Please note! This essay has been submitted by a student.
The death penalty has been used for years as a way to punish the guilty. The death penalty used to be an effective way of reducing crime. Over the years the death penalty has cost our Justice system millions. Besides the cost, it violates our Human Rights Bill and punishes innocent people. The death penalty is not effective at reducing crime. Our society is not any safer and does not deter people from breaking the law. There are many different options in our system to fight crime, but the death penalty is not one of them.
– First, the death penalty is supposed to prevent others from killing but it does not. According to the “Death Penalty Information Center the top academic criminological society, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder.” Fear of the death penalty has little effect on people committing murder. A murder it usually starts, as an argument gone bad when the person is angry. The average person does not walk outside and says, “I think I will kill today”. No one makes death penalty their first thought when they leave the house. It never crosses the people mind: if they kill a person, they will get the death penalty. People are still killing and it has not slowed down the number of murder cases in the US. If the death penalty is sending a message, unfortunately no one is listening to the message.
– Second, the death penalty cost more for execution versus life in prison. Our country spends millions to execute prisoners versus leaving them in prison. Our country is having a budget crisis but it seem like we have millions of dollars for the death penalty. According to “Death Penalty Information Center “California spends it cost $232.7 million per year. A prisoner can spend life without parole cost $90,000 a year per inmate.” We spend a huge amount for a system that has little effect on crime.
– Third, the death penalty goes against our Human Right Bill. On December 10, 1948, United Nations adopted the Human Rights Bill. According to Article 5 states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The death penalty is heartless to humans and a cruel punishment. We say do not kill, but we are doing the same thing. A form in which a human life is being taken by execution is merciless. Many prisoners reform while they are in prison. Criminals have committed some unspeakable crimes, but they do not deserve to have their life to end. The US has changed the meaning of Human Rights Bill to justify our system settling of scores against another. In 1986, 48 nations has abolish the death penalty.
– Fourth, the death penalty has executed people who are not guilty. If we continue the Death penalty, not guilty people will die. According to death Penalty Information Center “Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. From 2000-2007, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year”. The problem with the death penalty is that innocent people is killed. The system makes mistakes and do not always have the evidence when convicting people. Many prisoners spend years serving time for a crime they did not do. There is no justice for them or their families. Justice system do not question how many not guilty has died. We can punish them end other ways beside the death penalty.
They argue that the death penalty executes those that are guilty. Capital punishment takes many steps to assure that fewer mistakes is made. In support of their side it is true that criminals get a fair trial in the legal system. Our system assures that lives will be save by execution, just the opposite there little evidence to prove that the death penalty saves lives.
Retribution for a crime means the justice system is going to get even for the crime you committed. Retribution it is a cruel way for our justice system justifying what they are doing. Taking the life of the people who has killed, we are doing the same crime. Killing the criminal is not going to bring back the victim. We justified it by saying it will bring closer to the victims’ families. The victim family heals no faster than they did while the prisoner was in jail. They will grieve the same way in the same amount of time. The system is adding murder on top of murder there is no end to crime. The cycle goes on and does not end and the whole purpose is the stop murder. At some point, the system has to face reality and find another way that works. Criminal’s carry out murder it is the lowest form of crime and the system does the same thing but it gets a fancier name.
Despite the claim that capital punishment can serve as a way to stop criminals. Showing would be criminals the consequences of their actions. There is a law and justice system and you have followed it. The death penalty should make people think before doing a crime but it is just the opposite.
All things consider the justice system is morally wrong when it comes to the death penalty and there are more arguments against the death penalty in modern society. The cost to execute a person is more expensive than life in prison without parole. Knowing that innocent people will be executed is a heartless way of punishment. We should focus more on how to stop and prevent crime.