Argumentative Essay On The Death Penalty

The phrase “an eye for an eye’ has been around for some time now. When someone hits you, you hit them back. Many people live their life by this, they strive to get their revenge. When does taking that “eye” become unnecessary or too harsh? It becomes too harsh when lives are being taken. The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics in our history. Capital punishment is wrong and ineffective. The price of the operation cost more than life in prison, and it is morally unjust.

For years now, it seems like any punishment deemed worthy by a judge requires the convicted to pay the price of their life. This part of our judicial system is wrong. The only thing the death penalty proves is that our government is just as bad as the people committing the crimes. To cover up this harshness the government calls the death penalty capital punishment as if it makes the punishment justified. According to Webster’s Dictionary capital punishment is defined as “the legally

The effectiveness of the punishment is also in question. According to a survey done by the Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee, “they found that defense costs for death penalty trials averaged $395,762 per case, compared to $98,963 per case when the death penalty was not sought”. In California, they have spent more than 4 billion dollars on the death penalty since it has been put into place in 1978. Additionally the state has 184 million dollars in the cost of security on death row, the trial, and the legal representation. It is believed that by 2030 the cost of the death penalty will reach a staggering 9 billion dollars. (Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee, 2014) This means that since the death penalty has been in place, the cost of everything involved in the case is significantly higher than life in prison. Life in prison is the more cost efficient way to handle people who are sentenced to