Persuasive Essay On Capital Punishment

In an effort to make sure that innocent men and women are not wrongly convicted in capital punishments cases, they are given a wide range of appeals procedures. Immediately following sentencing an automatic appeals process called Direct Review begins. It is during this process that appellate courts review the lower trial court’s decision, checking for errors and making sure the case was tried on sound judgment. If any errors are found

Since the beginning of time there has always been the question of what to do with someone that has committed a serious offense that has resulted in serious injury or even death to a person. The death penalty has always been a topic of whether it is humane or inhumane to put someone to death over their crimes against another human being. The death penalty to some is either acceptable to where a person should be put t death for their crimes or is not doing anything to deter people from committing crimes. the death penalty is starting to become less of a punishment and more of a costly expense to taxpayers whom for “Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million.” The death penalty for some think it should be abolished while others would rather see it extended.

“The Death Penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for their crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?” says Bryan Stevenson. Bryan S. is right, the Death Penalty should, Could be stopped if we could stand together. You might not agree with me on however way you feel about this but i believe that we should change the law.

Capital punishment is one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. Many people believe that it is morally wrong to have capital punishment as a sentence to a crime. People also do believe that it is morally permissible for a severe crime. Capital punishment is also known as the death penalty. It can be given as a sentence when somebody is convicted of an extremely violent crime. The biggest issue that can be seen with this is that somebody could be innocent and sentenced with the death penalty because of the nature of the crime that they have been accused of even if they didn’t commit it. I believe that there is a moral line between using the death penalty and using other forms of punishment.

Perhaps we should give the judge a knife and tell her that if she has

While capital punishment may be unjust for criminals, it is also an injustice done to unsuspecting citizens. Taxpayers are stuck paying for this entire process, from a criminal’s first court case to their execution. This is especially bad for American citizens because even though it might not seem like it, the death penalty is more costly than life in prison. For example, in an article titled “Californians asked to end death penalty - to save money,” cases involving capital punishment are proven to cost more than ones that do not. This is partially due to the fact that there are few public defenders equipped to handle death penalty cases. It also has to do with the number of appeals to higher courts inmates are forced go through. Both of these contribute to a mess of petitions and appeals that can span a decade, sometimes more. These can get costly, especially when compared to life in prison. In the same article, it was estimated that cases involving capital punishment can cost taxpayers $3 million in lifetime costs. This is about $1.9 million more than any other court case. This is just one example of an unnecessary cost that could be avoided if prisoners were given life in prison without parole. Supporters of the death penalty will also argue that the cost of executing someone is cheaper than keeping them alive. While the drugs themselves may be cheap, the cost of keeping someone on death row is not. The specific costs are not tracked by state officials, but studies

Capital punishment has been around since the colonial days (over 400 years) and while the humane side of it has improved greatly, heinous crimes still happen every single day. Answer me one question? If capital punishment is served as justice for a heinous crime, why do people still commit murder today? Wouldn’t preventing that heinous crime from occurring in the first place be better for the victims, the murderers, and better for America in general. Why do we continue to pursue justice instead of pursuing ways to prevent us from need to serve justice? Why do we pour resources into serving justice instead of pouring resources to prevent it? Would I rather see the person who killed my friend be put to death, or would I rather still see my friend? I think most of us would choose the latter without missing a beat. With that, I believe the death penalty is not working because of its excessively unresolved research of its true deterioration of crime, prohibitive cost of an imperfect system coupled with a complicated legal process, and probability risk of human error in putting an innocent person to death.

When talking about social injustices, capital punishment is the worst one of all. It is the final straw of any government sanctioned disciplinary action. There is no going back, no reversing or patching up mistakes. When a government makes the decision to exact capital punishment on someone, that’s it. They can no longer redeem themselves, atone for their sins, and try to contribute to society in a good, well-mannered way because they will no longer exist in this world. This act of ‘justice’ is clearly a violent, totally unacceptable way of dealing with criminals. Everyone should be given another chance no matter how serious their crimes are; the life sentence is punishment enough, there is no need to murder someone.

