Argumentative Essay: Death Penalty In The United States

In this paper I will be discussing everything you need to know about the death penalty such as its pros and cons. While the innocent can be killed, the death penalty has its pros because it prevents them from killing again if they are released or have escaped from prison, it helps overpopulated prisons, and it can help victims’ families get justice and closure. Not only can the innocent be killed, but in the past the death penalty was very inhumane. To some its feels right but to others they feel like 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Most people think that the defendant deserves the death penalty, but what does the defendants’ family think?

The death penalty is still in use in the united states. The state with the most executions is 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.

Death is something that a lot of people think about, but do people think about the Death Penalty? Having been given the death penalty means that someone is going to be put to death by a lethal injection or an electric chair; There are more ways, but the injection and the electric chair are the most used. There are many different opinions surrounding the idea of death penalties; which some people think the death penalty should be used more and some believe the complete opposite.

Capital punishment is necessary in several occasions in the United States for various reasons it brings justice and safety. By doing this act around the United States it will prevent future crimes from happening anywhere no one will have to worry about that individual committing a terrible act. Look at Ted Bundy for example a serial killer that killed over thirty-six women around the United States but several individuals thought he killed more than one hundred women. He was executed in the electric chair in 1989 in Florida. Either way it will cost a lot to keep a prisoner for life in prison and cost a lot for a person in death row as well but cheaper. A person on the death penalty is cheaper than a person who is in prison for life without parole because even though it cost a lot for a person on death row, life in prison is a lot higher because of food, healthcare and other cost for maintaining a healthy individual. As more inmates start showing up the problem becomes bigger with money and space.

The death penalty is an issue that is debated across America and throughout the world. As of November, 2016, there are 31 American states with the death penalty and 19 states without it. This divide in America is largely due to the perceived constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the death penalty. Some people think that capital punishment is a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”, while others do not. Despite the controversiality of capital punishment, it should still be a legal method of justice under the US Constitution. The death penalty is the most appropriate punishment for those who have committed heinous crimes. It is also administered very carefully so that innocent people are not

Many crimes need to get punished and there are a multitude of different types of punishment that are defined by laws. The law that I choose was death penalty, which is quite a controversial topic. This law was to address the most extreme type of crime which is murder. This death penalty goes far back to Hammaurabi Codes, of course back then it was used for many reasons now the death penalty is just used for murder still following Hammaurabi’s Code “an eye for an eye”. Most states still have the death penalty and many due it by lethal injection. In Arizona, lethal injection was approved by voters in 1992 (Reufers 2017). The goal of the death penalty is deterrence. The reason it is deterrence is because it is the most permanent punishment there is for committing a horrendous act such as murder. The reason this law should be eliminated is for three reasons too many people on death row, no regulations, and too much money being spent on death row.

The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” This Amendment outlaws the federal government from implementing unreasonably harsh penalties on criminal defendants which includes the cost of pretrial release or the penalty of a serious crime (Stinneford & Stevenson, 2016). The penalty of a serious crime usually consists of imprisonment for two or more years. However, a serious crime may also include the death sentence in some cases, such as murder. Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is defined by the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death lead by the statutes enforced by Congress or any legislative authority (U.S. Department of Justice, 1979).

One of the controversy's that have been around is about Death Penalty, what people ask is that if it keeps going people will think it is fair to fix every criminal case by death. they believe that they are giving what the people want but they are causing more deaths, and causing for people to believe that death is better than punishment of life in prison. what has been happening with the death penalty is that the government is wasting a lot of money in just one death penalty, lawyers are being called killers and the judges need to know that sentence to life in prison is far more better than death. America wants to save money for other real things, death penalty should stay out of that money in order for them to pay off many debts.

The death penalty is surrounded by many strong opinions. The United States, as well as many other countries, have an extensive history with this form of capital punishment, yet there is no way to know the exact number of executions that have preceded. In the United States, there is a great controversy over the morality and the purpose behind the death penalty; and, if the purpose of the penalty was fulfilled, would it still be worth the possible consequences. There are many who argue the constitutionality of the penalty as well as the irredeemable factor of possibly killing those wrongfully convicted. In comparison, there are those who believe with proven guilt, the penalty provides justice.

