments, as well as any others, daily at every turn. Though many states have made it illegal, others placing moratoriums or refusals to use it, the death penalty can still be found active today. But why can’t it be replaced with life without parole, and it if can why should it?

Imagine what it feels like for people who are on death row. Regrets are racing through their minds. Nerves are shooting up their spine. They start to feel this overwhelming guilt come upon them. This guilt makes them feel as if they deserve this punishment. The truth is they do not deserve it. No human being in this world deserves that punishment. They deserve a second chance. They deserve a glimmer of hope in their life that makes them strive to do better. The death penalty kills their hope. It takes their hope and annihilates it, leaving no traces behind. The death penalty is a punishment that should never be used because no person deserves to be killed for their actions, and it has way too many harmful statistics that affect the government and the people of America.

We, as a society, have always used capital punishment to deter future crimes and as retribution for the injustice caused by an offender. Since our society has the highest concern in crime prevention, especially murder, we should use the toughest punishment possible; the death penalty. If a murderer is tried, put on death row, and executed, potential murderers will think twice about their actions for the fact that they could face execution. Whether or not these criminals are willing to commit the most heinous crime possible is still questionable. Some criminals will disregard this possibility of losing their life because they believe it will not happen to them.

Based on 44 executions in Florida carried out since 1976, the amount to a cost of each execution was 24 million dollars. (DPIC: Facts about the Death penalty). Since 1973 more than 150 people have been released with evidence of innocence. (DPIC: Facts about the Death penalty). Numbers of sentencing has dropped dramatically since 1999, studies show that so have the percentages of crime. (DPIC: Facts about the Death penalty). In conclusion, the current issues with the Death penalty are that the people believe that one’s life shouldn’t be an option for the jury, Government, or state to make due to the many innocent released and money wasted on the innocent and could be innocent on death row. And to top it off the statistics of crime not deterring as the death penalty is still standing, catch the attention of

Desmond Tutu, a social rights activist said, “To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” The death penalty does not reduce crime, restore families, or bring justice to the victims. The death penalty has been used as punishment for criminals who have later been exonerated after their execution. Since many death row cases are being reversed, the death penalty should be outlawed as a means for punishment. If the death penalty is outlawed, many innocent lives could be saved and more victims and their families will receive the justice they deserve.

If the death penalty only occurs to civilians shouldn’t this evenly handed and fair form of punishment entail all of the victims including those of the government such as politicians who carry out air strikes. One could argue that politicians kill the most people and therefore are the most at risk of this offence. Shouldn’t politicians deserve to die as well? It seems to me as if the death penalty or capital punishment or the justice system is enforced by the government for the government instead of its citizens. Shouldn’t it be the same standards for all?Justice for all? Including politicians who are in charge of this sick and twisted form of justice that only works against others and is entirely hypocritical and completely juxtaposes everything that justice stands for.This system is made entirely for governments no doubt.

The Death Penalty (DP), being also known as capital punishment, capital offence and corporal punishment, is a sentence of death imposed on a convicted criminal (1); this essay will use all the terms interchangeably. The DP breaches two fundamental human rights, namely the right to life and the right to live free from torture; both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations in 1948, which contains a list of each human rights that everyone is entitled to (UDHR 1948). Nevertheless, in 2016 alone at least 1,032 people were executed in 23 countries; most executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan (Amnesty International 2017).

Is the death penalty justified? And how long has it been around? In 1608 the first ever Capital punishment was recorded in the Jamestown colony of Virginia. One of the main countries that influenced the death penalty towards the US was Britain. They brought it over when they came to the “New World” which is now known as the US. If you think about it, is it really justified?

After viewing the National Geographic documentary titled “Death Row Texas”, I found myself grieving the loss of my father. Preceding my father’s death, he was an employee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) working as a Correctional Officer at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, known as the “Walls Unit”. Over the years, some of the stories that my father shared with me regarding TDCJ unfair system has me struggling with this question, particularly since TDCJ designed the system to oppress people of color through the act of mass incarceration, life in prison, and the death sentence according to a news article published by the New Yorker titled, “The Caging of America”. In the United States of America, White Americans have been murdering innocent African-Americans for centuries without punishments for their crimes, and yet today this behavior continues throughout our criminal justice system. According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Texas alone has accounted for more than 30% of the executions in the United States, and over the past five years, people of color make up 80% of the death sentences in Texas with more than 60% of the death sentences imposed on African-Americans. In response to the question whether Willie Earl Pondexter Jr., Johnny Ray Johnson and David Martinez deserve the death penalty, I am still undecided on my position due to my uncertainty regarding the usefulness in imposing the death sentence. Furthermore,

Many people stand oppose side of the death sentence because they think human have no rights to play God-have control over human lives. However, even more, people agree with a death penalty. According to National Conference of State Legislatures, there are 32 states in America that utilize the death penalty. The number of the annual death penalty never surpass the hundred (Statistic Brain) and more than half of the people (65%) agree with this method of sentencing. Death penalty provides an effective form of punishment for crimes involving the conviction of one person for the intentional killing of another person, it should be agreeable punishment for reasons: to save the budget, to lecture and to warn the potential criminal, and to provide happiness for the majority, including the victim and her/his relatives (public vengeance).

As of today there are 33 out of the 50 states of America that allow the death penalty although there are numerous debates on this law. The death penalty usually is issued when a man/women commits a crime that is so horrific that the only way to be able to punish the criminal is to have them sentenced to the death penalty. Most states definition of a death penalty is by lethal injection. Although some states offer other ways of death. Some states include death by lethal gas, hanging, electric chair, hanging, and firing squad each one being able to do same thing in the end. But is the death penalty an understandable way of convicting a criminal? Some may say it is inhumane to take the life of another criminal. Others may say if the criminal commits a crime so cruel such as murder and rape deserve not be alive in this world anymore. Which is what I believe is the correct way to sentence a criminal of that manner. If a person were to go out of their own way to murder another person they should also have their life also taken away.

The clock ticked as he waits in his freezing, lonely, pitch-black cell, not ready for death. He has lost track of how many times he has said how sorry he is, or it was a mistake, and yet three more days and his life will be over, for he had been sentenced to death. Thousands upon thousands of people have felt this way, just waiting on death row. The death penalty is a very serious punishment only given when the perpetrator purposely takes one or more lives. According to deathpenaltyinfo.com, in 2017, twenty-three people have been executed and 1248 people in total since 1976. After reading articles arguing for and against both sides, it is clear that the Capital Punishment should be abolished because it does not do anything to discourage murder, it is racially biased, and most of the people who are executed are mentally ill and or have disabilities.