Capital Punishment Essay - Death Penalty is Socially Sanctioned Murder

The Death Penalty – Socially Sanctioned Murder

Capital punishment is not "actual" punishment. It's a capital

reaction to a type of criminal act. It serves no purpose. When a person is

executed, the person learns no lesson. He or she cannot say, "Hey! I

learned my lesson. I surely won't do that again," for he or she is dead.

Although the word "punishment" is used in varying contexts, it is

generally accepted that it is served out unpleasantly to an individual in

hopes that that person learns from the punishment and, therefore, doesn't

repeat the bad deed.

Good grief... So, why execute? The question is one of justification.

It is wrong to deliberately kill another person, yet capital punishment (or

"killing") consists of doing precisely this.

Cost of the Death Penalty

Capital punishment in California, as in every other state, is more

expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of

parole. These costs are not the result of frivolous appeals but rather the

result of Constitutionally mandated safeguards that can be summarized as

follows:

Juries must be given clear guidelines on sentencing, which result

in explicit provisions for what constitutes aggravating and mitigating

circumstances. Defendants must have a dual trial--one to establish guilt or

innocence and if guilty a second trial to determine whether or not they

would get the death penalty. Defendants sentenced to death are granted

oversight protection in an automatic appeal to the state supreme court.

These constitutional safeguards translate into:

- a more extensive jury selection procedure

- a four fold increase in the number of motions filed

- a longer, dual trial process

- more investigators and expert testimony

- more lawyers specializing in death penalty litigation

- and automatic, mandatory appeals

Since there are few defendants who will plead guilty to a capital

charge, virtually every death penalty trial becomes a jury trial with all

of the above necessary requirements and expenses. In Los Angeles County,

the total cost of capital punishment is $2,087,926. In Los Angeles County,

the total cost of life imprisonment without possibility of parole is

$1,448,935.

General Studies

A study done by the Sacramento Bee argued that California would

save $90 million per year if it were to abolish the death penalty. The

average cost of a capital trial in Texas is $2.3 million--three times the

cost to incarcerate an individual for 40 years. The average cost of a

capital trial in Florida is $3.2 million.

Myths and Facts

Deterrence

Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that

executions deter people from committing crime. The respected Thorsten