Abolishing the Death Penalty Thesis

Abolishing the Death Penalty October 18, 2010 Abolishing the Death Penalty The expiry penalisation has been an active force in the united States for decades. In the early history of our country, public executions were quite popular. Thousands bugger off been executed with the majority occurring in the early twentieth hundred. But public sentiment towards the executions began to wane as the concepts of basic tender-hearted rights were being amplifyed throughout the century. As a result, a kind of informal moratorium was placed on only executions while some(prenominal) ultimate Court cases were taking place to mould the legality of the penalty.The result of the cases actually made the oddment penalty illegal as it stood, so several states rewrote their laws, being more than specific as to the circumstances as to which the penalty can be employ. The Supreme Court reversed its decision and those states that met the new compliance could reinstate the close penalty. Today, it is legal to execute wipeout row prisoners in all but fifteen states. man it may be legal, it still h overages that the shoemakers last penalty has not and cannot accomplish the task that it has been reinstated to fulfill. Part I ThesisThe death penalty should be abolished for a variety of reasons. Initially, the death penalty has long been held to be inherently foul. It is considered unjust in relation to its application, unjust as to the type of punishment utilized and unjust as a punishment at all. It has and continues to be argued in court that the executions amount to what is considered cruel and unusual punishment and so barbaric that it should be do away with as a type of punishment. It is a sad but true statement to formulate that the United States is one of the last democratic nations to continue to utilize the death penalty.Our country has wavered back in forth on the issue of capital punishment being illegal and a breach of human rights. Additionally, even while continuing to use the death penalty it has not sh knowledge to be a cheque of umbrage and actually may increase it. Opponents of the death penalty also recognize that it has not been applied fairly. For instance, minorities, the poor, and the mentally disabled tend to receive the death penalty with far greater consistency than their counterparts. That cannot be a punishment representative of a great industrialized country.Those against the death penalty also recognize the cost involved with executing a prisoner. To actually take a death row con game through the complete appellate system, so as to ensure the inmates guilt without whatever doubt, would cost exponentially more than housing the same inmate for the duration of their life. The monies saved could be unwrap served if used towards something positive, like victims programs or the like. Lastly, the death penalty is a punishment that is irrevocable its effects atomic number 18 permanent and there is the sad reality that devoid lives may be lost. at that place is no ideal system and mistakes be bound to be made.This is one mistake, however, that cannot be corrected. This is why the death penalty cannot be the United States answer for grave offenders of the law. Part II Anti-Thesis Proponents of the death penalty are large in number. According to many polls, as many as 80% of the American world still opt capital punishment. One reason for this is society as a whole believes that if a person kills another person, the killer forfeits his right to his own life. (Christie, 1990). If a person shows such complete and express disregard for human life, the question is posed, why should any regard be shown for the person?Also, those in favor of using the death penalty argue that it is a just punishment for the crime and it is reliable. After all, though some states are trying to punish people with death for other wicked crimes, such as rape and repeat child molestation, so far the death penalty can tho be imposed on murder cases. As far as the reliability argument, supporters will always tiptop out that because of the thoroughness in applying and appealing death penalty cases, the process itself will weed out the costless and wrongly convicted. Proponents of the death penalty also view it as a bank check to crime. Same old, 1990). Just by having the possible punishment of death as an end result to a heinous crime has lowered the murder tramp in some states. The feeling is that the more executions you have, the lower the homicide rate you will have. Not to mention the innocent lives you will save. Supporters of capital punishment will cite studies video display that murderers who are allowed to live will inevitably kill again. Studies have shown that murderers awaiting their death penalty sentence to be carried out have killed correction officers, knowing there could be no additional fate assign to them.Another argument made in favor of the death penalty is one of Biblic al proportions. There are some activists that say the Bible itself proclaims the right to execute a perpetrator of the most serious of crimes by quoting a scripture from Leviticus 2420 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. The old adage has not been lost on those who feel that it is their God assumption right to enforce the laws that God has given them regarding the taking of a human life. Gray, 2010) Lastly, many supporters of capital punishment feel that it is appropriate to give a punishment that fits the crime and one that is universal. It doesnt matter a persons color, race, creed, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or financial status if two people, one blanched and one non-white, arrange the necessitate same crime under the exact same circumstances, they in fact should receive the exact same punishment. It is believed that the death penalty, when applied under the circumstance of murder in the first degree with aggravate circumstances, is the great equalizer, with everyone being treated the same in the eyes of the law.Part III Synthesis It is important that the United States