The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

On the morning of April 19, 1995 a former soldier, named Timothy McVeigh, drove a truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah government building in downtown Oklahoma City. Inside the truck was a homemade explosive device. McVeigh got out of the truck and walked to his getaway car. At precisely 9:02 a.m. the truck bomb exploded. Killing 168 people, including 19 children. Over 600 people were injured and close to 300 surrounding buildings took damage. This attack at Oklahoma City was the worst terrorist attack on American soil, until 9/11. Six years after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building McVeigh was executed at “United States Penitentiary” in Terre Haute, Indiana. At 7:14 a.m. on July 11, 2001 McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection. This terrorist was put to death and got the justice that was deserved. Now the American justice system is flawed especially when it comes to the death penalty, but

First, the cost. Not just the cost of having Death Row but what it costs to keep prisoners alive on Death Row. Another argument that is brought up is, what if a person is innocent and sentenced to death. Once executed they can not come back, even if new evidence is found that exonerates them. These two arguments are the major reasons to totally get rid of the of the American justice system. California has spent more than $4 billion on death penalty cases since 1978, executing 13 criminals. That 's roughly $184 million more a year than life sentences would have cost. (Williams) This amount seems like a staggering amount and is in fact very high, but could prisons not offset this cost by taking away from other sides of prison life. Prisons could cut back on how much is needed for Death Row; it should not take millions of taxpayers’ dollars to keep a criminal who is sentenced to death to live in a secure and safe place till his