The death penalty is a good thing at times it gets closure to the victim's families who've suffered a loss while Justice is being served. The United States isn't the only place that that still has the death penalty for certain crimes, other nations do as well. It's very beneficial when it comes to contributing to our issue of overpopulation in the prisons. If there's a lot of overpopulation it can be very difficult when prisoner's get loose to keep them in control as well as the costs of keeping them locked up presents an issue when coming out of tax. The death penalty becomes a tool of fighting with violence against murders who've not yet committed the crime, due to the fear of death or getting caught. So, in turn, the death penalty is helpful in saving lives. Even when there is an act of
While there are far more subjects to discuss regarding to this issue, I feel it necessary to state that I believe the death penalty should exist in a perfect society. I believe that certain crimes and certain situations warrant the punishment of death. However, the our society is not perfect. The justice system has failed to fairly use this punishment in far too many instances, and concludes that they cannot justly wield this
Eliot Spitzer once said, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” Many people in America are in favor of capital punishment because some crimes violate the moral codes of our society. Thus, they harken back to the Code of Hammurabi with the belief of “an eye for an eye”. In this case, they believe that when a person commits a terrible crime that person automatically gives up their right to live and should be put to death. Despite the majority of people believing this others are opposed to the
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. In fact, in 1991 and again in 1997 he stood before the jury and ask them to impose the death penalty.
Let us begin by looking at why the death penalty is morally wrong on many levels according to Stephen B. Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, and a teacher of criminal law. He wrote an essay on this debate called, “Why the United States Will Join the Rest of the World in Abandoning Capital Punishment.” We will also look at the other side of the debate (story), as to why the death penalty is morally legitimate in the views of Louis P. Pojman, whose essay is called, “ Why the Death Penalty is Morally Permissible,” which is just an excerpt from, Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?
Obviously, the death penalty always ends in the loss of life, but these lives are sometimes innocent and sometimes have the potential for rehabilitation. The jury system rarely convicts people wrongly, so it is said. But, it happens often that criminals claim innocence; how many are telling the truth? The number of discovered false executions does not necessarily mean those are the only ones. Supporters may argue it is worth it, but isn't the loss of innocent life what we are all against? Some victims of violent crimes were in the hands of mentally ill or handicapped people. These mentally ill people that kill, do not usually kill out of a lack of moral grounding or "evil". These people typically either do not understand right from wrong or are unable to comprehend the possible outcomes the murder may have on themselves or others around them. Although most mentally ill people do not end up on death row, receiving instead long sentencing or treatment, the number of people who have been executed that were unknowingly mentally ill or had similar faulty thinking, and a potential for rehabilitation cannot be known. Also, capital punishment may normalize or rationalize murder. The death penalty sends a message to citizens; a message that says murder is not outrageous, unless the state is doing it as a sanction. This message helps to justify civilian killings of people believed to be deserving of death and may possibly even cause an uprise in vigilante style murders. This message also leaves an almost open air on what is wrong and provides no consistent moral ground for society to base their beliefs on. This does not mean that people will suddenly think murder is a favorable deed, but it may cause some to not realize how terrible it is. Joseph Summer wrote this in an article titled “Some Adverse Effects of the Death Penalty in History”: “…people learned 3 lessons from the government’s violent example: to use
Passed on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791 by Congress, the eighth amendment has been present in the United States for quite some time. Over time, the amendment has morphed and interpreted differently. In the Constitution it states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. In the 1990s, individuals referenced the eighth amendment when discussing capital punishment or the death penalty. Death sentences were most frequent during the 1900s, resulting in some individuals declaring that it went against the amendment (Source A). Since then, opinions on the death penalty have fluctuated, some claim that is barbarous while others deem it to be necessary. The
In this article, "Death Penalty Receives Another Blow, This Time In Pennsylvania" by Sam Wright from Above The Law, Mr. Wright discusses the controversy over death penalty and the difference between states deciding the standards of it. According to the article, two states, Connecticut and Pennsylvania both assigned a death penalty to two men who committed equally serious crimes. The problem arouses when the two men applied a relief to the courts; Connecticut accepted it and Pennsylvania didn 't. It gets even worse, when people dig deeper and find out the racial discrimination that went on behind the scenes. "African American defendants were sentenced to death at a significantly higher rate than similarly situated members of the racial groups." Continuing, about a third of African Americans who received death penalty in Philadelphia "would have not received the death penalty were they not African American." In response to the public 's outrage, Governor Wolf hastily granted reprieves "from all planned executions." The eighth amendment, which prevents cruel and unusual punishment, gained its popularity over the issue of death penalty. Due to Constitution 's broad spectrum of interpretations, whether
This is because the death penalty is an explicit violation of the 8th amendment in the United States Bill of Rights. The 8th amendment has three clauses: excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment. Capital punishment clearly crosses the line of the last part in the amendment that states “nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This section does not allow the government to harm any citizen of the United States in such a way, which, as the Supreme Court ruled in 1972, includes the death penalty. In 1972, the Supreme Court was faced with the landmark case Furman v. Georgia. This case dealt with an accidental murder, and resulted in the sentencing of William Henry Furman to death. The punishment however, was never carried out because the appeal was brought to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Furman. To end the case the Supreme Court defined cruel and unusual punishment as a degrading, not arbitrary, or unnecessary and unaccepted actions. This “test” to see if some action violates the language of this amendment was used to determine that the death penalty was in fact unconstitutional, and led to a four year de facto moratorium throughout the United
Many Americans debate over the use of the death penalty as a capital punishment. Some argue that it is inhumane to kill somebody or the form in which they use to kill somebody can be botched making it extremely painful. While others will argue that the death penalty is an adequate punishment for those who have committed a serious crime. As Americans we have many liberties and freedoms which protect us from the government and other people being unusually cruel to us when giving someone a penance for a crime they have committed. This freedom is established in the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which says “Excessive bail shall not be required,
Ever since the outset of the American Constitution, capital punishment has existed as a crime sentence in the United States. However, in recent decades, this topic has become highly controversial, as many states have dictated against the death penalty. Although states with this position on capital punishment are increasing, some states, such as Texas, have continued to edict this practice in their provinces. In the State of Texas, the sentence to death upon a person should not be permitted due to the fact it can wrongly convict a person, its court trial is highly expensive, and it brings forth an unjust treatment.
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 president had doubts about the death penalty because in some cases not all the drugs were administered evenly during the lethal injection. For instance, on April 24, 2014 when Clayton Lockett was administered the lethal injection and the sedative were not administered correctly.
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
In American society, there is an ongoing list of political ideologies. These political ideologies range anywhere from the commitment to traditional values (conservatism), to the freedom and openness to change (liberalism). Whether it is authoritarian conservative, anarchism, socialism, progressivism, pluralism, toleration, etc., everyone is entitled to their own views. After doing research on several ideologies, I found myself closely associated with liberalism.