It is 2002 when Richard Masterson is convicted of murder and in the turning of 2016, he is executed. However, there has been an influx of proceedings that make this decision uncertain. The judge for the case failed to mention to the ignorant jury that Richardson had the option of a sentence lighter than capital punishment. The medical examiner for the autopsy of the victim was unsuited and had misdiagnosed the cause of death. Third, Masterson’s attorneys claimed that he had exhibited suicidal behaviour, an explanation why he eagerly confessed to the crime. With this, it leaves innocence to be questioned. What is certain his life has already been lost.
Capital punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, is a hotly debated topic on whether or not if it is truly right for the justice system to take a person’s life. We as a society are morally obligated to choose whether or not to end a life in states of relevant peace and choices. Since 1976, it’s reinstatement, 1,392 American citizens (statisticbrain.com) have died because of it. The South being the main culprit of that statistic, making up 82%. Yes, it is a system that has been ingrained into the history of mankind, but American citizens have the luxury to know they are safe once a felon is convicted. If that is the main stem of the opposing argument, then it should be deemed unnecessary that we as a country still have the barbarism to kill another person for
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The reason why America has brought back the death penalty is more because, “After the death penalty was abolished, murder rates nearly tripled, rising to an all-time high in the 1980s.” (http://ic.galegroup.com). The areas where the murders were most concentrated were in minority neighborhoods too. Yes, poverty and crime may have gotten better since then. But why should the country repeat history and increase the risk of
By saying the individual on trial shall not live because they murdered another, this reflects back on the decision makers. It deems those making the decisions hypocrites. The court members are choosing whether one lives or dies, and if they choose the death option they are performing the exact crime the individual could be on trial for. Murder. The court’s final
Joshua Marquis is neither a scholar, a jurist, or a crusader for the wrongly accused. Instead he has spent most of his time as a prosecutor. His essay is written from a personal point of view where he supports the death penalty; however, his essay is unlike the average supporter. Joshua Marquis believes capital punishment should be decided based on the following: each case on its own, within its own context, using the specific facts of the case, considering the community where the crime occurred and the background of the defendants. With that being said, Marquis believes that for certain cases the death penalty is appropriate.
The issue involved in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Roper v. Simmons (2005) affects the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution (Roper v. Simmons, 2015). The visited factors included whether it is permissible under both Amendments to execute an individual for the commission of a capital offense committed while the offender was under the age of 18 (Roper v. Simmons, 2015). In Roper v. Simmons (2005), 17-year-old, Christopher Simmons, committed capital murder and after he turned 18, he was sentenced to death. Case Facts: At the young age of 17 years, Christopher Simmons planned and later committed a capital murder (Roper v. Simmons, 2015).
However, their hanging is definable as murder due to the premeditation of those responsible for their deaths. In regards to the crimes committed and the fact that the victims were well-loved community members, the jury felt as though these criminals’ actions merited their execution. However, if one strips the cloak of law from these citizens, the reasoning behind these hangings is incited by malice and a belief in the necessity of the deaths of these men. Consequently, in a court of law, no intentional killing is justifiable; a murder is a murder, regardless of circumstances. Nonetheless, a juror states during the voir dire examination, “Ordinarily I’m against [capital punishment].
Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 – February 17, 2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed by lethal injection for the murder of his three young children by arson in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Although Willingham fought for his innocence for 12 years on death row, he was executed in Texas in 2004. The arson investigation has come into question many times, most recently in 2009, and new evidence and science have proven Willingham’s innocent, unfortunately too late for Willingham’s life to be saved. Capital punishment is a harsh criminal justice system, and without a complete fool-proof justice system, the risk of putting the innocent people to death through capital punishment cannot be ruled out.
Capital punishment has long been a heavily debated issue. In his article, “The Rescue Defence of Capital Punishment,” author Steve Aspenson make a moral argument in favor of capital punishment on the grounds that that is the only way to bring about justice and “rescue” murder victims. Aspenson argues as follows: 1. We have a general, prima facie duty to rescue victims from increasing harm. 2.
Georgie Milton did something not many people have the guts to do, he took the life of his best friend to save him from the torture that awaited him, but, he took the life of another man and he took this life with the intention of murder. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there is no difference between euthanasia and murder; and to this indictment, George Milton has pleaded not guilty. If I am to prove him otherwise, you must find him so. Lennie Small has been described to us as a caring giant. He had no bad intentions; and it is fair to say that our witnesses have provided us with sufficient evidence to support my argument.
Throughout time the death penalty has not been administered equally, and the Innocence Project has been receiving a lot of attention for allowing information such as this to be surfaced. The Innocence Project has been created to help exonerate those that are seeking death row. The Innocence Project has created a statistic from their own findings as a result will be used to show what really happens behind the scene of death row through a lenses that most people would not hear. The Innocence Project receives about 8000+letters each year from .prisoners seeking help with their case. Race plays a big factor in the decision process during trials.
Although the death penalty in Texas costs about three times more than life in prison without parole, it is reserved as the punishment of robbing another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety (Deathpenaltyinfo). It is a valid question to wonder why we should spare the life of one, opting to provide for all of their basics needs when they without question robbed another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety through murder or another cruel action. The case of Andre Thomas raised questions of whether or not the mentally incompetent should be eligible for the death penalty. Thomas murdered two children and the wife he was separated from, maintaining that the act was dictated by God. Statements by Thomas conveyed that he knew that what he had done was wrong after he had after committing the crime.
The newsman states that he never killed four people in cold blood, to which the prosecutor replies that “hanging the bastard” is “pretty goddamn cold-blooded too” (Capote 306). In this statement, the prosecutor expresses his belief that it is not morally correct to hang a murderer who has had such a traumatic past without testing for any sign of mental illness or
In his essay, "The Death Penalty," David Bruck hypothesizes that the American people will eventually find that the death penalty is not the best way to punish a convicted murderer. Bruck develops this hypothesis by countering all pro-death penalty arguments with previous cases and specific statistics that apply to the argument. David Bruck's purpose is to persuade the readers to think for themselves on the topic and use what they know as a basis. Bruck uses an educated tone to establish credibility with the reader. He takes apart the views of the local mayor in an attempt to prove anyone wrong who might disagree.
The judge declares the “Murder in the first degree—premeditated homicide—is the most serious charge tried in our criminal courts. One man is dead. The life of another is at stake. If there is a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused … then you must declare him not guilty. If, however, there is no reasonable doubt, then he must be found guilty.
Why death penalty must end ‘’An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,’’ said Mahatma Gandhi. The execution of someone who has possibly done a crime is an inhuman act. Death penalty is hypocritical and flawed. If killing is wrong, why do we kill when a criminal has done the crime of killing someone? In this essay, I will write why death penalty should end by writing about the violation of human rights, execution of innocent people, the fact that it does not deter crime and money.
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
Deterrence For- Society has always used punishment to deter people from committing crime. With homicide being considered one of the worst and unnatural crimes wouldn’t you use the worst punishment available to punish the person who committed the crime? If murderers are put to death then maybe potential murderers will think twice before killing in the fear that they may lose their own lives. Naci Cohan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver was a co-author on a published a study in 2003 and re-examined in 2006 that shows evidence that the death penalty does in fact deter homicide. More specifically that data showed that for every execution five homicides were prevented.