The Death Penalty Should Remain Illegal

In capital punishment, vast amounts of money are wasted before the prisoner is assigned the death punishment. This is a result from the legal case that has to be processed prior to any decision made, which involves confirming if the suspect is indeed guilty. Without a doubt, this would require several months, documents, and lawyers, all requiring tedious effort and time. Due to this, millions of dollars are used in matters that aren’t necessary, whereas the costs of life imprisonment are significantly lower. As well, life imprisonment will positively benefit the social aspect of the community. Since this form of punishment uses less money, millions of dollars would be saved and chosen to go towards new schools, hospitals, technology, and other services in low-income communities. As a result, more opportunities will open to the less fortunate people, lowering the overall poverty and crime rate, as well as improving the education levels of the area. By choosing life imprisonment as the main form of ultimate punishment, the state of the nation will continue to steadily increase as money is saved, and investments are fulfilling its duty of steering the country towards

The death penalty is supposed to deter murder and bring the justice that the murder families of the victims should be rewarded (Hyden). Although many scientific researches can conclude that it does not deter murder and the members of the murder victims’ family have rejected/rejecting the program because it retraumatizes them with long process of trials, appeals, and of course the media (Hyden). In contrast, a sentence of life in prison is certain and instant, allowing the families to move on knowing that the justice of the crime is being served. Comparing whether or not the death penalty should be legalized, the reasons as to why it shouldn’t be, are strong enough to change one person’s mind. The death penalty still should be illegal in the United States.

In fact, implementing capital punishment is much more expensive than life imprisonment. In a government with capital punishment, both the trial and appeal process are much more expensive in comparison to noncapital cases as the trials are generally longer and more complex. Australian lawyers estimate that a single capital punishment case could cost taxpayers around $5.5 million while life imprisonment approximately costs $1.5 million.2 Saving money should not be an argument in retaining capital punishment. If Australia re-instated capital punishment, Federal and State taxes would need to be increased, all community services would be drastically cut, more hidden taxes would be introduced and finally all essential services and local government costs would also increase. This exemplifies how life imprisonment should be the only option for offences as it not only costs millions less, it also still ensures that the public is protected and the money saved could be spent on programs that actually improve the communities in which we live. This highlights how international jurisdictions for various reasons should, in majority of cases, follow Australia’s example and abolish capital punishment for murder and all crimes, however in some cases including repeat offenders such as Peter Dupas capital punishment could be a more effective punishment.

1. What year and in what case did the US Supreme Court decide that the administration of the death penalty was unconstitutional? Provide a compelling statement form the opinion in this case.

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.

Also, the cost of the death penalty is really high, the cost of keeping someone in jail for life which will cost 600,000 per prisoner and just for one person to be put to death is would cost 2.3 million per prisoner. That is not a logical reason to kill someone then to keep them alive because the cost is three time less to keep a person alive in jail for life then to kill

Although keeping someone in a prison may cost a lot, sentencing someone to death is not cheap as well. It has actually been proven that the death penalty is more expensive than a prison sentence. This is because the trails for death penalties are long, and very complicated. In order to go through with the death penalty you need to have more experts, double the amount of attorneys and there will be a trial for guilt and a separate one for punishment. The criminal on death row is also held in a high security prison (Top Ten Pros and Cons). Though the death penalty may sound simple, it is much more complicated currently then it was multiple years

Funding a system that is so timely and costly is not helping the general population instead draining it. More money is spent on the people who are imprisoned especially those serving a death sentence than the American tax payers who pay for it. This public policy not only allow for the states’ to save money but if the money spent on this process was spent on systems that actually benefit the people such as education it can develop honorable citizens’ instead of expensive inmates. However, many in support of the death penalty may not see a problem with paying for the cost if it means keeping those of the convicted from committing any more crimes that can harm society. This policy proposes to get rid of the death penalty in place of having the prisoner serve life without parole, this in which could perhaps save millions. The policy still will keep the prisoner out of any ones harm and allowed them to still serve time for the law they have broken. Nevertheless, it would not have cost millions of dollars from tax payers in order to do

The article “Death of the Death Penalty” states that “200 million dollars per year” is what it takes states to execute criminals each year. This money could be used as funding for recreational activities or building housing or schools for their citizens. Based on this evidence, capital punishment costs millions of dollars that could be used to make their state a better place to live in.

