The death penalty is one of the most severe forms of punishment that could possibly be given to a criminal for committing extremely serious crimes (Bohm, 2017). Varying levels of punishments are present for individuals according to the level of their criminal activities but the death penalty is used as a last resort response. It’s believed that one of the main sources of the death penalty is to ensure that it acts as a deterrent for the heinous crimes that might prevail in a particular area.
People stand on either side of the debate when confronted with the question of the need for the death penalty to prevail in a society. There is much less evidence that deterrence is essentially an outcome of the death penalty and as a result, the punishment should be questioned many times. Even when the deterrence effect of capital punishment may be inconclusive.
The death penalty has been used for centuries and many of the processes that were pursued to execute it included various grueling ways (Radelet & Borg, 2000).
Heads were chopped off, electric shock chairs were used and other such violent means were employed may have been too inhumane. However, as time went on the severity of the actual way punishment was inflicted was drastically reduced but still, the end result is the same; the loss of life. The death penalty adversely affects both families of murder victims and families of the accused (Muller, 2016). According to many supporters of the death penalty, they argue that it in fact does serve as a deterrent to crime, and assumes that justice has been served.
That argument can be debatable, but can also be confounded because it can be seen that countries with no death sentence may have significantly lower rates of crime than other countries. If considering such an argument, then the biggest reason to support that capital punishment is removed should be enforced. Murder and Mass scale drug trafficking are common examples that might lead to capital punishment.
Many people are still committing horrifying crimes and they still seem to increase even though capital punishment does exist. It’s believed that capital punishment should be noted because it provides a transparent justice system and major crimes are inexcusable and should be met with some extreme measures. In human behavior people are bound to commit crimes due to passion and the deterrence will never be ethical in society. With or without the death penalty people will continue to commit crimes because of the justice system. False confessions, eyewitness misidentification, and bad lawyering have all been reasons why innocent men and women have been wrongfully convicted and put to death while the real perpetrator is still on the loose committing the same crimes. Since 1973, 167 former death row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges. It is now clear that innocent defendants will be convicted and sentenced to death with some regularity as long as the death penalty still exists (DPIC,2020).
In 1999, 5.7 million homicides in every 10,000 people were recorded, while the rate of homicide in the U.S was almost three times lower with figures standing at 1.8 million in the same population sample (Banner & Banner, 2009). Capital punishment and life imprisonment have the same deterrence. Capital punishment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, it is arbitrary to due process, and it is not direct control of crime. Racial bias is also a reason why the death penalty is unfair. Between 1930 and 1996 4,220 prisoners were executed and 53% of them were black. Given that it is argued that the death penalty is deserved certain punishments should have limits because murder and rape fall along the same lines. Capital punishment is irreversible and according to the old saying ” An eye for an eye turns the world blind.”
Capital punishment can and will never be an appropriate form of punishment for anyone, not even the person who committed the crime because retribution is seized, and there may be many who disagree with the notion. It causes an emotional response for all families seeking revenge fearing that they will never get closure because after all, they will never get that person back. Many sentences other than the death penalty may be more effective. Today, about 3,350 people are on “death row.” Virtually all are poor, a significant number are mentally disabled, more than 40 percent are African American, and a disproportionate number are Native American, Latino, and Asian. The death penalty is a lethal lottery. The first argument is that now people sit on the death row for decades waiting for their punishment after suffering from mental illness, old age, many have even suffered strokes and heart attacks causing them to forget the nature of the crime that was committed. If there is no effect on the overall crime rate then the best option would be to remove the death sentence completely.
On the flip side, the removal of the death penalty will save costs that are utilized to carry out trials. Potentially save money for tax-payers. On average $1.1 million dollars was quoted for death punishment, while the average yearly life term sentence would cost roughly $315,156 making it the most expensive in the United States. The cost may vary by the number of lawyers the defendant is considering, the amount of time it takes for the prosecutor to prepare for the trial, and even appeals are common when their life is at stake. Currently, 15 states has abolished the death penalty in the United States because it has disproportionately punished the poor.
While the loss of life is no small matter and it’s argued that it should be repaid equally the deterrence effect is just one reason to inflict the death penalty. An unfair justice system is another reason because the underlying statues are sometimes considered unconstitutional. We find that the death penalty is pointless, as it does not work to deter crime. Therefore the death penalty should be abolished because it proved to be inhumane and it doesn’t minimize the effects of the murderous activity.
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