Death Penalty Essay

979 Words2 Pages

Have you ever wondered why people are so interested to learn about the suffrage of others? Over twenty-five years, the population of prisoners has nearly sextulped. Reaching about 1.7 million since 1996, which is almost equal to the population to Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the nation (Elliott Currie). All we focus on is how they did it? and why? In other words, many people interpret crime as entertainment, and don’t think about the negative effects taking place in the world or even more that individual. In some cases the innocent are being accused of unlikely punishment but how do they determine? Considerably, the death penalty has been the topic of discussion these past years. This so called “penalty” is becoming the prime consequence in most cases. I think that the use of the death penalty as punishment is wrong because of the psychological effects it has on prisoners, time spent on death row in cases of innocents, and the costly outcome. In the court case Furman v. Georgia, was the decision on whether or not a particular punishment was cruel and unusual or how it can be determined. Justice Brennan, a major role in this case, stated, “There are, then, four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is ‘cruel and unusual’.” First: The “essential predicate” is “that a punishment may not by its severity be degrading to human dignity” especially torture; A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion; A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society; and a severe punishment that is patently unnecessary. These just simply provide means to help a court decide whether a challenged punishment interferes with human dignity. Also, there a... ... middle of paper ... ... cost so much then I don’t believe it should be used just to kill one person. I don’t believe that many people actually sit down and think about what is really going on, or the whole process through it. Crime is becoming more and more of a problem over the years. I don’t think that we should use the death penalty because the cost is hurting the United States more than its hurting that one individual that has committed a crime. Also, if you don’t have the real evidence behind someone then why would you punish them for something that they might have not done. Last, following there innocents, I don’t agree that someone should be put on death row for so long, if you didn’t know what the real story is, because it would cause them to go through so much suffering they’d become crazy. I am against the death penalty because of the cost, innocents, and psychotic effects.

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