Capital punishment, or more commonly known as the death penalty, is legal in the majority of states in the U.S. The exact number of states that have legalized capital punishment, is twenty-seven states, but Iowa isn’t one of them. This brings up the question, should the United States. keep capital punishment, or abolish it? The question is not just based on ethics, it is also a question about the process. You see, there are problems with the process to reach only one end goal, ending a life.
First of all, a big problem with capital punishment is that it takes way too long to even kill the prisoner on death row. On average, an inmate on death row will stay on death row for about 19 years, but they can even stay on death row for well after 40 years. During this time that a murderer stays on death row, the victim’s family will probably have already mourned and moved on, and many have probably passed away too. You could even raise a family in that time, and the kids and grandparents, if any, wouldn't have even known the person who had died. It’s just too little too late. It not only takes too long, it’s way too expensive. A study at Susquehanna University showed that on average, death row inmates cost about 1.12 million dollars more than the average inmate. This cost equates to heightening taxes for the general public to kill someone.
Is the risk of killing an innocent by keeping the death penalty even worth it? Because of human error in judgment, it is almost certain that some may be wrongly convicted and be sentenced to death. According to the research of Bruce Levin of Columbia University, he showed how errors in death penalty cases are magnitudes higher than in any other case. The study showed that around 4.1% of death row inmates may have been wrongly convicted. Take this with a grain of salt though, because the study doesn’t show how or who is wrongly convicted. Personally, I believe that the false conviction rate is higher than others, but not as high as 4.1%, I would say it's around 1-2%. In 1989, Carlos DeLuna was executed for the fatal stabbing and robbery at a convenience store in Texas. After the execution, another investigation was launched by Professor James Liebon which uncovered powerful evidence of Carlos’s innocence and was wrongly executed.
Some people may even argue that the punishment of life in prison could be worse than sentencing them to death. If a criminal who had murdered someone was sentenced to life in prison, then the criminal would have to live the rest of his life in monotony and contemplating what he had done forever. He would be so close to civilization, yet the prison keeps him from luxury and can break all hope. Some may also say that the government shouldn’t be trusted with the power to end peoples’ lives. With corrupt government officials and not being able to even decide on minimal issues in comparison to the death penalty, this power could possibly be abused by the federal government. If you are a fan of limiting the government’s powers, you should not want capital punishment.
In my opinion, although there are situations where the death penalty would not be unethical and should be used, keeping it just is not worth the risk. All in all, the United States should just not keep the death penalty as a punishment for criminals. This is because capital punishment is an expensive and long process, there is a risk of innocents being killed, life in prison could be worse, and we shouldn’t trust the government with this power. So, what do you think?
Sources:
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence/executed-but-possibly-innocent
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row/death-row-time-on-death-row
https://www.science.org/content/article/more-4-death-row-inmates-may-be-innocent?
https://www.amnestyusa.org/issues/death-penalty/death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-cost/
Questions:
Do you think that we should keep the death penalty?
Do you think we should trust the government to fairly enforce capital punishment?
Do you believe that the risk of innocents dying is worth punishing the criminals?
Why or why not?
Replies
I agree with your statement; however, I believe that the amount of taxes is more important than what punishment they help uphold. Also, if we keep the inmate alive, we still need to be humane to them, for ethical reasons and for not getting lawsuits.
I think there is a big risk of the death penaity. They could wrongfully accuse somone of murder and win the trial. If that person is not guilty of the crime he or she could still be charged with the death penilty. That is the only part that I do not agree with.
I agree that the risk of putting an innocent on death row wrongfully is way to high.
In my opinion, the United States should not keep the death penalty in place. Killing someone that commited a crime is inhuman and could be just as bad as the crime they commited. If someone did something so bad that they should die over it, dying is not a good punishment. A better punishment would be life in prision, so they have to live with their consequences.
I agree that that life in prison without parole should be used for many cases that would have had the death penalty.
The death penalty may be a good idea in theory. There are cases where people are rapists, murders, or anything in between, but this does not show reason to kill them. It shows as if these inmates can get an easy way out of their crime. If someone was out to death for murder, is the murder then justified by killing that person. It sounds as if there is a chance of hypocricy for killing a killer. Some people may even be innocent and be killed for a crime they did not do.
I completely agree with you, and I haven't thought about the hypocricy aspect of the death penalty when writing the page. It also may depend on the case if it is justified to kill a killer. In one situation nobody might believe that the killer is reedemable, even themself, and in another they may have a good reason for it, not one that justifies killing, but still a reason for it.
I think that the US should keep the death penalty because those bad people that kill people they should be killed as well for the horable thing they did. I think that it is good that we have it. I think that we should trust the government in this big thing.
In my opinion, I think we should stop and get rid of the death penalty. it would not be worth it in the long run as it would cost them more money. Having a punishment for people who do worse things than others id important but I don't think it should be the death penalty.
I agree that this would not be very worth it in the long run because it would cost way too much and the US already has so much debt.
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