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&# 65279; Capital Punishment, the lawful infliction of the death penalty, is not anything new. Throughout history, all over the world, people have been put to death for stealing, fire starting, witchcraft, sexual immorality, and hundreds of other offenses. Ancient Greece had even used the death penalty for minor offenses such as laziness or stealing a piece of fruit. Of course this is an extreme example of the evilness of capital punishment, but even for an offense such as murder, much less any other offense, capital punishment is wrong. In the U.
S. , capital punishment has been used for several different crimes; however, in 1967 the Supreme Court temporarily halted the death penalty to investigate whether justice washing served and if the death penalty was being conducted in a fair and uniform way. When the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the Supreme Court s decision caused many states to maken capital punishment laws. Now, apart from certain not-yet-ruled crimes (i. e. treason), murders the only capital crime in the United States. In 1977 executions resumed, and this circumstance has now resulted in several hundred executions and thousands, including men, women, and kids, waiting on death row.
People who argue for the death penalty might believe that every person has an equal rights life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that some acts are so evil, destructive, and disgraceful that fairly, and justly, that individual s right to life should also be taken away. They think that when someone takes the life of another, by doing so he or she is giving up his own rights live. Supporters of the death penalty have several points on why capital punishment is fair adjust. Some may quote the Bible, Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, or Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. Others may argue that the punishment should fit the crime, and that the state has the right to kill in defense of its members, just as an individual has the right to kill in self defense. Defenders of capital punishment say that capital punishment is necessary for a stable society and that it should not be abolished.
Other arguments made on the defense is that since death is more severe than any prison term, it must bea deterrent and more effective than life imprisonment; also, they offer the consideration that the cost of putting someone to death is much cheaper than keeping them alive in prison for the rest of their lives, spending other people s tax money. These points defending the death penalty can all be challenged and disputed by those against capital punishment. These people argue that the death penalty should be abolished and that we should substitute executions with life imprisonment without parole. Opponents of capital punishment will also quote the Bible.
In Matthew 5: 38 Jesus speaks to us, You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Inches New Testament passage Jesus tells us to forget about certain things in the Old Testament adobe the new guidelines.
Those against capital punishment claim that the death penalty is unfair, inflicted unequally on the poor and minorities, that deterrence is inconclusive, and even an innocent person might but to death. Since the death penalty was reinstated, 34 offenders with mental retardation have been executed. These 34 murderers were considered mentally retarded because of their lower than 70 IQ. Terry Roach was 17 years old and diagnosed with Huntington s Disease when he was executed in 1986 for the murder and rape of a 14 year old girl. Huntington s Disease caused Roach s brain to continually deteriorate. Roach s execution date was postponed four times for appeal.
Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, and UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar were among those who appealed for clemency; however, the governor declined to save his life. Another case of executing a mentally retarded person involves Jerome Bowden, whose conviction was based entirely on a signed statement he couldn t even read. He signed the statement because a police officer told him he would help him. It is estimated that approximately 300 mentally retarded inmates are on death rows throughout America. This may be because these individuals don t understand the rights read to them, or they re represented by attorneys who lack experience with mentally retarded people, or perhaps even the judges don t know what to do with a mentally retarded defendant. Courts may treat mental retardation as if it were mental illness, which can betrayed with medication; however, there is no cure for mental retardation.
Some say that it s like executing a child Race and poverty are also unfairness factors talked about by those against capital punishment. African Americans make up only about 11 % of the U. S. population, but 36 % outhouse who have been executed are black. Racism in the use of the death penalty is also shown bythe race of the victims. You are much more likely to receive the death penalty if the person you murder is white than if the person you murdered is black; in fact, 95 % of the victims are white.
Approximately 70 percent of juveniles executed throughout America s history have been African American, while 89 percent of their victims were white. Other instances of racism involve white females. No white female has ever been executed by the state. One young Native American girl, however, was executed. Many minority group defendants are poor and unable to hire a lawyer; therefore, public defenders or court-appointed attorneys represent them.
However, these lawyers are most likely already busy with other cases and lack genuine enthusiasm. The quality of legal representation is questionable. One question which is raised and investigated is the question of whether or not the death penalty deters crime. Supporters of capital punishment says that the fear of receiving the death penalty keeps many people from committing murder and other serious crimes, yet their opponents argue just as strongly that the death penalty does not stop people from committing crimes. Dr.
Louis West of the Department of Psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center believes that some troubled people feel their own death will end their problems. Theycan t commit suicide so they purposely kill in order to get the state to execute them. West also believes that a life for a life may actually cheapen life and not increase its value. People against the death penalty might even believe that capital punishment may increase the level of violence breaking it appear to killers that lethal vengeance is justified. Statistics show that most murders inthe United States are crimes of passion. These are crimes committed by someone who is emotionally upset, enraged, or temporarily out of control.
Most murderers are too emotionally carried away to think about the consequences, or they believe that they are smart enough not target caught. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the number of executions and the sizeof death row has greatly increased. However, during the same time, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports show nearly no change in the national murder rate. When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states without, the majority of death penalty states show higher murder rates than non-death penalty states.
A poll of police chiefs in the U. S. found that the majority of the chiefs do not believe that the death penalty is an effective law enforcement togoland place it last in helping reduce violent crime. The U. S.
justice system and the people who work in it aren t perfect. They make mistakes and people are sometimes accused, tried, and sentenced for crimes they did not commit. Death penalty opponents believe that the possibility of killing an innocent person is a good enough reason to end all capital punishment. On the other hand, many who support the death penalty would argue that society must risk an occasional mistake in order to see that justice is done. Errors have been made repeatedly in the trial of death penalty cases because of poor representation, racial prejudice, prosecutorial misconduct, or simply the presentation of false evidence. There have now been over 75 people released from death row since 1977 with substantial evidence of their innocence.
Therefore, for every six executions carried out, there hasten another person on death row who is found innocent. In almost all of these cases, there was either a re-trial ending in acquittal or the state dropped charges after the conviction was thrown out by a higher court. No one knows for certain how many innocent people have been executed, but there is a high risk of the innocent on death row being executed. The costs for the death penalty are much more than they would be for life imprisonment without parole. Complex pre-trial motions, lengthy jury selections, expenses for witnesses, andthe necessity for two trials help cause capital cases to cost many times more than other murder trials.
Appeals also add to the cost considerably. The death penalty costs around $ 2 million purchase, whereas 40 years in prison costs around $ 800, 000. The conclusion and point is that capital punishment is not necessary. It is unfair and is administered in an unjust way. Deterrence fails and the costs are high. The Bible can be quoted, statistics can be shown, opinions can be made, the arguments can go on.
Christian love is unconditional and it doesn t depend on the person. The crime has already been committed. The death penalty doesn t accomplish anything whereas imprisonment can lead to reconciliation and will avoid wrongful deaths. 32 b
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Research essay sample on Imprisonment Without Parole Death Penalty States
