In 2018, nearly 700 people were executed globally under the death penalty. The United States is the only country in the Americas who still uses capital punishment and has been for over 11 years. 29 states still allow this heinous punishment despite research showing it is unnecessarily expensive, ineffective as a deterrent, and unethical.
Many people believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent against extreme crimes, however this is untrue. Over the past 23 years, states with the death penalty consistenlty have at least 20% more homicides than those that don’t use capital punishment. However, in recent years, this number has been closer to 45%. Other countries have also shown a decrease in the number of violent crimes after they eliminated the use of capital punishment. After Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976, their homicide rate dropped by 44%.
The death penalty is also extremely expensive. Before abolishing capital punishment in 2007, New Jersey spent over $254 million on death penalty cases over 21 years. In these 21 years, not a single person was executed. Many states have also found it was cheaper to keep an inmate in prison for life without parole than to administer the death penalty. A study has shown that California has spent more than $4 billion dollars on the death penalty since 1978. During this time, they have executed only 13 people. That is roughly $184 million more per year than if those inmates had life sentences without parole.
Finally, the death penalty is unethical and a violation of the 8th amendment of the Constitution, which states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The primary method of execution is by lethal injection, a combination of drugs which cause cardiac arrest. It is supposed to allow the victims to die peacefully, but often it does not. In 2006, a woman given a ‘painless’ lethal injection had to be given two doses and it took 34 minutes for her heart to stop pumping. These injections can also be difficult to access and this has led to a variety of backup methods including electrocution, hanging, firing squads, and gas chambers.
It is easy to think that by having the death penalty the United States is being tough on crime, but it has been proven to be unnecessarily expensive, ineffective as a deterrent for violent crimes, and unethical. Overall, the death penalty should be abolished and replaced with a life sentence without parole.
Do you think the death penalty should be legal?(Why or why not?)
Is it okay for the government to say murder is wrong, but then use murder as a punishment?
How may religious beliefs influence a person’s opinions on this issue?
https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/the-cost-of-punishment.aspx
https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/the-state-of-capital-punishment.aspx
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/04/death-penalty-facts-and-figures-2018/
Replies
Good topic choice and very well done Lael!
I think the death penalty should be legal because if someone is so insane as to be sentenced to a life time in jail, they should just be executed for commiting a crime that bad. People who are killing others or harming others need to be punished and the death penalty may be the best way to do that.
I do think it should be legal because some people are so insane that they need to be stopped and sometimes a life sentence won't stop them. Yes, murdering innocent people is wrong, but murdering cerial killers is not. As a Catholic it does pain me that some people are seen best as dead, but if it's harming our society to have them in itsome things just need to be done.
When in prison, we are preserving their life but keeping everyone else safe. I am unsure of how a life sentence wouldn't stop them.
I think the death penalty should be leagl because what the person did to be on death row could have been avoided if they had made better choices. I don't think we should show sympathy torawrds someone when they ended a innocent life of someone elses. Although it is cheaper to keep someone in prison for life I think it would be to easy for the person who commited the crime. Although I don't believe the government should say that murder is wrong and then use it. There are some circumstances where the person could have avoided on going on death row in the first place.
I agree that the need for any consequence could have been avoided if the person had not committed the crime in the first place, however I still believe we should show sympathy towards them. They are still human beings despite having committed a crime.
I believe that the death penalty shouldn't be legal because as you said it is proved to be ineffective as a crime deterrent and at the same time the government by killing people puts himself almost on the same level as murderers. I personally think that the fact that a person has done something terrible doesn't give anyone the right to kill them, the life of a criminal isn't worth less than other people's life. It's the crime that should be condemned not the person.
I think think that the death penalty should be legal. Why should we show sympathy for someone who has done horrible things. And even if they are just sent to life in prison what is even the point. They are just there to waste the government's money when it could be used for greater things. And for families that had somebody murdered and the person who did it is still alive. It is not enough.
I disagree with you. The death penalty has actually been shown to be more expensive than keeping someone in prision for life without parole. Using this logic, the death penalty is the one wasting the government's money when there is a better alternative.
Yes it should be legal because the people that are on there deserve what they get because would have needed to do something terrible to get there. Yes because they are showing what happens if you murdered someone. They might think it would be wrong but is it worse to serve life in prison or to just be killed?
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