Abolishing The Death Penalty The United States has had the death penalty as a capital punishment since it first became a country. A lot has changed in this country in order to create a more justified and moral society. The death penalty is one more thing we need to change in our county to become a more just and civilized nation. The death penalty is morally and ethically wrong, and harms more than just those sentenced to death. It is ineffective, unreliable, and should not be continued. Human error can always cause problems and make mistakes. We trust our judicial system to handle these cases of the death penalty, but what if they make a mistake? Sentencing an innocent person to death is the worst possible outcome of the death penalty, but it still happens. Innocent people are potentially executed by our government on a regular basis as 4% of death row inmates are innocent (Oliver). This is a substantially high number considering the circumstances. Since the early 1970s, more than 150 people sentenced to death have been exonerated (Berman). This statistic shows that our judicial system makes mistakes that could have been extremely bad. Most people believe, even if they are for the death penalty, that there is some risk of this horrible mistake. How could one live with oneself knowing that they possibly kill innocent people? A Pew Research Center poll recorded that seven out of ten Americans feel there is still some risk an innocent person will be put to death (Berman). If
The death penalty is still in use in the united states. The state with the most executions is in 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.
Proposition 62 and 66 addressed whether the the death penalty should be abolished or reformed. The pro 62 and anti 66 side argued that hardly any executions have taken place despite the 5 billion dollars that have been poured into the program or millions every year. Combined with these specific fiscal amounts, the pro side also stated that there actually have been only thirteen actual deaths from this program. Through this tactic of giving numerical values to show to ineffectiveness on the program and the burden it is putting on taxpayers, the pro side strongly strengthened their case. Additionally, they gave their case moral backing by stating that the criminals are getting off easy and not being required to work to give back to both the families
For any good argument to be made you need both an opposition and proponent stance. The oppositions views on the death penalty is that it should not be abolished and its main purpose is to make to criminals suffer, just as there victims did and gives the ultimate just punishment for their crimes. One oppositions views of the death penalty is as followed, “Why should a serial killer live when his victims cannot” (Dobbs). Though this thought can be an understood one, the facts on morals re appear. Appoints of abolishing the death penalty believe that morals went out the door when the person committed the crime. They believe that since it was morally wrong for someone to say take another’s life, that that person does not deserve to have their
Though personally I believe that the death penalty should be abolished, I found myself indecisive on who was making better points during this debate. The pro position, who argued in favor of abolishing the death penalty, and the con position, who argued in favor to keep the death penalty both shared well developed points that left me confused as well as uncertain as to what I myself believe in, considering the power the panelists persuasion had on me. Whether you personally believe in the abolishment of the death penalty or not, when the panelist talk about innocent lives being taken, you have to admit that your stance on this topic is questioned, even at the slightest. And on the other hand, your stance must also be questioned when the
Capital punishment (the death penalty) is a legal procedure which is known as the most severe punishment where the law authorizes execution as a punishment for criminals (Gerald, 2008). Many people claim that allowing such a punishment will help decrease the crime rate, and also give closure to the victim’s family, but if you as American citizens analyze this situation in more detail you can see that taking a life for taking a life is more of a personal matter than justice. When comparing the states that allow capital punishment with the states that have abolished it, the crime rate does not differ. Hence, those who argue that death row has a positive effect on making criminals
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 the the “punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime.” (Google.com) The death penalty has been around for about 400 years now. The death penalty originated in virginia in 1605 by Captain George Kendall. The death penalty itself is a very controversial topic and many people have different [points of view on it. Within this essay will be the main parts ion why the death penalty is the worst thing that has come to the United States.
One controversial issue in the modern world is the death penalty, to keep it or to ban it is the question. In the United States, the death penalty is given to people convicted of capital crimes. These crimes include, but are not limited to, murder, espionage, treason, and death after an aircraft hijacking. Capital crimes do, however, vary by state. There are many different stances on this issue. Banning it, not banning it, adding different limitations, etc. One common stance is the death penalty should be banned in the US. There are pros and cons of the death penalty, however, the cons outweigh the pros.
