DEATH PENALTY
By: Elizabeth Yoder
SHOULD THE DEATH PENALTY
BE ENFORCED??
THE ISSUE
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atch?v=lC15kOoe4_s
DETERRENCE
PRO
CON
• a 2006 study done by professors at Emory “There is no credible evidence that the
University found that each execution results death penalty deters crime more effectively
in five fewer homicides.
than long terms of imprisonment. States
that have death penalty laws do not have
•They also found that each execution deters lower crime rates or murder rates than
an average of 18 murders.
states without such laws. And states that
have abolished capital punishment show no
significant changes in either crime or
murder rates. The death penalty has no
deterrent effect. Claims that each execution
deters a certain number of murders have
been thoroughly discredited by social
science research.“ ~American Civil
Liberties Union
IRRIVOCABLE MISTAKES
PRO
CON
•The reliability of DNA testing has been
accurate in identifying suspects in criminal
investigations.
•DNA has been very helpful in insuring that
people are not wrongfully convicted.
• Prosecutors have called DNA testing
certain in all but 1 out of 100 billion cases.
•Once an inmate is executed nothing can be
done if a mistake is made.
•Since 1973, around 121 people have been
released from death row after new evidence
proved their innocence.
•Research shows that one out of every 8
people on death row had been wrongly
convicted.
•These statistics show an intolerable risk of
executing the innocent.
COST OF DEATH VS LIFE IN
PRISON
PRO
•The death penalty is much more expensive
than life without parole because the
constitution has a long process for capital
cases.
•The money saved could be used for
education, public safety programs, etc.
CON
In Maryland death penalty cases cost 3
times as much as non- death penalty cases.
The cost of death penalty cases cost
around 3 million dollars for a single case.
RACE
PRO
CON
•The National Race Composition of those
on death row is 45% white, 42% black,
and 10% Latino/ Latina.
•While some studies show that race is
strongly correlated with the death penalty
no researcher has found that the death
sentence is being imposed on defendants on
account of their race, per se, independently
of other variables (such as type of crime)
which are correlated with defendants' race.
In 2007, a study conducted by Yale
University School of Law showed that
African American defendants receive the
death penalty at three times the rate of
white defendants in cases where the victims
are white.
INCOME LEVEL
PRO
CON
“…if you’re going to commit murder, you
want to be white, and you want to be
wealthy — so that you can hire a first-class
lawyer — and you want to kill a black
person. And if [you are], the odds of your
being sentenced to death are basically
zero…It’s one thing to say that rich people
should be able to drive Ferraris and poor
people should have to take the bus. It’s very
different to say that rich people should get
treated one way by the state’s criminaljustice system and poor people should get
treated another way. But that is the system
that we have.” ~David Dow
“Punishments are imposed on persons, not
on...economic groups. Guilt is personal.
The only relevant question is: does the
person to be executed deserve the
punishment? Whether or not others who
deserved the same punishment, whatever
the economic or racial group, have avoided
execution is irrelevant.“ ~ Ernest Van Den
Haag
PHYSICIANS AT EXECUTION
PRO
•"To enroll qualified correctional physicians
in a national educational and scientific
society which has been established to
provide a repository of knowledge and
expertise…” ~Correctional Physicians
Website
CON
“…requiring physicians to participate in
executions violates their oath to protect
lives and erodes public confidence in the
medical profession.” ~American Medical
Association
WORKS CITED
"Top 10 Pros and Cons - Death Penalty - ProCon.org." Death Penalty
ProCon.org. ProCon.org, 13 Apr. 2009. Web. 04 May 2012.
<http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002000>.
"Race and the Death Penalty | Capital Punishment in
Context." Welcome to Capital Punishment in Context. Capital Punishment in
Context, 2012. Web. 04 May 2012.
<http://www.capitalpunishmentincontext.org/issues/race%20>.
MORE WORK CITED…
"The Death Penalty." Deathpenaltycurriculum. Web. 4 May 2012.
<http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/student/c/about/arguments/argument3
a.htm>.
"Accuracy of DNA "Matches" to Definitively Identify Suspects
Questioned." Death Penalty Information Center. Death Penalty Information
Center, 2012. Web. 04 May 2012.
<http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/accuracy-dna-matches-definitivelyidentify-suspects-questioned>.
"Death Penalty Cost." Amnestyusa. 2010. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-deathpenalty-facts/death-penalty-cost>.