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The Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

Decent Essays

Capital Punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the gravest punishment in the U.S. criminal justice system (Van den Haag, E., & Olin, J. M., 1986); It is the legal killing of a person guilty of committing heinous and malum in se acts against the public, such as the intentional killing of an individual, intentionally committing an act of violence knowing that it may be deadly to an individual, inflicting injury to a victim resulting in death, etc. (18 U.S. Code § 3591). According to the U.S. Code,
“(a) A defendant who has been found guilty of– … shall be sentenced to death if, after consideration of the factors set forth in section 3592 in the course of a hearing held pursuant to section 3593, it is determined that imposition of a sentence …show more content…

Furthermore, when investigating the costs of the death penalty versus a life without parole (LWOP) sentence, the Justice For All (JFA) estimates that, over time, “LWOP cases will cost $1.2 million - $3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases” (Sharp, D., 1997). The death penalty is not only supported by most of the general public and arguably less expensive than LWOP sentences, but it is also a just punishment for individuals whom commit heinous acts. Often, non-supporters of the death penalty will use the Bible, specifically the Sixth Commandment, to fight against the law, however, some Christians rebuttal saying that Jesus said to his disciples “’…all who take the sword will perish by the sword’ (Matt 26: 52)” (Lowe, W., 2011). Though Christians view every human life as important, we also believe that the death penalty is necessary in cases where the defendant is a grave threat to the community while alive. Lastly, those sentenced to death shalt not be the ones remembered or given attention to, but rather we should remember the thousands of lives lost each year to murder – “The combined loss is incalculable” (Who Speaks for the Victims of Those We Execute?, 2015). The guilty criminal who receives this punishment has voluntarily assumed the …show more content…

Although there has been an abundant effort made to fully prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person sentenced to death is guilty of his crime, “37% of all death row cases [since 1973] have been overturned for due process reasons or commuted” (Sharp, D., 1997). Furthermore, according to the Innocence Project, 349 individuals have exonerated due to new DNA evidence and there have been 149 newly identified perpetrators in national cases (Help Us Put An End To Wrongful Convictions!, 2017). A growing problem in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is in prosecuting innocent persons; former Illinois Governor George Ryan recognized this problem and decided to “pardoning four death row inmates and commuting the sentences of 167 men and women” (Holguin, J., 2003). Three years prior, Governor Ryan enacted a moratorium, a legal suspension on a certain law or procedure, on executions after being informed of thirteen wrongfully convicted death row inmates (Holguin, J., 2003). According to the article, “the only way capital punishment will survive as a legal option over the next 10 years is if the procedures by which men and women are sentenced to death are fixed from the ground up; from and within state legislatures” (Holguin, J., 2003). Another issue with the death penalty was that the mentally challenged might have been taken advantage of in trial leading to a capital punishment conviction, however, in 1989, the UN

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