Death Row Inmates and the Appeal Process
The process determining whether or not an inmate shall live or die is inefficient. The appeal process contemplating the lives of death row inmates is terribly constructed due to a large amount of inmates dying for the law even though they were not guilty, leading to another problem of cruel and unusual punishment, which is definitely unconstitutional, therefore, causing people to waste their tax dollars on death row inmates, who are most likely not to be killed for years after their incarceration so they may live in a comfortable cell. Although death row inmates may live in somewhat comfortable cells, they do not deserve to be unjustly imprisoned.
Our tax dollars go to sustaining the lives of the inmates that will most likely survive their imprisonment. “Maintaining each death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000
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Knowing that there are impeccable people being killed is deplorable, for “’[c]apital punishment is surrounded with solemnity, for no graver penalty could be exacted than that of death’” (Kerrigan, 1). A person cannot restart their life after death, it is not a game; “’the extinguishing of an individual’s existence’” is irreversible (Kerrigan, 1). Even if the prisoners are not killed by the executioners, the inmates may just commit suicide due to the appeal process taking years to decide whether to liquidate a person or not. Also, if a faultless person is released from their imprisonment, “little or nothing is done to deal with the equally bad injustice they now face,” as stated by Gross (Pilkington, 1). The blameless inmates will then have to serve time in a regular prison for the crime they did not commit. The act of incarcerating an innocent person is unjust, as well as the long period of time it takes for the appeal process to be effective, even though, innocent inmates may still be murdered by the
Are there really innocent people on death row? At least twenty-three people have been executed who did not commit the crime they were accused of (JAICLC). And that 's only those that we know. And here lies a natural danger of capital punishment...when we execute an innocent person; the real killer is still on the streets, ready to victimize someone else. But when an innocent person is arrested, he is often the motivating reason behind further investigation, and if he is executed, than the case remains closed forever or until someone else gets killed by the real perpetrator. Often the only people who know what really happened are the accused and the dead. It then comes down to the skill of the examination and the defense lawyers as to whether there will be a conviction for accidental murder or for manslaughter. At times, a detective could naturally make an error and possibly lead to the conclusion that the innocent committed the crime. Whether it be multiple years in prison or even capital punishment there is no possible way of revenging or forgiving the judge and jury for this miscarriage of justice. There must always be the concern that the state can order the death penalty justly. In America, a prisoner can be on death row for many years awaiting the outcome of numerous appeals (Short). In simpler terms killing another being with or without evidence is not fair, decent, or ethically
prisoner than to keep him. In New Jersey ?$253 million? has been spent in the Capital punishment sector and they?ve killed a sum total of zero people. The cost of maintaining the equipment is exorbitant and the drugs are especially expensive. If the conviction is wrong the government can be sued for massive amounts.
For example, Ted Bundy and terrorists like Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh who have committed serious crimes. Furthermore, during the first decade of the 21st century there were 26 percent more executions in the U.S. than in the 20th century. For instance, during the same time period, the U.S. murder rate decreased by 24 percent (Marquis, 22). However, how would you know if someone was innocent or not? What if they had been framed by the actual killer? That’s why it would take a long and complex process to find out whether that person had not committed such crime. Therefore, innocent people could be put to death for doing no such crimes.
In the textbook Criminal Courts 2nd edition, it states that “appeals of any kind, especially death penalty appeals, consume a great deal time. On the average, it takes about ten or eleven years for inmates to be executed. In some instances, the appeals process has dragged out over a fifteen year period.” The number of years it takes for an appeal seems excessive when thinking about an innocent person serving time for a crime they did not commit. Although one would want the appeals process to be speedy, that is not the case when considering the steps involved. The appeals process begins once the defendant has been convicted of a crime. The defendant is entitled to at least one appeal to a higher court. The primary purpose of an appeal is to correct a wrong that may have been committed. These wrongs may be mistakes by police, the prosecution, or the court. Errors may have occurred that influence the trial outcome. Appeals are intended to correct these mistakes and errors. A secondary purpose of an appeal is to render judgment about one or more iss...
...ng prisoners on death row alone costs 90,000 dollars a year for housing and staffing extra guards.(3) Thirteen years is the average time a person will spend on death row so that is slightly over a million dollars that will be spent on one person coming out of the taxpayers money. Even the morally ambiguous are being affected by the decision to keep this practice in place. In any era, even outside the economic downturn our country is facing right now, that is too much money to throwing down the toilet.