I strongly believe that this is one of the biggest and most controversial issues that we face today as a society. For a multitude of reasons, I believe that this is one of the biggest moral dilemmas of today’s justice system.

Sitting in the cell, surrounded by guards, and knowing that this was it, Phillip walks to his demise. He flashes back to his family, and how much he regrets his only crime of drug possession. While he was cruising to work, he got pulled over for a broken taillight, and the encounter ended with the cop finding a block of cocaine in the trunk. Phillip intended to sell it for some extra cash, as his factory job wasn’t paying enough to support him and his family in their small apartment. As Phillip got laid out on the table to be injected with chemicals to end his life, he started to shake and whimper as he witnessed the machine flow chemicals into his bloodstream, and dies with seeing disappointed faces staring at him. Stories of criminals that commit petty crimes who are given the death sentence are not unheard of in the American Justice System, and will keep happening if the death penalty is kept in place. Therefore, capital punishment should be banned in America.

From the moment an individual is born to the day he or she dies, they will receive

Imagine, a mass murder, a killer, a criminal out on the streets once more after managing to escape prison. The amount of horror that sweeps thereafter cannot even begin to be understood. That’s just the case for Ted Bundy, a psychopath who killed over a hundred women managed to escape not once but twice and from there, he continued to kill more women. It is a bewilderment as to how such an outrageous crime can be held under deliberation for an extent of time enabling such escape. Capital punishment should continue to be utilized in moderation because it is a form of justice, acts as a deterrent, and is executed in a moral manner.

Is the foreboding practice of capital punishment humane and ethical to use? The first recorded usage of this practice was back in the Eighteenth century where it would be used when people are found guilty in murder cases (Reggio). Since then 1,436 people have been executed in the United States, mostly through lethal injections, that are a common use today (Rethinking). Not only murder calls for capital punishment, but so does treason and espionage, which is collecting political and/or government information. Though as more people throughout the centuries have begun to develop different beliefs, more people are also questioning the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment should be banned because it condemns the innocent, it is expensive, and there are other methods that can be used instead.

To this day it is still unknown as to when the first method of capital punishment was employed in America, however it is said that some of the first recorded deaths began in the early sixteen hundreds. As with any government decision there is always backlash from society and capital punishment is no exception. As vile as a felony may be, capital punishment should no longer be allowed. Too many innocent lives have been lost due to lack of representation of the suspect, police manipulating suspects into false confessions, prosecutors rigging lineups by setting suspect's up for immediate failure, and refusal for further investigation. (FN). Failure to meet standard expectations and positioning a suspect up for death is all too common. These situations violate both the eighth amendment which bans infliction of cruel and unusual punishment, and the 14th amendment which bans deprivation and deniment of equal protection. Too many instances of capital punishment fall under violation of cruel and unusual punishment. By way of illustration there have been a number of cases where unusual drug combinations, improper IV placement, and carelessness have lead to strenuous and excruciatingly painful deaths, which violates the 8th amendment of cruel and unusual punishment. In light of the 14th amendment it has been argued in countless cases that this amendment has been violated in terms of execution of juveniles, and execution of the mentally ill and mentally retarded.

In 1991, Todd Cameron Willingham was accused of starting a house fire at his home in Texas, which resulted in the death of his three daughters (Lithwick). He was then put on trial for arson (Lithwick). The case was total chaos, and no matter the evidence, Willingham was always denied innocence (Lithwick). Thirteen years later, Willingham and his team finally saw potential, when Gerald Hurst, a celebrated scientist, conducted his own self-reliant investigation regarding the case (Lithwick). In his study, Hurst found no evidence that the fire was intentional, writing in his report that it was likely caused by a space heater or faulty wiring (Lithwick). Hurst’s report was disregarded by the state of Texas and Willingham was sentenced to the death penalty. He was executed in 2004 (Lithwick). The death penalty is a cruel, time consuming, costly, and inconsistent method of punishment that should be abolished throughout the United States.