Did you know the 140 people have been released from death row and some were nearly minutes away from execution? In the past few years it has come to light that four men have been wrongfully executed. This statistic is just too high when we are talking a matter of life and death. The death penalty can be considered a lethal lottery in today’s society that really comes down to the amount of money someone can pay lawyer to keep them off of death row. Many of the current death row inmates were represented by lawyers appointed by the state due to a lack of money to buy their own lawyer (Woodford, 2009). The death penalty is unjust because the cost is very expensive, many inadequate legal representations, it prolongs the families’ suffering, and the chance of wrongful executions. It seems that it would be less expensive to execute someone, rather than leaving them in prison for life. The thought couldn’t be any more wrong and it cost millions more to execute someone rather than life in prison. Due to our constitution, it requires a long complex judicial process for capital cases. The process must be so complex to eliminate any risk of killing an innocent person who did not commit a crime. Even with that process, you can never be 100% sure you’re executing the correct person unless they have admitted to it. If we were to replace the death penalty sentences with Life without Parole, it would save millions that could be used to better communities which these crimes happen. The millions of dollars saved could go to different programs such as education, public safety, after- school activities, and services for crime victims. If we would put the money we could save from eliminating the death penalty toward these programs, it could possibly help reduce crime and save even more money. In the state of California, they could have saved $1 billion over the past five years by using permanent imprisonment and not the death penalty. California taxpayers also pay $90,000 more a year on each death row inmate versus a regular prisoner. The state has also spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978. That number is expected to reach a shocking $9 billion by the year 2030 (Woodford, 2009). With statistics like this for only one state, it would be shocking to think that the cost of death penalty is really benefiting the U.S. In the state Indiana, a small rural county if faced with the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a death penalty trial. The accused killer, Nicholas Harbison, could cost the county around $500,000 which can be an extremely high expenditure for a small county. Some counties can be reimbursed for up to fifty percent, but they must comply with state standards for the case. There were some cases similar to this one in small counties in Texas, which bankrupted those small counties’ governments. Due to issues like in these small counties, many cases don’t seek out the death penalty just to avoid the cost risk (Nesbitt, 2006). If we our bankrupting small governments just to put someone on death row, then we really need to reevaluate our thought process on the death penalty. One of the biggest factors when determining if someone will receive the death penalty is the quality in which the representation they are provided. In most capital cases the person cannot afford their own attorneys, so they are appointed an attorney by the state. It has been provided that many of the appointed attorneys are underpaid, overworked, or lacking experience with death penalty cases. The attorney’s that are appointed for these cases are not of the quality that someone who can pay large amounts for an attorney. An examination by the Dallas Morning News found that in a study of 461 capital cases, one in four condemned inmates have been represented in court by a court appointed attorneys who have been disciplined for professional misconduct at some point in their careers. Another
Death Penalty By Susan Doe April 15, 2013 Is the Death Penalty Just and Applied Fairly? The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the punishment of execution, administered to someone convicted of a capital crime; it is the most severe form of corporal punishment. The death penalty in the United States has been an ongoing debate throughout history. Capital punishment has been banned in many countries, except in the United States; there are thirty-three states that currently…
What are the latest developments concerning the death penalty? In June 2008, the Supreme Court held that it was cruel and unusual punishment to use the death penalty against individuals convicted of raping a minor. In April 2008, the Supreme Court has held that lethal-injection procedures in Kentucky do not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The action opens the way for an end to a de facto national moratorium on lethal injection executions that has…
Is the Death Penalty Just and Applied Fairly? I. What is the death penalty? a. Capital Punishment b. Fifth Amendment II. History a. Babylonia B.C. b. First execution in the colonies c. First woman to be executed III. Pros a. Eye for an eye b. Closure c. Getting rid of evil d. Deter crime IV. Cons a. Discriminatory b. Risk of executing the innocent V. Statistics a. By year b. By state VI. Alternatives to the Death Penalty a. Life Sentence VII. Death Penalty here to stay…
07/29/2013 The Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty in America The ’Death Penalty’ is a problem of much concern; many countries favor the ‘Death Penalty’ and apply that, while many other object strongly to this punishment. My opinion is that the death penalty should be banned as a form of punishment. What is Capital punishment? Capital punishment is the death penalty. It is used today and was used in ancient times to punish a variety of offences. The death penalty has no place in a civilized society…
Capital punishment is a prudent issue that creates a spectacle among those for and against the death penalty. From those that have lost loved ones from homicides to those that have committed murder and are then “lawfully”, according to the judicial systems, put to death. Although those for and against the death penalty may agree that there is a lawful and unlawful treatment of people, there is discern on who has the right to make the decision on who lives and who dies. Does man have the right to…
Death Penalty Lots of crimes happen throughout society but murder is the most harmful, not only to the victim but also to the victim’s family. The death penalty will bring justice to the victim and their family. Uma Kukaths said, “Death penalty supporters claimed that not only is the state justified in permanently removing a murderer from society, it is obliged to do so to protect its law-abiding citizens from harm”. The victim’s family would be happy to know that the murderer is gone and justice…
the capital punishment. Capital punishment is a life or death situation. It is the execution of people who have been found guilty of certain offenses. Many people in today’s society believe that a death crime is so severe that they deserve a punishment equal to their crime. In some people’s mind they believe in killing the killer, but how does that show us that killing is morally okay? There are numerous proven reasons why the death penalty should be abolished. The best reasons are to not violate…
The topic about whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been a very controversial one for years. Dating back to the first English colonies in the 1600’s, the death penalty, or capital punishment as it is formally referred to, is a part of American history that never began to be questioned until the American Revolution in 1776. To this day, many people have mixed opinions on the matter. Some people strongly believe that the death penalty should be instituted, while others strongly…
This is a dossier on the effectiveness and the racially implicated sanctions for the application of the Death Penalty. This paper is a general indictment of the entire criminal justice system, and the faults that exist within. This is not an attempt to sway your opinion, but instead to raise the awareness of those of us who hold the creed of this Great Nation dear and the potential that it holds. I think that in the terms of greatness there is a clause that as a people and a nation, we continue…
Death Penalty Life and death; the two things that all birthed beings are guaranteed. Two concepts that are understood to be normal and unavoidable. Our mortality, though deeply mysterious and uncontrollable, is something that we have come to accept on a basic level. We all know that to live, means to die. That once we are born into life, our fate has been inevitably sealed to a single future. That though the means and the details may vary according to the individual, we will all certainly die.…