The Death Penalty is also known as Capital Punishment, where an offender is punished for their crime, done by the state by taking their life. Although many countries have abolished the death penalty, it still exists in few countries, including the United States. Some oppose the death penalty believing it to be morally unjust for those who are indeed innocent but are under the death penalty. Many philosophers believe it is necessary for punishment to deter crime and this punishment is justice for the victim. Haag was a professor at Fordham University, and supported the death penalty very strongly. He strongly believed that offenders needed to be punished severely to satisfy retributive justice. Hugo Adam Bedau was a philosophy professor at Tufts University. Unlike Haag he opposed the death penalty based on morality issues. He questioned the moral values of death penalty and believes in the natural right to life .

The death penalty is when someone like a criminal would do something so terribly bad that they are executed by lethal injection. The topic of this has been disputed for a lot of years and nobody has really agreed on if it is or is not effective. Study’s show that the argument is split a lot of people think it is bad and a lot of people think it is a bad thing most people don’t want there tax dollars to go to keeping inmates in prison and feeding them. But some people think that it is just too hard of a punishment to kill somebody instead of keeping them in prison.

The death penalty should be allowed to the criminal that truly need it; because of the justice system as well as to the victims who deserve closure, and because of the antisocial personity disorder. If one personal was a victim that got personally got hurt by a person who raped killed their loved ones, or harmed them by almost killing them, or killing them wouldn’t you want that person to get the justice they deserve? One would want to ensure that the death penalty is addressed to ensure the person doesn’t get a change to do it to other people. Furthermore, if the person had antisocial personality disorder they are people are called sociopaths, and psychopaths. one who want that person to get the death penalty, because those type of people are always going to kill people no matter what type of treatment is given to the person they will always have the habits to kill and have no emotion while doing it. If one thinks people like that should live are crazy. Finally, the criminal justice system most people trust and believe in the justice system and for most cases it provides the right DNA and put the right person in jail. Wouldn’t you want the right person to be put to justice with the death penalty? If given the opportunity to help prevent the person form doing it again would one want to do the right thing?

The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime. 
A big part of abolitionist’s argument is that the death penalty is not humane. They pull in Amendment 8, “…nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” What the victim went though was indeed “cruel and unusual punishments’.” The murderers’ death is not cruel. The people will demand justice for what he or she has done (Bidinotto 19). Hanging and the electric chair are topics more reasonable to argue, but now because of lethal injection capital punishment has become more humane. The death penalty is not barbaric, the pain and agony that the victim went through is barbaric. Abolitionists were very upset in 1996 when rapist and murderer John Albert Taylor was executed by firing squad; they said his death was barbaric (Feder 32). Charla King, the poor 11-year-old girl he raped and strangled with a telephone cord, her death was barbaric! It makes no sense to think that John Taylor’s’ death was barbaric or inhumane. He

Is it moral to execute guilty criminals? And most importantly is it moral of us to execute innocent people? Society in California, views punishment as a norm. It is given to criminals whom committed deviant acts. In California, the punishment for capital crime like murder is the death penalty. The morality view behind the death penalty is that murder goes against morals. Giving the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment which violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment. The death penalty was first established in the Eighteenth Century B.C.. In the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, the death penalty was given for 25 different crimes. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, America had more executions than any other decade. Since 1976, there have been 1,392 people who have been executed (DPIC, Death). There are currently 2,905 people on death row waiting for their execution date. The state of California has the highest number of death row inmates. There are currently 741 people sitting on death row in California alone. Now in the Twenty-First century there are states that have repealed the death penalty and replaced it with life in prison without parole. The death penalty is not carried out effectively. Therefore, it should be repealed in California; the death penalty is always cruel, discriminatory, and has condemned innocent people to die.

The death penalty is not constitutional as it violates the eight and the fourteenth amendments. The eighth amendment says that there shall not be cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel was defined as excessively painful or brutal (Thisnation n.d.). The supreme court has ruled before that the penalty was not excessively painful. They have however, said that the death penalty was unusual (Thisnation n.d.). The fourteenth amendment is about equal rights of life, liberty, and or property. The death penalty deprives one of their right of life as well as their right of freedom before they are executed.