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What are the effects of capital punishment
Which one is better capital punishment or life imprisonment
Capital punishment deters criminals
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Normally when one commits a crime, they are sentenced to a certain amount of time in prison. Depending on the crime, the judge will sentence that person to a number of days, weeks, months, or even a lifetime. Though, when pertaining to murder, terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempting to kill a witness, the death penalty is often considered. The United States should allow the death penalty because it is potent and ceases crime. The death penalty should be allowed because it deters crime and costs less than life imprisonment. Criminals seem to respond to sanctions such as this one. According to Paul H. Rubin, a professor of Economics at Emory University, “… capital punishment and homicide has created a consensus among most economists who have studied the issue that capital punishment deters crime.” When the public is aware of capital punishment, criminals respond because the fear of arrest, punishment, and/or prosecution is persuasive. Compared to someone who is sentenced to life in prison, the death penalty costs more. For example, in Kansas, cases without the death penalty (life in prison) cost $740,000, while the cases with the death penalty cost nearly $1.26 million. Though there is a significant difference between the two, life in prison cases are …show more content…
While being similar to the persuasion of capital punishment, the death penalty can save lives because murders can be prevented. The New York Times reports that for each inmate put to death by execution, three to eighteen murders are prevented. Though this is quite a large margin, it is yet another murder stopped, and another life saved and unthreatened. Local, state, and federal officials must continue to ensure that the effect of the death penalty supports and defends constitutional protections. This would help guarantee equal protection of the law; every citizen would be allowed the equal privileges, rights, and
Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.
The death penalty is a punishment of execution, administered to someone legally for committing a capital crime. There are many ways in which someone can receive the punishment, such as, lethal injections, hanging, the electric chair, firing squad, beheading, and crucifixion. Some methods are more common than others. Many people have debated whether or not there should be a death penalty for criminals. Some believe that if there is a death penalty, then there will be less murders, rapes and other horrible crimes.
Death Penalty is an effective deterrent to crime “The eyes of a psychopath are a chilling sight. I have looked into the eyes of more than one cold blooded murderer- and wished them dead.” (Landau) The Death Penalty is used in rapists, murderers, and other high crimes. Many people say it works great to keep crime underway. The Death Penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment mostly used against the poor and minorities. “Twelve percent of americans are black. Thirty percent of them are on death row” (Prejean) The death penalty has been used against the poor and minorities for quite some time.
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.
or hundreds of years people have considered capital punishment a deterrence of crime. Seven hundred and five individuals have died since 1976, by means of capital punishment; twenty-two of these executions have already occurred this year (Death Penalty Information Center). Many U.S. citizens who strongly support the death penalty believe that capital punishment remains the best way to protect society from convicted killers. I, however, disagree; I do not feel that execution best punishes criminals for their acts. Instead, in my opinion, the administration of the death penalty should end because it does not deter crime; it risks the death of an innocent person, it costs millions of dollars, it inflicts unreasonable pain; and most importantly it violates moral principles.
A common argument for the death penalty is the idea of “an eye for an eye.” If someone commits murder then they should be killed as a punishment, but how much are we willing to pay for this way of thinking? An eye for an eye comes with a large price tag. According to an article in the California Law Review, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California did a study to see how much California was spending on the death penalty. The ACLU found out that taxpayers spend “$117 million per year seeking execution of the people currently on death row. This number amounts over time to $4 billion more that the state would have spent if these inmates had been sentenced to life without parole” (Colon, 1380). Author Sara Colon also mentions that considering the “current fiscal crisis” in California, “the costs of capital punishment seem prohibited” (Colon, 1380). We could have used those $4 billion dollars on other things like welfare programs, health care, or putting that money into colleges for young people’s education.
Death penalty might sound like the immoral thing to do; however it’s effective. When a criminal is sentence to the death sentence, it spreads fear between criminals who committed a similar crime. It also, decreases the amount of criminals that were thinking about committing that particular crime. In the article, “The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives” Muhlhausen explains to us how death penalty sa...
...ding, deterring crime, and saving tax dollars. The death penalty also ensures equal justice in America and ensures justice to those deceased in homicides. In the future, such issues can be resolved by keeping the death penalty: overcrowding in prisons will be less likely to happen, more criminals would be apprehended because of the plea bargain and crime rates will go down. This changed America by locking up more criminals in prison in these past two millenniums alone then altogether in America before while deterring crime due to convicts facing the chance of execution and being placed on death row. The death penalty also ensures the innocent who have suffered as a victim in a homicide have received their justice. With this being said, the death penalty works as a solution to the overcrowded prisons and overwhelming crime rates in the United States.
The Death Penalty should be discontinued to the families, human rights, and statistics. The families of the victim and the family of the one, who committed the crime, have no closure at all. The death penalty is killing a human for being convicted of a terrible crime one family may think its right but both suffer by their lost ones. “Although true closure is never really possible for the families, studies have shown that the continual process, along with the returning to court for many years, force families to confront the gruesome details of the crime many times over, making it impossible to get on with their lives. As difficult as that is the question is weather the victims needs are met effectively by killing someone else and causing another family grief and pain as well as adding to the cycle of violence.” (Progress) As both families do not want to see each other because they all have pain and hate for one another. They both relive the last memories of their loved one and they can’t help but cry and stare at the pictures they were once happy in. The families both have sadness when its their loved ones birthday. If the victim is married or have kids, their kids suffer and the husband/wife suffer as well. Although the families will never get there loved one back they still suffer on what had happen. Both families blame one another for having to take flowers, to their dead family member or visit their family member in a cemetery because of what happen. None of them is truly happy that they lost a family member. The families miss the person who seemed so happy, and also know that they are in a better place watching over them. Although the families aren’t happy about losing them, but are relieved to know that nothing else can hurt them. As one family feels sorry for the other family, there could be the family that doesn’t care what happens but wants everyone to suffer the way they are suffering about the tragic death of one family member.
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
Why the Death Penalty Should Be Abolished Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished for many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also? People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person's life on their hands.
The death penalty is legal in thirty-two states. I shall argue that capital punishment should be abolished in our country because it is never moral to kill a human being no matter what they have done, because it often costs more money to keep someone on death row than to keep someone in prison for life, because of the men and women who are wrongly accused of a crime they did not commit, and because death is the easy way out.
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.
The death penalty deters murder. The death penalty is the best way to stop a killer from killing someone else. Some say that prison is enough, but it isn’t. Death is necessary because if they are only sent to prison there is always the risk that some day the same killer that brutally killed a 5-year old or raped and strangle a college student might return to the streets.
Capital punishment is the punishment of death for a crime given by the state. It is used for a variety of crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and treason. Many countries also have the death penalty for sexual crimes such as rape, incest and adultery. The lethal injection, the electric chair, hanging and stoning are all methods of execution used throughout the world. Capital punishment has been around since ancient times; it was used in ancient Rome, and one of the most famous people to be crucified was Jesus Christ. Capital punishment is now illegal in many countries, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but it is also legal in many other countries such as China and the USA. There is a large debate on whether or not capital punishment should be illegal all over the world as everyone has a different opinion on it. In this essay, I will state arguments for and against the death penalty, as well as my own opinion: capital punishment should be illegal everywhere.