realizes, sooner than later, that the death penalty has to be abolished. Proponents want us to think that a killer forfeits his own life. But the reality is all life is precious, regardless of its form or merit. (Thomson, 2001). Although someone has taken a life, and in no way should that be trivialized, it does not change that situation by killing the offender. alone it does is show that two wrongs do not make a right. The execution of the murderer does not subscribe the victim back to life.Quite frankly, the death penalty often provides a way out for the offender and if punishment was the true desire of the sentence then there are situations, other than execution that may be far more punitive than the taking of his or her life. (Thomson, 2001). When it comes to reliability, the argument on behalf of the deat h penalty doesnt hold up to scrutiny. Yes, it is true that the exhaustive appeals process does on occasion help to find innocent people who have been convicted of murder. This is largely due to the relatively new innovation of DNA technology as it relates to crime scene investigation. (Gzedit, 2010).Well, if anything, this proves the fallibility of the death penalty process. If over 131 death row inmates could be exonerated and released from death row, that shows just how faulty the system is and proves it is unreliable. Again, as stated previously, once a prisoner has been executed, there is no returning from the grave to say a mistake has been made. At least if the inmate was serving a life sentence and found innocent, they could be released, although still wronged by a jail sentence, but it is a correctable injustice. One of the main arguments in favor of the death penalty is that it serves as a deterrent to serious crime.Would it surprise you to know that this simply is not true ? It is a proven fact that the death penalty has not demonstrably deterred crime. (Same old, 1990). The 2004 Uniform Crime Report that was published by the FBI published that Southern states demonstrated the highest murder rate in the country, despite being responsible for 85% of the nations executions. (Friedman, 2006, p. 37). As further evidence that the death penalty doesnt deter crime I introduce you to the state of Texas which has been nicknamed the killing machine because they tend to exercise the death penalty often and rapidly.Even with capital punishment Texas has a disturbing murder rate of 5. 6 per 100,000 persons s opposed to Massachusetts, which verboten executions and only has a murder rate of 2. 6. (Gzedit, 2010). As for the idea that people who kill once develop an appetite to kill again, there have been no definitive studies that prove this theory. This mindset is based on gut reaction, conjecture, and hysteria. Perhaps one of the most controversial arguments in f avor of the death penalty is the interpreted law given by God to exact the same punishment on the criminal as was forced upon the victim.Supporters of this notion quote scripture from the Holy Bible as a sort of guidepost to follow. However the Bible also has scripture that specifically refutes the idea of the death penalty as payment for man to man. For example, Matthew 538-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. James 412 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Leviticus 1918 warns against avenging (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 87, Jesus himself says, let he who is without sin plan the first stone. This is truly what Jesus would do Finally, proponents of the death penalty exclaim that executions are given with perfect exactness according to the crime, without regard to race, color, creed, nationality, etc , basically saying without bias. However, many different studies have show that the likelihood o f you receiving the death penalty increases according to those very attributes. People of color are more likely than their white counterparts to receive the death penalty for committing the same crime under the same circumstances.Also, blacks that murder white victims are far likelier to end up on death row than whites killing blacks. Furthermore, studies show that prosecutors are more likely to seek the death penalty against blacks than they will for whites who commit the same crime. (Friedman, 2006, pp. 86-89). So much for all being equal under the law So, as you see, we are a country somewhat divided. While the majority of Americans still favour the idea of using the death penalty, it has become an increasingly more controversial subject.The United States always holds its head up high as the leader of the free world and is busy to condemn other countries with regards to their human rights violations. How then can we continue to justify our use of this antiquated, archaic order of punishment? It is time that our country steps in line with the rest of the industrialized countries into the 21st century and do away with the death penalty once and for all.References Gzedit. (2010, January 27). Pro-death America alone. The Charleston Gazette,A. 4. Retrieved October 13, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. Document ID 1948771421). Christie, J. (1990, March 29). At Last, Punishment Fits the Crime Death penalty It has wide support because ordinary citizens identify with media images of brutalized victims Home Edition. Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext),p. 7. Retrieved October 13, 2010, from Los Angeles Times. (Document ID 60026222). Friedman, L. (2006). The death penalty. Greenhaven Press Gray, L. (4 November). Houston Chronicle Lisa Gray column Life, death and the prodigal son. McClatchy Tribune Business News. Retrieved October 19, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID1893533451). Same old anti-crime hype. (1990, October 15). Milwaukee Journal,p. a06. Retriev ed October 13, 2010, from ProQuest Central. (Document ID 64063217). Thomson, R. (2001, June 18). A consistent pro-life stance rules out the death penalty SARASOTA Edition. Sarasota Herald Tribune,p. BS1. Retrieved October 13, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID 74204727).