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... ne technology. Former President of the United States Ronald Regan used an analogy to suggest that lethal injection might produce a quick, painless death to condemned prisoners: I know what its like to try to eliminate an injured horse by shooting him. Now you call the veterinarian and he gives it a shot and the horse goes to sleep - thats it. I myself have wondered if there arent even more human methods now-the simple shot or tranquillize (14). In the 1800 s the most frequent means of execution was by hanging.
It was later replaced by electrocution and then by lethal gas, and most recently lethal injection. The third trend has been the attempt by policy makers to make sure that the death sentences are imposed reasonably and rationally. To make imposition of the death penalty fairer the courts and legislatures have enacted mandatory death sentences for specified crimes, forbidden the practice of mandatory death sentences, broadened and narrowed the sentencing discretion of jurors. These efforts however failed to produce a fair and rational system of capital punishment.
And the fourth trend involves sanitizing the executions. In the 1700 s and early 1800 s execution were almost always public events witnessed by hundreds or thousands of unruly spectators. Today executions are carried out late at night using well-defined specialized procedures and witnessed by a handful of people like journalists, family of the victim and family of the condemned, and occur on average eight years and five months after conviction (15). THE COST OF LWOP VS THE DEATH PENALTY Why should the taxpayers have to pay to keep this guy alive in prison for the rest of his life? One of the disagreements about the death penalty is money. Although a purely economic analysis might be considered vulgar or irrelevant to discussion of the life or death issue, the financial cost assertions often emerge in many debates about the death penalty.
In centuries past, people found guilty of capital crimes were escorted to the gallows within a few days of conviction. Computation was swift and cheap. The cost of the death penalty was a small fee paid to the executioner plus the cost of building a gallows. Many thing have changed as the American society evolved, our system of capital punishment has been reshaped by concerns about morality, fairness, consistency, and the possibility of wrongful conviction. Because of this the death penalty is no longer swift or cheap (Costanzo 59).
The cost of LWOP (Life With Out Parole) the alternative to a death sentence- is very high. A full accounting of the cost of LWOP must include the financing, construction, and operation costs of a maximum-security cell. The annualized costs of building and operating such a cell are approximately $ 5, 000. 00, and the cost of maintaining a maximum-security prisoner is approximately $ 20, 000. 00 per year. Life without parole prisoners face, on average, 30 or 40 years in prison, plus the average life expectancy and average age (30. 8) the estimated total cost for LWOP ranges from $ 750, 00. 00 to 1. 1 million dollars per prisoner (60). Take a look ant these figures from the U. S.
Vital Statistics Abstract, 1994 and Capital Punishment 1995, Bureau of Justice Statistics 1996 Cost of Life Without Parole Cases Equivalent To Death Penalty Cases: $ 34, 200 /year for 50 years at a 2 % annual cost increase, plus $ 75, 000 for trial & appeals = $ 3. 01 million (at a 3 % increase = 4. 04 million and a 4 % increase = 5. 53 million) $ 60, 000 /year (1) for 6 years, at a 2 % annual cost increase, plus $ 1. 5 million for trial & appeals = 1. 88 million (at a 3 % increase = 1. 89 million and a 4 % increase = 1. 91 million) (Sharp Sec D). So the death penalty costs reside mainly in appeals costs. Life without parole prisoners get the same appeals and should be considered to bear the same costs. Lastly, the cost for justice does not have to be so high for the execution of murderers. If we only allowed appeals that are relevant in proving one's innocence and eliminated the many more that are used merely as delaying tactics, it would save millions in taxpayer dollars. Another weapon used to fight capital punishment is the Holy Bible, the source of all morality.
Some Christians claim that we have no right to play God by pointing out the 6 th commandment in Exodus 20: 13, which states: "Thou shall not kill" But if one translated directly from the original Hebrew version, it is: "Thou shall not MURDER. " And murder is defined in any dictionary as the UNLAWFUL killing of a person with malice and aforethought. Many Christians would claim that Jesus changed or abolished the old law and directly opposed the death penalty when he saved a prostitute from being stoned by saying, "Let he among you who is without sin, cast the first stone. " John 8: 7 and when he said, "Judge not, that you be not judged. " Matthew 7: 1. But Jesus himself told us that He did not come to abolish or change the Law, but to fulfill the Law: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. for assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
So what has happened is that people have taken those quotations out of context and changed their meaning to suit their own personal views. Abolitionists use what Jesus said in Matthew 7: 1, "Judge not, that you be not judged" to say that the death penalty contradicts Christian values since we have to judge to sentence someone to death. But look at the whole picture of what Jesus was saying: "Judge not, that you be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" So by seeing the entire picture, we see that Jesus was speaking to the hypocrite. For example, if I steal, and I see someone else stealing, I cannot judge them for stealing. I would be a hypocrite. First, I myself must stop stealing before I could judge the other person.
That is called judging fairly and not hypocritically. That is what Jesus meant when He stopped the stoning of the prostitute from an angry mob, discouraging mob rule. Therefore, Jesus left justice and retribution to the civil authorities which was named God's minister for his wrath in Romans 13: 4. So Christians should adopt the habit of taking the entire scope of the Bible into account when they interpret certain passages lest they make it look like a pack of hypocritical contradictions.
The affects of instituting the death penalty far out weigh the negative point of its opposition. The elimination of dangerous criminals is far more beneficial to society as a whole. My view is that we must not be selfish in an increasingly selfish society. We must consider the common good before we worry about personal well-being. Society's view on such issues as car wreck fatalities, problems with electricity needs to be consistent in the rational of which is more important the society as a whole or individual need. In conclusion, the death penalty DOES deter criminals.
The facts are in and the #s speak for themselves. THE DEATH PENALTY WORKS! ! ! Bibliography: Works Cited Bureau of Justice Statistics. 11 Nov. 2000 U. S. Department of Justice. 23 June 2000. Capital Punishment 1998. 11 Nov. 2000 U.
S. Department of Justice. 17 Dec. 1999. A Look at the Death Penalty by Jurisdiction. 15 Nov. 2000 Court TV Online... Hinman, Lawrence M. The Death Penalty. 15 Nov. 2000 A Survey of Selected Philosophical Literature on Punishment and the Death Penalty. 12 July 2000 < web >. Costanzo, Mark.
Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997 Roy, Parama. Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee.
The Yale Journal of Criticism. 1 Sept. 1996 121 - 145... Sharp, Dudley. DEATH PENALTY AND SENTENCING INFORMATION. 20 Nov. 2000 Pro Death Penalty. Com. 15 Nov. 2000. Metzger, Bruce M. , and Roland E. Murphy, eds.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, 1994 Works Cited Bureau of Justice Statistics. 11 Nov. 2000 U. S. Department of Justice. 23 June 2000. Capital Punishment 1998. 11 Nov. 2000 U. S.
Department of Justice. 17 Dec. 1999. A Look at the Death Penalty by Jurisdiction. 15 Nov. 2000 Court TV Online... Hinman, Lawrence M. The Death Penalty. 15 Nov. 2000 A Survey of Selected Philosophical Literature on Punishment and the Death Penalty. 12 July 2000 < web >.
Costanzo, Mark. Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997 Roy, Parama. Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee.
The Yale Journal of Criticism. 1 Sept. 1996 121 - 145... Sharp, Dudley. DEATH PENALTY AND SENTENCING INFORMATION. 20 Nov. 2000 Pro Death Penalty. Com. 15 Nov. 2000. Metzger, Bruce M. , and Roland E. Murphy, eds.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, 1994
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Research essay sample on Capital Punishment And The Death Penalty
