The Death Penalty is different from all other forms of punishments in that it cannot be reversed and therefore should be abolished. Murderers are not discouraged from committing crimes even with the death penalty as a punishment. The high costs of the death penalty are also another good reason to get it out of government’s system. The death penalty goes against some of The American Constitution’s laws. The Death Penalty is unfair and unjust and should be abolished from America.
The Death Penalty does not frighten people from committing crimes any more effective than imprisonment does. For the death penalty to work the offender must see it as a threat. Most people who commit murders do so mostly in the heat of passion, under the influence of drugs or alcohol and are thinking very little about the consequences. Those who actually plan the murder also plan away of not getting caught so they do not have to go through the punishment. Some people commit murders so they have an easy way out and not have to commit suicide. Others see it as a way to gain a bad name, for those the consequence is an attraction. This explains why capital punishment encourages homicides and why some killers have asked to die. The Death Penalty may have an opposite effect of what is intended, after a man in Florida was executed, homicides seemed to rise. In New York a study was done that suggests that an execution will cause two or three extra homicides in the following months within that state or even the country.
The Essay on The Death Penalty Capital Punishment
... I feel that the death penalty does not deter people from committing capital crimes. Using the death penalty as a source of punishment can result in ... over the death penalty does not deter potential murders. It will only cause more chaos in our society as innocent people are being ... opinion, which in the U. S. currently supports the death penalty for murder by a more than two-to- one margin, rests ...
Instead of preventing violence, capital punishment is having a “brutalizing effect”, increasing the level of violence in society. Thus it is rising not lowering the murder rates. The states that have the death penalty do not have lower crime or murder rates than the states that do not have the death penalty. The thirty-eight states with the death penalty wrongly convince society that the government has taken effective measures to prevent crime and homicide. In reality these laws do absolutely nothing to protect people from dangerous criminals. The death penalty is not anymore effective than imprisonment at discouraging other people from committing crimes. By killing a murderer, we encourage, allow or legitimize unauthorized killings.
The death penalty is thought to be a cost effective punishment that is cheaper than lengthened imprisonment yet it is completely untrue. The studies show that a criminal justice system with the death penalty is more expensive than one that does not have the penalty. The high costs are due to the trial process in the death penalty cases being longer and more complicated because of the precautions taken to minimize errors and inconsistencies (NAACP, Pg. 3).
The appeals process is also a lot more costly. After spending huge sums of money on trials, appeals and death row, many criminals do not actually receive the punishment. Thus adding the costs of long-term imprisonment to those of the death penalty trial and appeal.
Executions are surprisingly expensive; a New York study estimated the costs for trial, appeal, housing on death row and the execution itself run to more than $2,000,000 per person. This exceeds the $300,000 $750,000 that it costs to maintain a prisoner for thirty years. In Texas the a death penalty case costs an average of 2.3 million dollars, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for forty years. Florida spends about 3.2 million dollars on each death row inmate compared to about $535,000 for an average of forty years for each prisoner sentenced to life (Death Penalty Information, Pg. 2).
The Essay on Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment
Death Penalty and The Eighth Amendment The expression "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" has taken on a whole new meaning. Lately, murderers have been getting a punishment equal to their crime, death. In 1967, executions in the United States were temporarily suspended to give the federal appellate courts time to decide whether or not the death penalty was unconstitutional. Then, in 1972, the ...
The Death Penalty is unconstitutional according to the United States eighth amendment and carrying out the punishment violates the fourteenth amendment. The eighth amendment states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” As well, the fourteenth amendment states in section one “All persons born or neutralized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privilege or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In sum of the eighth and fourteenth amendments, the fourteenth states “equal protection of the laws and due processes.” This points to the existence of certain basic standards of honor and fairness from which no state can be exempt. The eighth restricts “cruel and unusual punishment”; the death penalty defies this with uses of hanging, electrocution, gas chambers, firing squads and lethal injection (ACLU).
The death penalty does not lessen crime, it cost a very large amount of money to government and it contradicts amendments written in the American Constitution, therefore it should be abolished. The death penalty is a savage piece of uncivilized society. It is unfair and discriminatory in practice and immoral in principle. It has no effect on preventing crimes and thus it serves no purpose. The death penalty needs to be abolished from the thirty-eight states that have it.
Works Citied
·ACLU Capital Punishment Project Activities and Status Report, 1996.
The Essay on Death Penalty Execution Punishment Protocol
In the United States Constitution, the 8 th Amendment prohibits the use and practices of cruel and unusual punishment. What exactly is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment This question is a hot topic among America's many different current controversies. Many people are saying that the use of capital punishment (to be sentenced to death as a penalty in the eyes of the law [a capital crime ...
·Death Penalty Information Center, 1320 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036, www.essential.org/dpic/.
·NAACP/ldef, 99 Hudson Street, NY, NY 10013-2897.
