Relativism Death Sentencing Analysis

The cost to execute someone is 5x times more than keeping them in jail. Cases without the death penalty cost roughly about $740,000 depending on the situation, while cases with the death penalty cost roughly $1.26 million. Maintaining each death row prisoners cost taxpayers $90,000 more per year than a prisoner in general population. Another controversy is executing innocent people. It’s a big problem that some cases have to deal with killing an innocent person who didn’t commit the crime. An investigation by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education fund has uncovered evidence that Larry Griffin may have been innocent of the crime by the state of Missouri on June 21,1995. Griffin maintained his innocent until his death, investigators say his case is the strongest demonstration yet on executing a innocent man. There's been many controversies because there are two points of view on the death penalty, you have people who support it and then people who don’t support. The Aurora Theater shooter conviction has been a huge controversy because he killed 12 and wounded 70 and he got sentenced to one life term for each person he killed plus 3,318 years for the attempted murders. Jury couldn't decide if he should get the death

Those who believe that deterrence justifies the execution of certain offenders bear the burden of proving that the death penalty is a deterrent. The overwhelming conclusion from years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty is, at best, no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. The Ehrlich studies – which took

The idea of capital punishment deterring crime is difficult to determine; some could rationalize that the death penalty should in theory stop potential murders from committing crimes. However, this rationalization has never been concretely proven. The research into capital punishment’s effect on deterrence is immense; however, the majority of research on this issue has differential findings. Although some research suggests conclusively that capital punishment deters crime, others found that it fails to do this. Understanding deterrence, the death penalty, and the results of

¨The taking of even one life is a momentous event.¨ (Bernardin, The Consistent Ethic of Life). The consistent ethic of life is founded on the belief that all life is sacred and worth protecting, while the reasons for capital punishment may seem similar-- retaliation for a life lost-- the death penalty directly goes against everything the consistent ethic of life teaches. As proven through these presentations, capital punishment cases are often inaccurate and biased, while the act of the Death Penalty has proven to be painful with many examples of botched executions. Not only is killing immoral, but how can we go through with these executions when evidence has shown the death penalty can be inefficient and some

The use of the death penalty has brought peace of mind to our citizens. Though through the mid nineteen sixties until the early nineteen eighties only about six death penalties actually took effect. When the number of executions dropped, the murder rate rose from 5.6 per 100,000 people to 10.2 which is almost double the murder rate. A society cannot live in fear but needs to live in reassurance and protection. As of nineteen ninety-nine, the murder rate dropped dramatically to 5.7 because the execution rate increased to 47 executions. Pearce, Matt. "Counterpoint: Defending The Death Penalty." Points Of View: Death Penalty (2014): 6. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. This demonstrates the deterrent effect capital punishment has on society. The result is deterrence shows if one kills then one will be punished for their actions and crime.

Many people who are supporters of the death penalty say that it’s a successful deterrent. But this isn’t true because the death penalty is administered very inconsistently and arbitrarily. “Only a small proportion of first-degree murders is sentenced to death, and even fewer are executed” (Bedau). There are also several states that have a lower criminal rate without using capital punishment. For example Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan all get along just fine without the use of the death penalty. Also “…all other Western industrial countries get along quite well without killing their citizens” (Ryan). There are many judges that are against the use of capital punishment as well.

“A recent study by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock of the University of Colorado found that 88% of the nation’s leading criminologists do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime. The study, Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Crimonology, concluded, “There is overwhelming consensus among America’s top criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question fails to support the threat or use of the death penalty.” A previous study in 1996 had come to similar conclusions.”

All of the research that I have done suggests that the death penalty is not a major source of deterrence for criminals to commit severe crimes such as homicide. In a 2009 survey of America’s top criminologists, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and written by Professor Michael Radelet, eighty-eight percent of the expert criminologists stated that they do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent for criminals to commit homicide. Respondents to this survey were asked to base their answers on research, rather

Those that are for the death penalty claim that it will serve as a deterrent and is the only way for retribution against murderers. Both issues are highly debatable and have even been a subject of criticism. Punishment as a deterrence has been used for ages. This concept does work, however it should not be applied to all criminals, in my opinion. Some pro capital punishment individuals claim that it is an efficient deterrence against criminals. In an article “Death penalty is a deterrence”, the authors claim that by practicing the death penalty, violent crimes will decrease.”violent crime has declined eleven percent, with murder showing the largest decline at even more than twenty two percent. We believe that this has occurred in part because of the strong signal that the death penalty sent to violent criminals and murders.” These statistics taken from this article may be inaccurate and should be closely examined.

Many would suggest that capital punishment is an effective deterrence when in reality it has

In Jonah Goldberg’s article, Why Death Penalty Opponents Can’t Win, he dwells on how opponents of capital punishment may seem selective with the cases they bring up to challenge the death penalty. In his article, Goldberg expresses how he believes that abolitionists base their opinions of capital punishment, more or less, off of the fact that there is no way to be absolutely certain of a person’s guilt. He then goes on to state that these opponents cannot win because the cases they make public are more sympathetic in nature (12). While he calls this a good strategy (12), Goldberg goes on to express how he and many advocates believes that one wrongly accused person’s execution does not invalidate the need to lawfully execute the men and women who

When it comes to the raging topic of the death penalty there will always be two sides, those who are anti- death penalty and those others who are pro- death penalty. Those who are anti- penalty argue that there are multifarious reasons why the death penalty should be abolished. According to CNN, the United States is one of the top six countries in the nation with most executions. Over the past 40 past years, executions in the U.S have increased drastically. The increase of the death penalty is due to lack of proper consideration for human morality and actual value of life. If we succumb to the notion of death being the right way to about dealing with criminals doesn’t that make us just as bad as them. Where’s the humanity in that.

Belief in the American Dream prevails harsher punishment for criminals. Capital punishment is a prudent issue that creates a spectacle among those for and against the death penalty.

Capital punishment has been around for many years as a way of executing criminals. Despite what most believe, capital punishment is not functional in the American society. Defenders of the death penalty often claim that the execution of criminals will teach others not to do bad, initially decreasing crime rates. Unfortunately, statistics prove that thought to be wrong. Capital punishment also has great flaws. For example, many innocent people have been put to death because of capital punishment. There also is no consistency. Two of the same crimes can be convicted in two different states and the consequences with be different for both offenders. The death penalty shows to be

Studies of the deterrent effect of the death penalty have been conducted for                                               several years, with varying results. Most studies have failed to produce evidence that the death penalty deterred murders more effectively then the threat of imprisonment. The reason for this is that few people are executed and so the death penalty is not a satisfactory deterrent. If capital punishment were carried out