...Death Penalty A very controversial issue that arises within the United States is the topic of the death penalty. The discussion that arises is either about if the death penalty should be allowed at all or in this case if the death penalty is an effective deterrent against the crime of murder. As of May 2012 in the United States thirty three out of the fifty states do have the death penalty, and seventeen currently do not. By regions within the United States the south has the highest executions. With Texas being to highest state to actually execute criminals. People who support the death penalty say that it gives closure to the victim's families, serves justice, and deters the crime of murder. Throughout the past society has always used punishment to deter criminals from committing future crimes. Since it is in the societies best interest to prevent murder it uses the strongest sentence available to deter this crime, the death penalty. When murderers are sentenced to death row and executed, this makes potential murderers think twice before killing someone else because the consequence of receiving the death penalty for this crime is already known. People who do not support the death penalty say that the financial costs to taxpayers of capital punishment is several times that of keeping someone in prison for life, and that it violates the "cruel and unusual" clause in the Bill of Rights. Death Penalty cases also require more money because of the automatic bifurcated trial and...
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...2014 When I look at our justice system and how it works, I cannot help but perceive the death penalty’s main function is retribution. The punishment as a whole is flawed and there will always be a substantial risk of executing an innocent person. This negative aspect cannot be overlooked. Furthermore, the cost of this farce is completely appalling and we should not continue to irresponsibly waste crucial funding of the criminal justice system in this way. Capital punishment is hurting our government more than it is helping. Unless the research proves that it is an effective form of deterrence, we should abolish this form of punishment outright. I do not see how the death penalty would deter anyone from committing a heinous act. This is because someone in the commission of a crime is not thinking about sitting in a court room and being sentenced to death. Many people use the term “eye for an eye” but is this the right way to uphold justice? For the reasons of lack of substantial evidence of capital punishment being an effective deterrent, the wasteful spending of valuable funds, and the potential death of innocent people, I do not support the use of the death penalty. For centuries, governments have tried to utilize the death sentence for deterrence and to keep the crime rate lowered. We must ask ourselves, does executing wrongdoers actually lower the rates of crime punishable by death? In my research, I have come to the conclusion that this is not a successful deterrent...
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...Death Penalty: the easy way out Capital punishment is one of the most controversial issues discussed in the United States. Capital punishment or the death penalty, is used throughout most of the U.S. The debate is over if the death penalty is humane or cruel and unusual. Those against the death penalty believe the death penalty should be removed from the United States all together. There are also some who are against the death penalty because of their religion. Anti-death penalty activist are not only against the death penalty because of the inhumane acts associated with it, but also because of the expenses. I, too, am against the death penalty. With the death penalty part of our country, I believe that we are no better than any other country. The death penalty is wrong and so are the methods used to execute those sentenced to it. There are many reasons to why the death penalty should be abolished from the United States. This year alone, twenty-eight people were executed. Last year forty-three were executed and in 2005, sixty people were executed. The year of 1990 has the most executions at an outstanding number of ninety-eight executions. Since 1976 there have been 1,305 executions. Out of the fifty states, only seventeen are without the death penalty. There are still about 3,170 inmates on death row right now. Throughout the years, the numbers have raised. Those states that are for the death penalty actually have higher crime rates than those who have abolished it. The murder...
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...Death Penalty Capital Punishment also known as the Death Penalty has always been surrounded by controversy. As a result of killing someone said criminal will also be killed in return, some would say an eye for an eye. In the end it boils down to more than a question of morality and ethics. Capital Punishment is not necessary and should be abolished because the government shouldn’t decide who should live and who should die, its more expensive than life in jail, and its not an effective deterrent. Furthermore, Capital punishment is legal in the United States, in fact, legal in 33 states including Florida. Additionally, the death penalty is accepted internationally in 58 countries and use it regularly. China is the number one in the world for the number of executions done per year. The exact number is not none due to it being a ‘state secret’ but is said to be in the thousands. Not far behind is the United States which ranks number 5 on the list with 43 executions in 2011. The death penalty is universally reserved for heinous crimes that are considered completely devoid of morals and socially accepted standards. Crimes like murder after substantial planning in Florida and premeditation and treason in Arkansa. As well as rape of a minor, murder of a minor, murder of a senior knowingly, to avoid arrest and so on. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) However, due to an evolving dilemma and expansion of human rights and the enforcement of the right to live, many countries have abolished...
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...typically used for capital offenses which are offenses that are punishable by death. (Schmalleger, 2011) Capital punishment has become one of the most talked about topics, some people argue that the death penalty is an effective deterrent of crime while others argue that the death penalty is not consistently applied and claims the life of many innocent people. There is no question on whether or not the people who commit heinous crimes should be punished to the fullest extent of the law because they should. However, I for one am against the death penalty and feel that it should be abolished. Prior to this assignment I thought that maybe I was for capital punishment but when I actually sat down and thought about whether or not this was an effective deterrent of crime the answer on where I stood was clearer. Capital punishment would only be affective if it was consistently applied to crime. Although 38 states still have the death penalty there is still a consistent amount of crime in each state. If the death penalty was adequately applied I believe that the crime rate would probably go down because criminals would then understand the severity of the crimes they commit and the consequence for that crime. However, this is not the only reason I feel that the death penalty should be abolished. According to Schmalleger the Death Penalty of Innocent People reported that 138 people in 25 states were freed from death row between 1973 and 2009. The text states that it was determined that...
