Life Without Parole

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Capital punishment or death penalty has been around since the eighteen century but throughout the centuries and with the progress of societies it has been abolished in many countries. Among all western developed countries, the United States (U.S.) is one of the rare country that is still practicing capital punishment. Many believe that it is time for the U.S. to put an end to the capital punishment, while others believe that it is essential for the U.S. to keep practicing this type of sentence.
Capital punishment is nowadays used for criminals who committed murders, however it was originally used to punish many others crimes too. Recalling the history of death penalty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) stated (2014): “The first …show more content…

It is evident that some offenders should be severely punished, nonetheless Life Without Parole could be used as an alternative to the Death Penalty. According to The Death Penalty Focus (2013), an organization against death penalty, in every State that carries out the death penalty, jurors have the possibility of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This type of sentence costs less money to tax-payers and keeps violent criminals off the streets for good. Life Without Parole, unlike death penalty, gives an opportunity to criminals to have some remorse and regret their acts. There are currently over 3,300 people in California who have received this alternative sentence, which also has a more limited appeals process last approximately 3 years. According to the Governor’s Office of California, only seven people sentenced to life without parole have been released since the state provided for this option in 1977, and this occurred because they were able to prove their …show more content…

(1997) an Independent Death Penalty Activist and Former Vice President and Political Director of Justice for All stated that many opponents present, as fact, that the cost of the death penalty is so expensive (at least $2 million per case), that we must choose life without parole ('LWOP') at a cost of $1 million for 50 years. Predictably, these pronouncements may be entirely false. JFA (Justice for All) estimates that LWOP cases will cost $1.2 million-$3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases. There is no question that the upfront costs of the death penalty are significantly higher than for equivalent LWOP cases. There also appears to be no question that, over time, equivalent LWOP cases are much more expensive than death penalty cases. Opponents ludicrously claim that the death penalty costs, over time, 3-10 times more than LWOP. Executions are completed at incredible cost to taxpayers.
As reported by Death Penalty Focus (2013), a 2011 study found that California has spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978 and that death penalty trials are 20 times more expensive than trials seeking a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. California currently spends $184 million on the death penalty each year and is on track to spend $1 billion

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