Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Disparities in sentencing minorities
Controversy around the death penalty
Controversy around the death penalty
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Disparities in sentencing minorities
Fair Punishment and the Death Penalty 94 federal attorneys have the power to submit a case to Janet Reno (Willing 3A). These attorneys seek the death penalty for these cases, and why should they not? Whys should one who has taken a life, or even several, deserve the air that they breathe? Capital punishment is a harsh punishment created for people who have committed harsh crimes. The death penalty should be used to punish violent criminals. Some believe that capital punishment is unfair. Reno says, "Sadly, the same is true of the entire criminal justice system, both state and federal" (Justice Dept sees). How can a punishment be judged as fair? Every judge will have some biases. How is giving the opportunity of life to someone who has killed another fair? If one caused many deaths, should he not deserve to die as well? For example, Jeffrey L. Dahmer murdered and dismembered at least 17 boys and men. He, also, ate the flesh of at least one of his victims (Bonner). Does this man deserve the privelages of a comfy jail cell, generous meals, and a workout facility? Dying by lethal injection is a much less horrific way to die than the way the victims did. Then, the argument is used that innocent people have been put to death. DNA testing and established standards for defense lawyers virtually eliminate that argument. George W. Bush, the governor of Texas, said he was certain that no innocent inmates died since he took office in 1995 (Sealey). Measures should be taken to ensure the guilt of death-row inmates, and they are. Yet another argument by death penalty oppossers is the fact that no uniform policy determines which cases qualify for death. This allows each case to be looked at individually, and allows... ... middle of paper ... ...d and Ford Fessender. "States with no death penalty share lower homicide rates." 22 Sept. 2000: Online. Internet. 25 Sept. 2000. Available www: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/national/22DEAT.html "Is the death penalty unjust?" 10 March 1995: Online. Internet. 25 Sept. 2000. Available www: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/.pages/frontline/angel/procon/deathissue.html "Justice Dept sees race disparity in death penalty." 13 Sept. 2000: Online. Internet. 25 Sept. 2000. Available www: http://abcnews.go.com-wire-politics-reuters20000913-1350.html Sealey, Geraldine. "Death penalty debate at crossroads."6 March 2000: Online. Internet www: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/deathpenalty1_000306.html Willing, Richard. "Death penalty policies examined: studies suggest that disparities exist between federal and state guidelines." USA Today 5 Sept. 2000, 3A
...eter, Richard C. “Death Penalty Information Center” A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts about the Death Penalty. 2007. 1-30 Print.
Bright, Stephen B. Discrimination, Death and Denial: The Tolerance of Racial Discrimination in Infliction of the Death Penalty (1995). Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
The death penalty, as administered by states based on their individual laws, is considered capital punishment, the purpose of which is to penalize criminals convicted of murder or other heinous crimes (Fabian). The death penalty issue has been the focus of much controversy in recent years, even though capital punishment has been a part of our country's history since the beginning. Crimes in colonial times, such as murder and theft of livestock were dealt with swiftly and decisively ("The Death Penalty..."). Criminals were hanged shortly after their trial, in public executions. This practice was then considered just punishment for those crimes. Recently though, the focus of the death penalty debate has been on moral and legal issues. The murderers of today's society can be assured of a much longer life even after conviction, with the constraints of the appeals process slowing the implementation of their death sentence. In most cases, the appeal process lasts several years, during which time criminals enjoy comfortable lives. They have television, gym facilities, and the leisure time to attend free college-level classes that most American citizens must struggle to afford. Foremost, these murderers have the luxury of time, something their victims ran out of the moment their paths crossed. It is time this country realized the only true justice for these criminals is in the form of the death penalty. The death penalty should be administered for particularly heinous crimes.
Thirty-two of the fifty states of the United States of America have capital punishment and in those thirty-two sates there are over three thousand people on death row as of January 1, 2013, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The murderers of today’s society can be assured of a much longer life even after conviction because of the appeals process slowing the implementation of their death sentence. (Oberg) The imposition of the death penalty is extremely expensive because it allows for endless appeals at the expense of the taxpayers. The effectiveness of the death penalty is greatly compromised when it is not carried through. There needs to be a certainty attached to it to make it effective, and that has not happened. There needs to be one trial, one appeal, and then either acquittal, or execution. (Baltimore Sun) The states need to stop pushing for the abolition of the death penalty and start looking for a way to make it more cost-effective.
Narration: was “fraught with errors.” He added that “until I can assure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.”
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
24 U.S. General Accounting Office, "Death Penalty Sentencing: Research Indicates Patterns of Racial Disparities," The Death Penalty in America, 271.
Adams, Cindy. “The Death Penalty as Just Punishment.” Does Capital Punishment Deter or is it a Biased Process? 3 Sept. 2008. 30 May 2010 < http://penal-system.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_death_penalty_as_just_punishment>.
Recommendations on the Administration of the Death Penalty in California. Retrieved from The California Commission on the Fair Admission of Justice website http://www.ccfaj.org/documents/reports/dp/official/FINAL%20REPORT%20DEATH%20PENALTY.pdf
"A New Death Penalty for Killer." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 25 May 2004. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
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.
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Markoff, Steven C. "Death Penalty ProCon.org." Death Penalty ProCon.org. N.p., 12 July 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
Fein, Bruce. "Individual Rights and Responsibility - The Death Penalty, But Sparingly." Speech. American Bar Association. Feb. 2003. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.