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...Topic 5: The Death Penalty being reinstated: Ray Krone was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. After serving more than 10 years in Arizona prisons, including 32 months on death row, he was successfully vindicated in 2002. His innocence was finally established after DNA tests proved another man had committed the murder of a female bartender. If he were not proved innocent then he would have been killed because of the death penalty. His whole life would have been taken away from him because of a mistake that was made by the police. These mistakes could happen on a daily basis and innocent people around the world could actually have their lives taken from them because of the death penalty. The death penalty isn’t an effective way to prevent or reduce crime, it costs a whole lot more money than life in prison, and worst of all, risks executions of innocent people as I have mentioned. The death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process. The point is to avoid executing innocent people, but have not been successful in doing so. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, never mind sentenced to death. If it happens that an innocent person is executed then families will most likely sew large amounts of money for the killing of their innocent loved one who’s life was taken away, which will lead to more time spent in court. The...
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...Proposition: The Death Penalty is unjustified. Introduction The most sacred principle in the American criminal justice system is that a defendant is innocent until they are proven guilty. If this is truly the most scared principle of the criminal justice system, then why have innocent people been released after being sentenced and serving time on death row? Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, how many times has innocence been proven after execution has already been done? Many people believe that capital punishment is an effective way of preserving law and order by deterring people from committing crimes. However, this is not always the case. There are three main reasons why I believe the death penalty is unjustified. They...
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...arguments for both sides of the issue. Most people who believe that the death penalty is a fair punishment use the argument, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, an arm for an arm, a life for a life." Otherwise known as Hamarabi’s Code. While most people who are in opposition use the argument that capital punishment is a cruel and unusual punishment which violates the eighth amendment to the United States Constitution. In the times surrounding the origins of capital punishment, it was used for a wide variety of crimes. Capital punishment can also be found in the Bible. The Bible prescribed the death penalty for crimes such as murder, kidnapping and witchcraft. By 1500 AD, in England, only major felonies carried the death penalty: treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. (Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia, 1989) The United States inherited capital punishment from European settlers in the seventeenth century. They promoted the idea that heinous crimes deserved severe punishment. And this is what brought capital punishment to its present standing. In the United States justice system a proportionate punishment is achieved, in the case of a person who committed a crime, when the death penalty is enforced. By 1800 Parliament had enacted many new capital offenses, and hundreds of persons were being sentenced to death each year. Today, in the United States, there are approximately 3,624 people on death row, and all of them are awaiting their much anticipated execution. Throughout...
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...Is the Death Penalty a Fair and Effective Deterrent in the United States? Abstract The death penalty is the most severe punishment that may be imposed on an individual by the United States government. It denies a person one of their most basic human rights, which is the right to live. One of the purposes of the death penalty is to serve as a deterrent for other would-be criminals. There have been studies conducted to determine if the death penalty is effective in this regard. There is another point of disparity surrounding the death penalty related to the equality of its application. Are all citizens treated equal? This paper takes a closer look at the equality in the application of the death penalty and its effectiveness as a deterrent. Is the Death Penalty a Fair and Effective Deterrent in the United States? The death penalty came to the United States with the first European settlers and continued until the 1960’s. “The 1960s brought challenges to the fundamental legality of the death penalty. Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.” (Bohm, 1999) Since the 1960’s courts have been battling the issue of the death penalty. Currently there are 38 states that have provisions for the death penalty. What is the purpose of the death...
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...Justin Jernigan 12/6/2013 Documented Argument Essay The debate on whether or whether not the death penalty is effective or even constitutional has been going on since the beginning of it. A lot of people believe “eye for an eye” and others believe that it dance on a thin line of human rights, serves no real purpose, and is a waste of money. Since the start of the death penalty, people thought that it was put in place to make an example out of people, scare people from committing crimes, and eventually stop it but studies show that the death penalty is only wasting tax payer’s money because it has neither stopped nor slowed crime. The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment and doesn’t do anything to right the wrong of the convicted nor bring back or give the victim peace. Also what about the innocent people that were convicted and sentenced to death, you can’t make it right. So how can the death penalty be effective and constitutional if crime rates are still high, an innocent person can be killed, and when tax payers have to come out of pocket to kill a human being? It can’t and it isn’t constitutional. People that support the death penalty say that it is designed for future criminals who are thinking about committing harsh despicable crimes most likely murders, rape, etc. I can’t agree with this because criminals do not think about what they’re doing when they do it most of the time or even might not care what the consequences are. There is research that will prove...