The death penalty should be illegal in the United States because often times, the state executes the wrong person. Someone could be executed but later the real person comes forward and confesses. This has happened many times before. This means that someone is executed for something that they didn’t do. And while the state could just release someone after they are found innocent, there is very little someone can do after they execute the wrong person.

The primary purpose of the criminal justice system is to protect society. All features of the system; detaining delinquents, trials, and punishments all have costs. Reduction in any part of the criminal justice system can potentially result in a harmful society. The question most asked about the death penalty is, “Why should honest, hardworking taxpayers, have to pay for murderers for the rest of their life instead of executing them?” Actually the death penalty is the most expensive part off the system. According to Dr. Ernest Gross, a Creighton University economics professor, who conducted a study in August 2016, the death penalty cost an average 23.2 million more per year than alternative sentences (Gross). The study found that states with the death penalty spend about 3.54% of overall state budgets on court, corrections and other criminal justice functions associated with the death penalty, while states without the death penalty spend about 2.93% on those functions (Gross). The death penalty is more expensive than life without parole because the constitution requires an extensive and complex judicial process for capital crimes. This is to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not

The Capital Punishment was made so it would deter crime and further the future of the system, but not one has been met. “The death penalty fails to live up to a lot of conservative ideals,” said Marc Hyden, a coordinator with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a group launched in 2013. “It’s not pro-life, it’s not limited-government, and it doesn’t deter crime.” ("Death Penalty." CQ Researcher by CQ Press. library.cqpress.com) The system is always going to have some flaws. Every law and person is different, for example if someone was found guilty but is truly innocent later on, it shouldn’t be possible that they would be dead because of the death penalty. Without question there are people who are not guilty that are in jail. As the Justice system is trying to keep people safe they are also trying to appease the people around them, In the end it could cost a life. “Innocent people are wrongly executed….. The sad thing about this, according to those who are opposed is that innocence is proven after the execution has been carried out.” ("List of 10 Biggest Death Penalty Pros and Cons." Green Garage. July 21, 2015.greengarageblog.org) For anyone to take another life, it’s horrendous! Then wouldn’t it be just as bad to take the killer’s life? You are turning into what you just killed. “Some jury members are reluctant to convict if it means putting

The Death penalty is a practice that is getting to be an expensive punishment. Some may argue that it is cheaper to send people to death penalty. The fact of the matter is that is not true and this is why. Sentencing criminals to life without parole is now getting to be cheaper than sentencing them to the death penalty. The online article “Cost of the Death Penalty” reports “Reviewing 15 state studies of death penalty costs conducted between 2000 and 2016, the study found that, across the country, seeking the death penalty imposes an average of approximately $700,000 more in case-level costs than not seeking death.” The $700,000 more is quite significant. One reason as stated by “Cost of the Death penalty” is the people on death penalty trials

The death penalty is very costly in more ways than ever thought. One of the more obvious ways the death penalty is costs so much is paying for the prisoner. They are fed three times a day which costs money, as does the water used for them to bathe and brush their teeth. For one year to be properly housed it costs the county anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 dollars, an average of 30,000 dollars a year (Hirby, 2015). If the inmate is waiting anywhere from 10-15 years, according to Madelyn Farfan a Torrington Police Department Detective who has been in service for thirteen years, to be officially put on death row that’s anywhere from 300,000- 450,000 dollars while waiting for a final verdict. These expenses are outrageous. The inmate is waiting this extensive amount of time when they could have already served a full sentence of someone who previously had a clean record before committing a murder. It is insane that all this money is being used towards a killer and will just keep multiplying as long as the evidence against or for the defendant keeps accumulating. The

The death penalty is very costly to not only the government, but also society. The death penalty has no benefits at all and should be