Almost all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have had it at one time. It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States. The use of the death penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia which are two of the world’s worst human rights violators (Friedman 34). Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.” The cost of the Death Penalty is highly expensive. A case to put someone in jail costs on average two million three hundred thousand dollars on average while to put an inmate in jail for forty years cost on average seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars (Friedman 11). In Texas the death penalty cost three times more money than putting an inmate in the highest security level in a jail for forty years (4). It also takes time for a death penalty case to be processed and a convict to be sentenced to the death penalty. Then it takes more time for the state to act and to administer the death penalty to people on death row. On average it takes ten to twenty years to execute a convicted criminal on death row (Friedman 11). Costs could be lowered by shortening the appeal process but this would only increase the risk of executing an innocent person. Use of the Death Penalty is inhumane. Most Americans view the death penalty as taking a life for taking a life. Lauri Friedman quotes Pat Bane when he states, “In the aftermath of a murder, a family has two things to deal with-a crime and a death. The death pen... ... middle of paper ... ...nion: The Death Penalty Violates Human Dignity.” The Death Penalty. Samuel Bremer, Ed. Detroit: Thomson, 2006. 24-34. Print. “Death Penalty Arguments.” Prodeathpenalty.com. 3 May 2001. Ornellaspaper. 6 Feb 2011. Web. “Facts about the Death Penalty.” Deathpenaltyinfo.org. 26 Jan 2011. Death Penalty Information Center. 31 Jan 2011. Web. Friedman, Lauri. The Death Penalty. San Diego: Reference Point, 2007. Print. Overall, Michael. “Study: Death Sentences Reach Record Low: Economics Play a Part, an Attorney Who Hopes the Ultimate Penalty Will be Abolished Says.” Tulsa World (Tulsa) 16 Jan 2010. Pasquerella, Lynn. “The Death Penalty in the United States.” The Study Circle Resource Center of Topsfield Foundation. July 1991. Topsfield Foundation. 03 Feb 2011. Web. “Statistics of Death Penalty.” Antideathpenalty.org. 01 Feb 2011. Anti-Death Penalty. 03 Feb 2011. Web.
Additionally, capital punishment is absurdly expensive. In the article, “ Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects & Capital costs” Jeffery A. Fagan discusses how expensive death penalty cases can be. He
Koch, Larry Wayne, John F Galliher, and Colin Wark, The Death of the American Death Penalty : States Still Leading the Way. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2012, Ebscohost Ebook.
Unlike popular belief, the cost of sentencing someone to death is actually more expensive than a life sentence in prison. In Washington, since the death penalty was reinstated 5 people have been put to death costing taxpayers roughly $120 million, that's roughly $24 million per case (Seattle University, 2015). A reason that people advocate strongly for the death penalty is because they believe that they should not have to pay for the costs to keep criminals fed, sheltered and imprisoned. In fact, 56% of Canadians surveyed believed that the one time cost of a lethal injection is cheaper and will allow their money to go towards something more advantageous like healthcare or education (Angus Reid). This is actually quite different from the truth, in fact is estimated that it costs $740 000 on average to put someone in prison for life. It is also estimated that it costs roughly $1.26 million to sentence someone to death (Seattle University, 2015). (There seems to be a discrepancy between how much a single case costs and how much Washington spent since the death penalty has been reinstated, but I could not find evidence to why that is). Among the reasons why the death penalty is so expensive is the fact that the time in courts is quite lengthy. Jury trials averaged 40.13 days in cases where the death penalty was being sought, but only 16.79 days
Bessler, J. D. (2002). America's Death Penalty: Just Another Form of Violence. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 82(1), 13.
Geraghty, Thomas F. "Trying to Understand America’s Death Penalty System and Why We Still Have it." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 94.1 (2003): 209-237. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.
Throughout the world, all nations either have the death penalty or had used it before. The death penalty is the most severe form of punishment a judge or jury can enforce on someone. The death penalty is a cruel and unfair system. It should be abolished because it favors racism. Also, it is financially too expensive for taxpayers. It violates the Bill of Rights and prisoner’s family suffer seeing their loved one’s put to death. The idea of life in prison is enough of a punishment for anyone.
“The Death Penalty in America: A Cultural and Historical Analysis.” Supreme Court Debates (2004): pp. 259-288.
Mappes, Thomas A., Jane S. Zembaty, and David DeGrazia. "The Death Penalty." Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 105-53. Print.
According to balancepolitics.org, it cost two to five times more than keeping that same criminal in prison for life. The reasons for such high financial costs are the endless appeals, additional procedures, legal processes, paying people, lawyer costs, and even the execution itself based on which type. Not only do the financial costs affect the state but it affects the taxpayers. Most criminals who are convicted to penalty are on death row for up to 20 years which slows down the court system and makes the death penalty useless in some way. Deathpenalty.procon.org notes that, “Everything that is needed for an ordinary...
The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, the writer of “The Death Penalty in America”, capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for a variety of offenses. The Bible says that death should be done to anyone who commits murder, larceny, rapes, and burglary. It appears that public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some out there who are for the death penalty and will continue to believe that it’s a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people feel strongly that if a criminal took the life of another, their’s should be taken away as well, and I don’t see how the death penalty could deter anyone from committing crimes if your going to do the crime then at that moment your not thinking about being on death role. I don’t think they should be put to death they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their life and think about how they destroy other families. A change in views and attitudes about the death penalty are likely attributed to results from social science research. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000).
Ethics and morality are the founding reasons for both supporting and opposing the death penalty, leading to the highly contentious nature of the debate. When heinous crimes are com...
Julian Ptachin was only 14 years old in October 1997 when a drunk driver smashed into his parents van. His Dad, a physician, had to hold Julian while he died on the side of the road. The drunk driver was a three-timed convicted, repeat offender. He was convicted of second-degree murder and was ordered to serve eight years in jail. Doesn’t something seem wrong with this picture? Repeat crime convicts are running down the streets rapid: endangering our children, our loved ones, and even us.
Simon, Mallory. “Fast Fact: Breaking Down the Current State of Death Penalty.” CNN.com. Turner Broadcasting System, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
People who oppose the death penalty take the side that is too much money. They feel that it is far more expensive to execute the convict than keeping them in prison. In Texas, the cost of each execution case is roughly three times greater than detaining an inmate for forty years with the tightest security. Other states have similar statistics on how the death penalty is more expensive than imprisonment. One poll, "The Budgetary Repercussions of Capital Convictions" states that the cost of capital trials from 1982-1997 was $1.6 billion (Costs). Part of the taxpayers money goes to the cost of executing a criminal. Many feel that the money can be used for education or medicare. Also, many people opposing the death penalty feel that many convicts are inn...
The death penalty is an economically wasteful method of punishment. It has been calculated that “if the death penalty was extinguished…we could save $11 million a year” (Locke). While this may not seem a significant sum, ...