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...by the justice system and emphasis be placed on looking for a new way to deter crime? This is more than just a crime deterrent issue because it involves taking a life to save a life. This is an ethical issue of whether capital punishment is the best way to solve the problem, and this has been argued by millions of people all over the world for decades and it is still a highly debated topic to this day. Capital Punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the practice of sentencing a person to execution as punishment for a capital crime after a proper legal trail. It is typically only used as a form of punishment for people who commit serious types of murder. It may not be known, because many countries never actually use it, but there are 58 countries that currently have a form of the death penalty (Unknown, 2010). Capital punishment is a topic that many people offer their opinion on, not only people from academia, but also doctors, bus drivers, salespeople, accountants, politicians, and barbers. There is a huge interest in the death penalty globally, but that doesn’t mean there is a consensus that has been reached on the topic. There are basically three different points of views on the use of capital...
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...The death penalty was established on January 17th, 1977. There are currently 32 states in the United States in which the death penalty is legal and 18 where it is not. The death penalty is often referred to as capital punishment as well because it can only be used as a conviction to capital offenses that are seen as extreme cases. Examples of this include espionage, treason, death resulting from aircraft hijacking, and various forms of murder; such as murder committed during drug-related drive by shootings, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and genocide. Death penalty was seen as a constitutional punishment in the case Furman v. Georgia that took place in 1972. In this case a man named Troy Gregg had been found guilty of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to death. He then asked the court to go further into the case and rule the death penalty itself unconstitutional. The case then got carried to the supreme court in which they ruled that the death penalty does not violate any part of the constitution, including the 8th amendment. The eighth amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment under the constitution. In the Furman v. Georgia case it stated that the death penalty does not violate the constitution because under the eighth amendment it shapes how certain procedural aspects regarding when a jury may use the death penalty and how it must be carried out. In modern days the death penalty is carried out by lethal injection unless the inmates choose an alternative...
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...Death Penalty Debate Why is the death penalty still allowed throughout much of the U.S.? The process of prosecuting and convicting an individual is astronomical, and there is great debate as to whether the death penalty actually works as a deterrent. Retribution and biasness have contributed too many that have received this sentence, considering all this, life imprisonment is best for all, realistically, and most effective. The advantages of life imprisonment far more outweigh the death sentence Death Penalty America has always had a history of using the death penalty, but no subject has received greater debate. There are many reasons why the death penalty should not be used in America, first there is not data that shows that the death penalty acts as deterrence, second the costs of imposing the death penalty is astronomical, third, many see the death penalty as a form of retribution, and finally, the extensive appeals through the court. Although, it has since been reversed, Furman v. Georgia has shown that there are many cases in which there is a question as to how the death penalty is imposed, and can be considered Cruel and Unusual. (NAKELL, 1978) Many believe that the death penalty is a deterrence, however many studies on deterrence and the death penalty do not support this idea, in fact the murder rates in states that do not have the death penalty is consistently lower than in the states with the death penalty. Studies have also shown that of the 16,503 homicides...
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...Is The Death Penalty Justified? Narisha T. Carr-Smalls PHI200: Mind and Machine Instructor: Elliott Crozat July 4, 2012 Is The Death Penalty Justified? How would we define Capital punishment? It is the death penalty. “Capital punishment is the execution of a person by the state as punishment for a crime. The word ‘capital’ comes from the Latin word ‘capitalis,’ which means ‘regarding the head.’ At one point and time capital crimes where punished by severing the head. Crimes that can result in the death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. Capital punishment has been used in societies throughout history as a way to punish crime and suppress political dissent. In most places that practice capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy (the formal renunciation of the State religion). In many retentions countries (Countries that use the death penalty), drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are also punished by the death penalty (Debatepedia, 2011).” Capital punishment was used throughout history and still used today for a variety of offenses. The death penalty was even utilized biblically for crimes such as murder, kidnapping, and even witchcraft...
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...Neese My personal opinion on the death penalty is that it is wrong and too many mistakes have been made. In this paper reasons for a change from its history to its irrelevance will be examined. First as a Christian I cannot agree with the killing of another human being no matter the consequences. Executing a person kills him before the time of their natural death. Some Christians believe that God places people on Earth for a purpose. If we kill them prematurely, then we may be thwarting God's will. Human life has intrinsic value, even if a person has murdered another individual. The death penalty denies the sacredness of human life. Live is so precious that nobody should ever be killed, even by the state. Second as America has evolved so has the way in which society wants to deal with capital punishment. The death penalty has not been shown to be effective in the reduction of the homicide rate. There are some indications that executions actually increase the murder rate. According to Amnesty International more than half the countries in the world have now abolished the Death Penalty in law or in practice (Gill K, 2011). The death penalty puts innocent lives at stake. It is widely recognized that our justice system is not perfect. There are times when people are wrongly accused of crimes or they are not granted fair trials. There is still corruption in our justice system, and bias and discrimination occur. The history of the death penalty like all other aspects of the criminal...
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