The United States is one of very few western nations that still has a death penalty. In life people are taught that violence is not the answer and that murder is a sin. The death penalty goes against everything that people are taught in life. The wrong way to approach a situation is to inflict what someone is accused of upon them. Also the risk of executing an innocent person cannot be completely eliminated. While many people think the death penalty is fair, it is wrong because taking a life for a life is poor judgment, it is a racist punishment, and thinking it is cost effective is not true.
First of all, no one, including a judge, is perfect. What if an innocent person gets capital punishment? Samuel Gross, a law professor at the University of Michigan law school who is the lead author of the research on the death penalty showed that about 4.1 percent of criminal defendants who are sentenced to death are falsely convicted. If the so called criminal was put in jail there would still be a chance to let him out, but an executed death penalty cannot be repaired. According to J.R.R. Tolkien 1954, author of The Fellowship of the Ring: “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.” This suggests that we should abolish the death penalty.
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Studies have shown that race plays a big role in who receives the death penalty. According to a study by David C. Baldus, black defendants were 1.7 times more likely to receive the Death penalty than the white defendants. "We cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment." (Feingold, 2003) Explain the
My proposal and personal recommendation is to abolish the death penalty on a national level. I do not think that it benefits society as much as it harms individuals and causes unnecessarily excessive judicial costs. However, I still believe that the death penalty should remain in effect for some extraneous situations. The federal government should still be able to preform executions when it deems them necessary. Yet I believe that traditional murder sentencing’s should be free of
“‘Death sentences represent less than one-tenth of 1% of prison sentences in the United States…,’” (Von Drehle, 9). Furthermore, death row is just a small fraction of the criminal justice system and can not be based on that alone. For instance, what many don't take into account is the justice systems allows for many states, such as the populous state of New York, to ban the death penalty. (state laws, p1)
This is one example why there should be great cause for concern with the ethics of the death penalty. For instance, “For every 9 who have been executed in the U.S. one person on death row has been proven innocent and released, a shocking rate of error.” (Just Mercy, 2019), The fact that there are several points at which there can be errors or biases within our criminal justice system, the death penalty as a punishment needs to be re-evaluated. I personally believe that even one innocent person executed is too many and therefore makes the death penalty a failure to the criminal justice
The death penalty is not fair because it is unconstitutional. The death penalty is in direct violation the 8th amendment as it states, “ Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted” ( The 8th amendment ). This is important because in the 8th amendment is says no cruel or unusual punishment but the death penalty is both of those things, making it hard for the death penalty to be seen as a good thing. The death penalty also violates the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment states that every citizen has equal protection of the law.
By completely abolishing the death sentence in the 27 states that still practice it, discrimination can be addressed when deciding whether someone should live. Even when there is no intention or formal sanction, bias can result in harsher punishment for minorities, and it can be challenging to
The Death of Capital Punishment Should we put capital punishment to death? Capital punishment has been used as far back as the eighteenth-century B.C. The death penalty has spread from Great Britain to the States during the American Revolution, where it has brought a whole slew of problems and despair across the country. Capital punishment may seem to be the solution to heinous criminals, but it should be abolished due to the extensive costs, the fact that it is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, and the tremendous emotional stress on everyone involved.
Many people think that abolishing death penalty would decrease in crime rate. But as study shown it is not true statement. In 1976 when death penalty was abolished in Canada murder rate had drop 27 percent. Using death penalty won’t fix anything, were should not be the one to end a life of someone else life is gifted. In my opinion death penalty is another type of murder.
The Penalty “Since 2007, a total of six states have decided to abolish the death penalty”( “50 Facts”). There is proof that the Death Penalty violates the 8th amendment as it is cruel and unusual punishment. This happens to be the reason why 6 states have abolished the Death Penalty, and why the rest of America should too. The Death penalty needs to be abolished. It is unethical, cruel, and unnecessary.
Rough Draft Is the death penalty an effective and justified punishment? This is a topic many Americans have discussed for a long time, and has caused much controversy. Both sides have their pros and cons, and they will be discussed. The first point that many people have about capital punishment is that it’s unconstitutional.
In conclusion the idea that the death penalty should be abolished can be supported by many reasons that include extensive evidence. With the death penalty still established we are putting innocent people's lives at risk, spending millions, and continue with racial segregation. The idea that someone's opinion in court can decide the fate of another person is
It is sad that in today’s society something like murder occurs as frequently as it does. The death penalty is here to help instill fear in anyone who is contemplating murder. It helps ensure that they will never get away with something as awful as murder or even worse mass murder. Morals should not be questioned if these individuals themselves lack their own morals. The harsh truth is that the death penalty is a necessary evil that must be kept in place in today’s society.
This ungodly sentence should not be allowed in the U.S.A, because almost half of are states already don’t allow it. Which should tell you that it is a wrongful punishment just because they made a mistake that they will regret their whole entire lives. Another thing is some people who have been put on death row have been executed and then looked closer at the case and found out that they had been accused for something they didn’t even do. And recently in the state of Nebraska they have found with the advancements in DNA testing that 17 prisons who were wrongly convicted on death row were set free.
The Death Penalty, loss of life due to previous crimes and actions, is believed by some to be extremely costly, inhumane, and cruel unlike some others whom believe it is just, right, and provides closure. The Death Penalty is not a quick and easy process. Most who get sentenced to deaths row wait years for their ultimate punishment of death. Some believe that it is not right to punish and kill a human for actions they have done because, they believe that the inmate should have another chance. Then others believe that it is right to punish someone for their actions especially if their actions involve killing another or multiple humans.
The major reason why the death penalty should be abolished is that the cost of the death penalty is too much and the USA is in debt to many other countries. What this means is that the death penalty should be abolished and also the cost death penalty is more than the cost of maximum sentence life in prison. According to J. Marceau and H. Whitson, “The Cost of Colorado’s Death penalty,” 3 Univ. of Denver Criminal Law Review “A new study of the cost of the death penalty in Colorado revealed that capital proceedings require six times more days in court and
Valley Rivers Middle School 84 Pleasant Street October 30, 2014 Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. U.S. Supreme Court 1 First Street NE Washington, DC 20548 Chief Justice Roberts, Over half of the 50 states still use the death penalty. I am an 8th grader at Valley Rivers Middle School in northern Maine, and there should be a federal law that bans the use of the death penalty. The death penalty needs to no longer be allowed in the United States of America because many people on death row are innocent, it does not discourage violence, and it supports social injustices. A study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that about 1 in 25 people confined with the death penalty is most likely innocent.