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Does the death penalty reduce crime
What is the ongoing debate about the death penalty
What is the importance of capital punishment
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The majority of the United States uses the death penalty; should we add one more to the list and have Michigan become a state that uses the death penalty. Some people think that bringing the death penalty to Michigan would a good idea. Others think that doing this is stupid and would not be just and they should just go to jail. Michigan should bring the death penalty here because it would decrease crime rate, benefit Michigan overall, and criminals who just got released from prison for murder could not go and kill another innocent person.
If Michigan started to use the death penalty major crimes such as murder would decrease. People believe that the death penalty the major crimes would start to decrease because people who would commit such crimes would be in fear of doing them being getting caught and getting executed. To back that statement here is information” The death penalty deters murder by putting the fear of death into would be killers”. ("Benefits of Capital Punishment") Researchers have found information on this decrease which is: “Their study concludes that when executions increase, murders decrease. When executions decrease, murders increase. In fact, according to their chart, each execution means about 74 fewer murders the next year” (lee). This way capital punishment will act as a deterrent to crimes. “If the threat of death has, in fact, stayed the hand of many a would be murderer, and we abolish the death penalty, we will sacrifice the lives of many innocent victims whose murders could have been deterred.” (Andre).
Michigan would benefit overall if the death penalty was here. Prisons in Michigan would benefit from extra space because people of serious crimes would not stay there as long as they do without the de...
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...lace to live because the crime rate would go down, and there would no chance of a killer getting out of prison and murdering more people, also Michigan would save money.
Works Cited
"Benefits of Capital Punishment." Benefits of Capital Punishment. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr 2010.
lee, Vic. "Can executions decrease murder rates?." ABC, 13/2/2008. Web. 13 Apr 2010. .
"Arguments for the death penalty.." The pros and cons of capital punishment in the USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr 2010. .
Andre, Claire. "Capital Punishment: Our Duty or Our Doom?." Santa Clara University, n.d. Web. 13 Apr 2010. .
The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because the Constitution requires a long and complex judicial process for capital cases. If the death penalty was replaced with a sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole, which costs millions less and also ensures that the public is protected while eliminating the risk of an mistake, the money saved could be spent on programs that actually improve the communities in which we live. Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences. Moreover, states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates. The South accounts for 80% of US executions and has the highest regional murder rate (Death Penalty
Randa, Laura E. “Society’s Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty.” (1997). Rpt.in History of the Death Penalty. Ed. Michael H. Reggio. University Press of America, Inc., 1997. 1-6 Print.
Notwithstanding issues of morality, the death penalty process of California is financially inefficient and ineffective. At the current rate of executions, “it would take 1,600 years to execute everybody on death row.” [The Death of the American Death Penalty, 122] The average delay in implementing a death sentence calculates out to be 25 years, at an added cost of $90,000 per year over normal incarceration. [Guy, 2] This is a “premium that currently totals more than $60 million a year” [Guy, 2]. When you take the added costs of death row incarceration and total them up with the additional costs of prosecution and the handling of the many legal appeals death row inmates are entitled to, the unnecessary amount of spending is significant. We could eliminate “$126 million a year” in additional costs by simply sentencing death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. [Guy, 2] Because of the afo...
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
“Florida, for example, spent between $25 million and $50 million more per year on capital cases than it would have to if all murderers received life without parole.” (Fagan 3) The comparison of how much money just the state of Florida could be saving if they opted out of capital punishment is astounding. If that is just how much money could be saved per year in one state, the entire country could benefit from stopping executions over a long period of time. It is obvious the US could save much more money by getting rid of capital punishment vs keeping it. The national debt is always a huge hot topic, and this offers a real solution to a part of that problem. This claim shows my thesis is correct because this article shows how much of an impact (money wise) capital punishment is causing by costing the states in America so much tax money. The millions that would be saved by abolishing this outdated punishment could be put to much better use, for example, things like “education, roads, police officers and public safety programs, after-school programs, drug and alcohol treatment, child abuse prevention programs, mental health services, and services for crime victims and their families.” (The Death Penalty
There are over sixty offenses in the United States of America that can be punishable by receiving the death penalty (What is..., 1). However, many individuals believe that the death penalty is an inadequate source of punishment for any crime no matter how severe it is. The fact remains, however, that the death penalty is one of the most ideal forms of punishment. There are other individuals who agree with the idea that capital punishment is the best form of punishment. In fact, some of these individuals believe that this should be the only form of punishment.
Jost, Kenneth. "Death Penalty Debates." CQ Researcher 19 Nov. 2010: 965-88. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
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.
Many states in America have already abolished the death penalty, including Michigan. If the U.S wants to abolish the death penalty all together we would just need to take it step by step and then it would be easy. It would be easy because studies show that 68% of the sentences actually don?t happen! We only need to worry about the other 32 % (Dieter Speech 5). And 82% of the
“The Death Penalty: Pro and Con.” Wgbh.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
The death penalty is a controversial topic in the United States today and has been for a number of years. The death penalty is currently legal in 38 states and two federal jurisdictions (Winters 97). The death penalty statutes were overturned and then reinstated in the United States during the 1970's due to questions concerning its fairness (Flanders 50). The death penalty began to be reinstated slowly, but the rate of executions has increased during the 1990's (Winters103-107). There are a number of arguments in favor of the death penalty. Many death penalty proponents feel that the death penalty reduces crime because it deters people from committing murder if they know that they will receive the death penalty if they are caught. Others in favor of the death penalty feel that even if it doesn't deter others from committing crimes, it will eliminate repeat offenders.
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.
Jacoby believes the death penalty protects society by threatening future murders with fear. Gaes believes the death penalty is necessary because the overpopulation in prisons causes emotional and physical distress. The stronger side of the debate seems to be that the death penalty does not discourage crime at all nor does it help the victim’s family heal. It would be useful to know whether or not death-penalty states as a whole have lower rates of crime than non-death penalty states when arguing for the death penalty.
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is how the saying goes. Coined by the infamous Hammurabi’s Code around 1700 BC, this ancient expression has become the basis of a great political debate over the past several decades – the death penalty. While the conflict can be whittled down to a matter of morals, a more pragmatic approach shows defendable points that are far more evidence backed. Supporters of the death penalty advocate that it deters crime, provides closure, and is a just punishment for those who choose to take a human life. Those against the death penalty argue that execution is a betrayal of basic human rights, an ineffective crime deterrent, an economically wasteful option, and an outdated method. The debate has experienced varying levels of attention over the years, but has always kept in the eye of the public. While many still advocate for the continued use of capital punishment, the process is not the most cost effective, efficient, consistent, or up-to-date means of punishment that America could be using today.