The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

Elliot Spitzer states, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don 't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” Although the Death Penalty is meant to kill the ones that have murdered, many innocent people have been executed due to the ignorance of facts during trial. Since this has come to me and my partner’s attention, we are resolved that The United States should change its penal code to abolish the death penalty. The Death Penalty is execution following someone’s conviction of murder or any other serious crime. Abolish is to end the observance or effect of. The Penal Code is a set of criminal laws of a particular country, society, etc. Our courts are not steady, which is why we need to abolish the death penalty.

The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished, written by Bruce Fein, is about Fein’s viewpoints and arguments that death penalty abolitionists are unpersuasive and do not stand up to close scrutiny. He also points out that  some crimes are so morally abhorrent and despicable that only the death penalty is adequate punishment for them.

Imagine that you are arrested and going to be tried for a crime that you did, or did not, commit. What if you cannot afford the cost of a lawyer? Will you be able to handle the physical and mental toll that all of the appeals have on a person? The death penalty, or capital punishment, is one of the most debated topics in America. It has been used for centuries, but many claim it to be barbaric, and want the practice to end all together. The death penalty should only be used in cases where there is absolute evidence that the criminal is guilty, because life in prison can be an alternative, there are many flaws in the justice system, and it can be a cruel and unusual punishment.

I would like about whether or not the United States should abolish the death penalty. The United States should not abolish this because those who commit a capital felony which is punishable by imprisonment or death, should serve a capital punishment which is the death penalty. Many believe that certain crimes such as rape and murder should punishable by the death penalty. Although many also see it as inhumane, many also view murder and rape as inhumane. One can view this as part of Hammburi’s Code law that states “An eye for an eye.” Capital punishment has ben around for thousands of years; beginning even before the ancient Greeks and Romans. At that time, there were many different ways to carry out capital punishment such as, beheading, stoning and electrocution (PBS).

The death penalty is a very controversial topic in America today, the question is do we keep the death penalty or abolish it for life imprisonment without parole. America should abolish the death penalty and should stick to life imprisonment. One reason is that the death penalty is not undoable once your dead there is no going back. There has been many miscarried death penalties in the U.S., and these mistakes cause a lot of sorrow and depression for families and their loved ones. The death penalty is also too expensive. It costs America less to keep an inmate in jail for life than it does to execute them. This is why America should abolish the death penalty.

In recent discussions of the death penalty, a controversial issue has been whether or not to abolish the death penalty. On the one hand, some argue that the death penalty should remain illegal. From this perspective, the death penalty rids the United States of criminals who have committed horrible crimes. On the other hand, however, others argue that the death penalty should be illegal in all fifty states. From this perspective, the death penalty could also send an innocent person to their death. According to President Obama race is a factor, at least in his opinion. He stated, “In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems – racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations

Death row is not only morally wrong, but it is telling the murders that killing someone for doing something wrong is right. Since August, 6, 1912, there have been two hundred and eighty-two executions, done by the state of South Carolina (South Carolina Department of Corrections, 2016.) Death row should be abolished, not only does it give inmates the impression that an eye for an eye is okay, but it puts innocent people lives at risk. Death row costs taxpayers millions of dollars, and it is a violation of the eight amendments.

In this essay I will argue that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States. Capital punishment is a legal process where the state sends individuals, convicted of treason, murder, and terrorism just to name a few, to death row to be punished to their deaths by execution. Also known as the death penalty, these convicted prisoners are then put to death by such methods as a firing squad, gas chamber, electrocution, hanging, or lethal injection. All of which are lethal social injustices.

Statistics show that at least 4 percent of people who receive the death penalty are innocent. According to listverse.com, a woman by the name of Wanda Lopez was murdered at a gas station. The police went searching for the culprit. They eventually found a man by the name of Carlos De Luna. De Luna told the police that he was innocent and also offered to tell the name of the person he saw at the gas station. On December 7, 1989, Carlos De Luna was executed. The death penalty should be taken away because it is unfair to kill a person for committing a crime. Not all crimes are worth someone’s life being taken away. Others may argue that it gives the victims and their families closure. Many people feel that the death penalty is the only solution for the criminal. They also feel that the death penalty is the only thing that the criminal will fear. Yet, life in prison is the best alternative for the death penalty. The death penalty also costs millions of dollars. Money which can be used for the victims’ families and people in need. The color of your skin can also enhance your chances of being executed.

