capital punishment Essay

Out of the 50 states, 26 of them have had at least one death row execution. American people (approximately 65%) say that they are still strong supporters in the Death Penalty. That is over half of the American population, for the Death Penalty. One may argue that it is a horrible way of giving people what they deserve; however, those people may not see the mistakes these people have made, making them not agree with this act. As this may be a contradiction, capital punishments is one of the life learning punishments known. It is legal in many states, but that doesn’t make it fair to all because its blameful, the cost is outrageous, and it’s time that needs to be spent helping, instead of killing.

There were fifty-two executions in the United States in 2009 and forty-six in 2010, with over 3,000 people waiting on death row for their sentences to be carried out. In most cases these never will be

One of the most recent states to abolish the death penalty is Illinois. It created the Capital Punishment Reform Study to investigate problems in the current capital punishment system and to make recommendations for ways to make it more effective. In a ten year period, it cost the state 200 million dollars in expenses. Illinois believed that fixing the Capital Punishment System was not possible because there are too many problems. The biggest issue is the financial burden on the state. The problem is a direct result of the time it takes to reach an verdict in a death penalty case. Once a person is found guilty, he or she has the right to appeal the decision; those appeals may take between 6-10 years. It is not uncommon for inmates to spend around 25 years on death row before being executed

For example, in California, a Los Angeles deputy public defender complained the death row was like “a college where nobody ever graduates, where they just keep building more dorms” (Galliher, Koch, & Wark 122). This bizarre analogy was generated because by 2009, California had on executed thirteen people over a thirty-one year period. According to this deputy’s calculation that meant “it would take 1,600 years to execute everybody on death row” (Galliher, Koch, & Wark 122). California is a state with a wide variety of cultures and many lawyers. As such, two-thirds of the death sentences were vacated by higher courts and as of 2011, many attorneys and activists in California claimed that the death penalty was just too costly to be feasible. Appeals could tie up a California case or decades because “most prosecutors and judges don’t have much experience with death penalty cases and don’t know what they are doing, and thus they make mistakes that are picked up on appeal” (Galliher, Koch, & Wark

During the past three decades capital punishment has been a very controversial issue in the United States. 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was a form of "cruel and unusual punishment." However, this decision did not last long; in July 1975 the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment did not violate any parts of the Constitution. Executions as they had before 1972 resumed again. Since then 180 prisoners have been executed. The United States Supreme Court should abolish the death penalty because it is a form of "cruel and unusual punishment."

The death penalty has been a controversy in the United States justice system since its commencement (Bakken & Morris, 2010). Although extremely controversial, it has stood the test of time as the definitive penalty. Numerous countries are at present bring an end their death penalty law. Contrary to that, the United States has thirty eight out of its fifty states with death penalty still operational. It seems the United States needs the death penalty more than ever before due to rising rate of sever violent crimes across the nation. Statistics shows that since the early nineties roughly around 355 people have been put to death through death penalty and approximately 3300 are still waiting on death row. Similarly since 1976 around 552 felons have been put to rest through death penalty across the United States (Bakken & Morris, 2010). If you break these deaths down according to the methods utilized about three hundred ninety-four by lethal injection, one hundred forty-one by electrocution, eleven by gas chamber, three by hanging, and two by firing squad. Almost half of the 1976 executions have taken place within the last five years, which includes 52 that took place this year. Even though the death penalty has brought countless gooey criminals to end, the course of death penalty that it is founded on is inconsistent one.

    There has been about 15,760 executions in the United States since 1700, (http://time.com/deathpenalty/), but that is counting all types of executions, for example: burning, firing squad, hanging, gas, electrocution, injection, and others. Now looking from when the capital punishment was approved in 1976 (Death penalty Information Center), only 1,448 executions have been made. The capital punishment was made for “retribution, theory which demand for ‘tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye’ … if the criminal snatches liberty, peace, and lives… [they] should also be deprived of all these,” (http://listovative.com). It was also made to help have a more pure society, by placing fear, “best method to prevent

The Britannica Encyclopedia declares that capital punishment is a criminal sentence in which one is sentenced to death, after being found guilty of a capital offense, by a court of law. The death penalty and capital punishment are synonymous in terms of the law (“Capital Punishment”). Capital offenses are often serious, major crimes that usually involve either the murder or harming of another individual. The death penalty process has become a long and arduous process that can last a decade or more. This process can entail innumerable appeals, public defenders stalling time and dozens of trials and retrials that cost taxpayers millions. Therefore, the American death penalty process for death row inmates should be revised and if it cannot

George Ryan once said “I support the death penalty. But I also think there has to be no margin for error.” In 1973 alone 144 death row inmates were exonerated or simply put: in 1973 144 people on death row were innocent. Now that may not seem like a lot but when thinking of that number as more like 1 in 25 people then it starts to get worrisome. The idea and precedent of the death penalty is good and can be used for good but when even one innocent person is sentenced and put to death for a crime they did not commit then there is a problem with the system. In order to reform the death penalty the criminal justice system needs to be revamped and reformed. Not only does the amount of innocent people killed need to be fixed but also the amount of time someone spends on death row must change. Many death row inmates sit there anywhere from 10-20 plus years

In America, we no longer feel that crime should go without harsh punishment. Tim Robbins’ film, “Dead Man Walking” is a movie about a man named Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) who is on death row, and the different things he goes through as he counts down his final days until execution. The movie is based on a true story. Through the movie, I was able to see the different the steps that a death row inmate goes through leading up to execution. I cannot really say that the movie was pro or anti death penalty because I think it covered both sides well. In “Dead Man Walking” the justice system was right, and they executed the right man. However, in reality our system isn’t always right and sometimes

The death penalty had consistently been one of the United States’ most divided and controversial issues since the the sixteen hundreds. In 2015, twenty-eight people were executed in the United States. The use of the death penalty should be abolished. The death penalty in the United States is too expensive, inconsistent in rulings, and its popularity has declined in recent years. The death penalty is too final of a punishment for the United States to be using.

But, as mentioned earlier, in 2012, only 39 inmates were executed. The other 3,000+ stayed on death row. “Death penalty inmates typically spend over a decade awaiting execution” (deathpenaltyinfo.org). Gary Alvord, who was sentenced to death in 1974, spent nearly 40 years on death row, only to die of a brain tumor in May of 2013 (deathpenaltyinfo.org). In a study done by Vera Institute, it shows that “the average per-inmate cost was $31,286, and the forty states surveyed spent $39 billion maintaining prisons in 2010” (vera.org). This is not justice. Inmates are sitting on death row for decades, wasting taxpayers money and time.

Despite all the pros and cons of capital punishment, society must think about what is truly correct and most practical for our world. Capital punishment is not functional in today’s legal system. There are countless amounts of evidence that proves these legal killings to be ineffective. We, as Americans, must correct this irrational practice before it does anymore permanent damage.

Welcome to America, the land of the free, of the prosperous, of the opulent. America the Beautiful, one of the only places in the world where all citizens regardless of race, background, or social class are constitutionally guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—that is unless you're on death row. In modern day America we are still faced with the antiquated ritual of capital punishment, a practice that interferes directly with the law of the land. The same forms of punishment used during the middle ages are still in effect today, the same ideas that should have been abolished had the U.S. government revised it's penology. Capital punishment is cruel as well as unusual and inadequate for our advanced society. The United

One of many issues that have been core of moral and legal discussions over history has been the death penalty (capital punishment).