Many prisoners in the past have been known to be killed before they were proven innocent. Many documented cases where DNA testing showed that innocent people were put to death by the government. This sometimes happens because there are defendants who are given minimal legal attention by often minor qualified individuals. The government has made many mistakes which are being wrong about convicting someone for something they didn’t do, and killing this person for the wrong reason. Putting the wrong person to death is the biggest mistake that can be made and the government cannot afford to make this mistake.
When a defendant is convicted and sentenced to death, theoretically what follows is an execution. An execution doesn’t follow death sentences very swiftly, and in some cases at all for a variety of reasons. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that only 15% of people sentenced to death from 1973-2009 had been executed by the end of 2009. Of these cases, 46% ended in alternate ways (reversed convictions, commuted sentences, or the death of the inmate). Of the inmates sentenced to death during that period, 39% were still
Main Point 1: Imagine someone that has been accused of murder and sentenced to death row has to spend almost 17-20 years in jail and then one day get kill. Then later on the person that they killed was not the right person.
Prisons require an abundance of money to be run properly and effectively. By using taxes to pay for prisons, the American public pays to support the lives of inmates and all of their needs. Prisoners require food, drink, beds, supplies for doing other activities and all of the overlooked things in normal life that go along with these necessities. Inmates have special needs, like all of us do. Inmates require medical care, for example, some have AIDS or other diseases that require medicine which cumulate large bills over time.
The world revolves around money, so our government should not waste it putting an inmate to death when we can keep him/her alive for a quarter of the cost. The reason it costs so much to give an inmate capital punishment is because they must submit to a extensive and strenuous judicial process. By doing so, the courts are making sure that they are not executing an innocent man for a crime that he did not commit, but even with these protections, the risk of murdering an innocent man cannot be completely eliminated. Life without parole not only saves millions of dollars, it safeguards the community from an irreversible mistake in taking the wrong life. The money that is saved can then be put towards programs that can improve the community (High Cost).
If an error occurs in the procedure, the criminal will face a painful and cruel death. Even more horrifying, an innocent person can be placed on death row. “The reality is that there are few innocent people on death row; the vast majority of these inmates did, in fact, commit the crimes for which they were found guilty. These killers brutally took the lives of innocent victims. By not recognizing the lives of their victims as sacred, they cannot claim their own lives are sacred. In the end, the death penalty is an individual punishment for an individual crime” (Bowman and DiLascio). Although this quote tries to offer a counterpoint to the argument that the death penalty should be abolished, it still admits that there are innocent people on death row. An innocent man placed on death row results in two casualties of innocent men while the brutal murderer sleeps peacefully each night. Errors in the death penalty can destroy families, terminate friendships, and disintegrate love and companionship. Since there is no guarantee that every person on death row is guilty, it is too dangerous to risk more innocent
One of the most repetitive and controversial topics discussed in the criminal justice system, is the death penalty. Capital punishment has been a part of our nation’s history since the creation of our constitution. In fact, as of January 1st, 2016, 2,943 inmates were awaiting their fate on death row (Death Penalty Information Center). Throughout my life, I have always been a strong advocate for the death penalty. During the majority of my undergraduate degree, I was a fierce supporter of capital punishment when discussing the topic in classes. However, throughout many criminal justice courses, I found myself in the minority, regarding the abolishment of the death penalty. While debating this topic, I would always find myself sympathetic to the victims and their families, as one should be, wanting those who were responsible for heinous crimes to
“Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from the death row, including some who came within minutes of execution. In Missouri, Texas and Virginia investigations have been opened to determine if those states executed innocent men. To execute an innocent person is morally reprehensible; this risk we cannot
The first reason why death penalty should be allowed and get more active is life sentence is costly. According to “What is the Average Cost to House Inmates in Prison”, the average cost of housing an inmate in the U.S. was $31,286 in 2012 for per year. According to the “Who, what, where and why”, the United States has roughly 2.4 million people in prisons. Therefore, the money which America pays to keep prisoners who are in prisons is about $75120000000 for per year.
If a criminal is sentenced to life in jail, then the cost of their imprisonment would be many times this. In the USA, the average cost per prisoner annually in jail is $29,000. The cost of the drugs used for the lethal injection is believed to be $86.08. This is far less than the cost of keeping a prisoner in jail, and would save the government money that could be used to try and make the community a better and safer place. Secondly, many believe that capital punishment is right because of the justice given to the victim’s family.