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 has been a controversy in the United States justice system since its commencement (Bakken & Morris, 2010). Although extremely controversial, it has stood the test of time as the definitive penalty. Numerous countries are at present bring an end their death penalty law. Contrary to that, the United States has thirty eight out of its fifty states with death penalty still operational. It seems the United States needs the death penalty more than ever before due to rising rate of sever violent crimes across the nation. Statistics shows that since the early nineties roughly around 355 people have been put to death through death penalty and approximately 3300 are still waiting on death row. Similarly since 1976 around 552 felons have been put to rest through death penalty across the United States (Bakken & Morris, 2010). If you break these deaths down according to the methods utilized about three hundred ninety-four by lethal injection, one hundred forty-one by electrocution, eleven by gas chamber, three by hanging, and two by firing squad. Almost half of the 1976 executions have taken place within the last five years, which includes 52 that took place this year. Even though the death penalty has brought countless gooey criminals to end, the course of death penalty that it is founded on is inconsistent one.

"Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by ... any … kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing ... from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree." (Cornell) First-degree murder is very clear in its definition in US law. On the fateful night of November 14, 1959, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock seemed to have completely disregarded that very law when they made the decision to murder the innocent Clutter family after a planned robbery attempt and murder for cover up. Herbert and Bonnie Clutter and two of their children, Nancy and Kenyon Clutter, were brutally slain that night only for a total gain of fifty dollars for the killers. For the brutal murders of the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock should undoubtedly be punished by receiving the death penalty.

Knowing the exact date and time of one’s death would be tremendously terrifying. For the people on death row, it is experienced every single day. Instead of paying their time, they get the easy way out. It puts innocent lives at risk, it is selected at random, and it costs taxpayers a fortune. The death penalty is not a fair justification and the United States should not practice this mechanism.

The Government used to have a death penalty where you would have to sit in a chair that shocks you all the way to your death. When time has come passed the electric chair was eliminated and now their using the lethal injection where you are poisoned and killed instantly. Out of everybody on the death row 42% are Black, 43% are Whites, 13% are Hispanic, and 2% are other races. In the US there was 3,035 people on death row last October. 150 death row inmates were released due to their innocence being found. In Cali people who killed whites where 3 times more likely to get the death row then those who killed blacks.

Why is the death penalty so ineffective and expensive? There are multiple reasons to both questions, ranging from the trial cost and appeals or to the 153 people that have been exonerated. Theres also the declining popularity of capital punishment with only 60% of americans saying that they support it, as of 2013. Also a 2014 poll by the Washington Post and ABC News found that a majority of Americans (52%) prefer life without parole as punishment for murder, with just 42% preferring the death penalty.(“Public Opinion About the Death Penalty.” Public Opinion About the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center, Deathpenaltyinfo.org, deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-about-death-penalty.)

Few issues have been as hotly argued and controversial as the death penalty, with its many conflicting moral, social and legal implications. Compelling arguments exist in favor of the final punishment, and equally strong arguments exist to end its practice. Furthermore, considering its conflicting history, on the grand scale of the whole world, and in just America, it is unlikely that this issue will be resolved any time soon. In the United States specifically, the issue has great significance to the bill of rights and the 8th amendment, which prevents cruel and unusual punishment. The death sentence, due to the intense debate on its morality and constitutionality, as well as the

As of August 2017,the death penalty is legal in 31 states. Twenty people were executed in the United States in 2016. Although this number may seem high the death penalty rate has actually been on a decline since the early 2000’s. Since 1973 there have only been 159 death row exonerations. There have only been 54 women on death row and only 22 juveniles have been killed but the American judicial system. Many people commit crimes every day some crimes are so horrific that they can often be sentenced to the death penalty. The death penalty is one of the cruelest acts known to man and it needs to be abolished entirely. Some reasons as to why the death penalty should be abolished are as follows: the death penalty is systematically racist, innocent people can be put to death, it stops any chance of rehabilitation, and it’s simply savage.

The world has had the death penalty around for a long time, doing justice. Criminals who are on death row are obviously there for a reason, and it is almost always because of the crimes they have committed against the public. If we chose to let them live a life sentence out in jail, they will waste away and die as it is. The death penalty is not a crime in the world, or the country, it is a savior.

Have you ever thought of someone murdering a family member? If so would you want them to be on death row? Putting someone on death row creates another murderer which is why the death penalty should NOT be allowed.

The death penalty can be good for some cases but The Oregonians for Alternatives to The Death Penalty said that most corrections personnel who are conducting the executions suffer from PTSD. Death Penalty is bad because of rehabilitation failure, it is a defense mechanism, mentally ill people are set to die, people who conduct the deaths can be scarred, and it violates the 8th amendment.

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” is how the phrase goes. Belonging to Hammurabi’s code, this ancient motto has become the basis of a great political debate over the past few decades - the death penalty (US History). The legal definition of the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is a sentence of execution for murder, treason, and other capital crimes, which are punishable by death (Legal Information Institute). This is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there are many supporters of the death penalty, there is also a large amount of opposition. Currently, there are thirty-two states in which the death penalty is legal and there are eighteen states that have abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center).

The death penalty has been used in the American judicial system since its founding. It is given to punish the worst kinds of criminals, guilty of unspeakable cruelty. It has evolved from its most barbaric forms, like the hanging and electric chair, to more civilized practices like lethal injection. There has been lots of controversy surrounding the death penalty and for that reason many states, mostly northern, have outlawed capital punishment. However, in some states, like Texas, it is still utilized today and is seen as an essential part of their judicial system. There has always been a great divide between the United States and the death penalty. And the debate behind whether it is right or wrong seems to be pretty clear to most people.

Kill the killer! The death penalty should be allowed in all 50 states because the death penalty deters crime, helps with overcrowding, the bible says it is okay, and helps the victims’ families.

The sun is overshadowed today with the cloud of death lingering in the air. Everything is somber, watching a man prepare to take his last breath in the name of justice. As the clock ticks away to the man’s fate, so do his crimes. For the crimes he committed can’t be forgiven and shall be given the justice of the ancient times. The life for a life shall be commenced as the clock ticks his final moments. As the countdown ends, the world watches the man’s last breath. The man is dead and justice has been served, but what if this man was innocent? What of the executioners who were serving justice, actually killed an innocent man? Who should take responsibility for this? Nothing can be done, the man is dead. Documentation of executions by capital punishment, or the more commonly known death penalty, has been engrained in America since the colonial times. However, wrongful convictions are a world of unknown. By definition, they are unobserved when they occur. So, why do we allow such unobservable events a chance to end an innocent person’s life? Due to this, the death penalty is a detriment to the American judicial system, because it allows errors when compared to many other humbler methods, such as life without parole. You can see the differences by the expenses and length of time it takes to execute both of these justices. Not to mention the current standards of evidence that still can convict people wrongfully, as well as the supposed deterrence of the death penalty.