Death-in-prison sentences should be abolished because they go against the Declaration of Independence and they don’t allow the juveniles to make their own decisions when they are adults. This sentencing will not allow them to have a family, work, or learn. When and if they get out of prison, they will have no social skills and they will have to go back to school and start from where they ended prior to being in prison, and for some of these children that is as far back as 7th grade. These children should have the opportunity to stand before a parole board when they are 18-21 and allow them to make a judgement for their release, based on how the prisoner has been acting while in the incarceration system.

Albert Einstein, a theoretical physicist and philosopher of science, once said, no problem can be solved with the same level of thinking that created it (Einstein). The intelligent man expressed his ideas clearly that if a killer kills someone and we also kill the killer then what would be the difference between us and the killer because we both are killers. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 31 States in the United States allow the death penalty and 19 states do not allow the death penalty (“Deterrence”). The death penalty should be abolished in our society because it is not an effective crime deterrent, it puts a strain on our economy, it may result in the loss of innocent lives, and it is racial discrimination.

The catastrophic risk of committing irreversible judicial errors is another reason why the death penalty should be abolished. On average, there have been more than four cases each year in which an innocent individual was convicted for a murder, and a majority of the convicts were sentenced to death. One of the many cases in which an innocent person was sentenced to die was the case of Texas vs. Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham was executed for murdering his three children by setting a fire. Nevertheless, investigations by a newspaper, an independent expert hired by the State of Texas, and experts in the fire science department all found evidence indicating that the fire was an accident, and the deaths were accidents. Even with these reports, Willingham was executed

The death penalty can be traced all the way to biblical times when people were executed for many reasons such as: for not believing in their god(s), choosing to interact in sexual conduct while unmarried, stealing, murder, etc. The methods of execution back in those times were to either: stone, hang, slay, crucify, and burn not only the offender who committed the crime, but if he or she had a family, the entire family was executed with them as a warning to the people of their tribe or city to not commit the same crime. In today’s time, since most people have found the term “death penalty” offensive, we have moved to calling it “capital punishment”. This punishment today is primarily used for offenders who have committed a first degree murder. Other reasons for this sentence vary from state to state. In Florida, the death penalty may be used for an offender(s) who has committed aggravated sexual battery against a child under the age of twelve with an injury. Times have definitely changed for reasons to execute the death penalty against criminal(s) and many people believe that it is morally wrong and that we should just abandon it altogether. However there are some that still believe that we need to keep capital punishment as a means to execute justice upon the guilty and as a warning to other offenders to not commit the same crimes. Should we continue to allow capital punishment in America? How do we know that the offender is guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”? What methods

Capital crime is something that is meant for people that are found guilty of committing a serious crime, such as murder, rape, or theft. These are offences that should not be taken lightly but by killing the offender, the government is carrying about the action that they are trying to prevent. Also, the wrong person may be sentenced to death. After this person is executed, there is obviously nothing that can be done for the terrible mistake to be reversed. The death penalty should be abolished because it is more expensive than life imprisonment, numerous innocent people are condemned to death row, and it is cruel and inhumane.

Every year, thousands of lives are legally taken under the death penalty. Why should we take more lives than the ones that have already been taken? The death penalty is the punishment of execution, carried out legally against an individual convicted of a capital crime. Its proponents argue that the death penalty deters other criminals who may intend to commit similar crimes in the future. However, there is little statistical evidence to support this claim. Also, execution eliminates the criminal and, therefore, ensures that they never commit the same crime. “As of April 1, 2008, the Death Penalty was authorized by 37 states, the Federal Government, and the U.S. Military” (The Death Penalty in The United States). Indicating that 13 states and the District of Columbia are the only ones who do not have the death penalty. The death penalty should be abolished in all 50 states.