We live in a more liberal and forward-thinking society that we ever have before. This has led to many wonderful things: gender equality, racial equality, religious freedom, and social supports for our most vulnerable members of society. Unfortunately, our liberal society also has drawbacks. The most violent and abhorrent criminals in our society are able to live out their lives in our tax-payer-funded prisons. The only real solution for this problem is to bring back the death penalty.
The Death Penalty is the punishment of execution to someone who legally by court of law convicted a capital crime. In the United States of America this is mainly used for aggravated murder. Additionally this means that the murder has circumstances that are severe. For instance it was planned murder, intentionally killed below the age of 13, killed someone while serving term in prison, killed a law officer, and killed someone or illegally terminated a person’s pregnancy while in the process of committing, trying to commit or escaping after the act of rape, kidnapping, aggravated arson, arson, robbery, aggravated robbery, burglary, aggravated burglary, terrorism, or trespass. The death penalty is balanced between pros and cons, where it
The death penalty today is a hot button question that many experts cannot agree on. The topic deals with justice, logistics, and human morality which leads to either a person remaining alive or losing their life. It is not an easy choice to make because the death penalty has so much to do with human desires for justice as it does the justice system carrying out just punishments for crimes committed. In almost all of human history, capital punishment has been a punishment that was used to punish individuals who broke laws the society upheld. The United States of America is no different as it still continues to use the death penalty as a punishment in many states across the nation. The United States has contemplated the legality of the death penalty, with multiple court decisions dictating if and what is legal, as discussed in the video produced by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/videos/crime/2014/05/06/orig-jag-death-penalty.cnn/video/playlists/death-penalty/).
Many times the major question is do those convicted of a crime deserve to die or whether the state deserve to kill them. In other words what purpose would it serve by killing the person? What rehabilitation could they do if they are dead? This is one of the questions facing the justice system. Although the answer is not an easy one, it requires some thought and negotiation between the justice system and the state in order to determine the answer for each state. Each state must look hard and long at its financial situation as well as what is legally, morally and sometimes politically right.
Death penalty, also known as a capital punishment, is a punishment that requires the government to kill or execute the convicted criminals. Death penalty was inherent feature in American history since the colonial era. Today, not all of the states practice the Death Penalty. As of July 1, 2015, there are 31 states with the Death Penalty and 19 states without the Death Penalty . Some states want to keep the Death Penalty to decrease the crime rate, but some states argue that there is no evidence that Death Penalty deters crime. People are still debating whether the US should or should not abolish the Death Penalty. Therefore, U.S. should not continue the Death Penalty due to the high percentage of wrongfully convicted people and moral issues.
The American judicial system is not perfect, and its flaws sometimes bare adversely on the people of this society. For instance, just because someone is labeled a criminal, does not always necessitate the fact that they are a criminal. Brian Gilmore argues this point when he mentioned that within the past 30 years, 102 innocent individuals have been acquitted from death row in America. He says that those individuals were either not released due to legal technicalities or because evidence was lost. “These men and women did not commit their crimes. Yet somehow, they were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die, and some came awfully close to execution” Gilmore claimed. Unfortunately, it seems as though mistakes such as this one occur far too often; then, they eventually go unnoticed as we forget that those people, criminals or not, are human just like us. Considering the large window of feasible error associated with the death penalty, it is best that Americans make every effort to eliminate the intentional practice of capital punishment on criminals.
Since the foundation of our nation the Death Penalty has been a way to punish prisoners that have committed heinous crimes, however since the turn of the 20th century the practice of Capital Punishment has been questioned on its usage in America and the world as a whole. The Death Penalty is used in America to punish criminals who have committed murders, or taken the life of an innocent person, and while the death penalty seems like it is doing justice to those who have killed others it is actually being used improperly in most situations, while also hindering our economy and is a means of ending more lives than necessary. The Death Penalty can be a valid source of punishment for criminals in the US however due to the misuse of this power by the government it is a huge detriment to our nation and the people that inhabit it. Because of the fact that Capital Punishment is used unfairly, and ineffectively in our nation it is an obsolete form of punishment and should have no place in the United States justice department.