Lea Pacquing
Writing 10
Erik Habecker
September 27, 2012
Capital Punishment
There are numerous crimes happening everyday causing havoc in a lot of people’s
families, but do these criminals deserve to be put to death? The capital punishment causes
harm to those criminals that have past the border of simple crimes to the complicated
crime like murder. Thinking about all the wrong doings that these felons have committed
make you rethink whether or not they deserve to get a quick death, or stay on earth and
suffer a little longer. The thought of outlaws being able to slide through the system and
skip the suffering they deserve demonstrates the many flaws the death penalty consists of.
I believe that the capital punishment should be abolished. We are wasting a large amount
of our tax dollars for the executions. They say that crimes have lowered because they
reinforced capital punishment. Many innocent people are still being executed without
having a retrial. The flaws in this system you will later see and figure whether you agree
or disagree with my argument.
Paying for taxes is an obligation everyone has to do, but we also pay them so that
we are able to choose how it’s being used. If one knew that their money was being
wasted they would be aggravated because they know there is a way to save that money or
spend it on something more important. In an article I found on the Death Penalty Focus
website it stated, “The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared
to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of
parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California's
current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually”(Death
Penalty Focus 1). This information was actually stated in the year 2008, so if this
happened four years ago, then how many more people are still being put on death row?
The cost of one person’s execution is $90,000, which is a lot to pay if those lawbreakers
were to only suffer for a few seconds and then die. Seeing that the death penalty costs is a
for only one person, and knowing that there are several other ways to save and prolong
their suffering so they could deal with the consequences of there actions makes more
sense.
The Capital Punishment was put into action because people thought that it would
lower the crime rate in the United States. Studies show that it does not lower the crime
rate. The Death Penalty Focus said, “Deaths of Children in the US: New Report Apparently, the US's use of the death penalty is not improving its standing in the world
community when it comes to the deaths of children. In a February 7, 1997 Report from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (part of U.S Dept. of Health and
Human Services), from 1950-1993 child homicide rates in the U. S. tripled. CDC
compared the U.S. with 25 other industrialized countries and found that "the United
States has the highest rates of childhood homicide, suicide, and firearm-related death
among industrialized countries." Almost all of these other industrialized countries have
stopped using the death penalty”(Death Penalty Focus 2). By knowing that this is
increasing crime rates instead of lowering them then there seems to be no point in having
the Capital Punishment in the system.
Many people are unaware that not everyone in prison actually committed a crime
to be convicted. So, think how many people have been placed in Capital Punishment and
died for a crime that they never did. What many people do not know is that “the most
common causes of wrongful convictions are; eyewitness error, government misconduct,
junk science, snitch testimony and false confessions”(Death Penalty focus 3). These
kinds of oversights are what cause some individuals to slide past the system and die for
causes that were wrongfully charged. Believing that the innocent are dying and not have
a retrial is a shame. Living without family and contact with the outside world can drive a
person insane.
So what can we change about this faulty system? The only way that could
substitute for the capital punishment is having life without parole. Many people can argue
that doing this will cause prisons to have less space for more prisoners that would be
going in. It would be great to know that they could never come back to haunt you but one
would always want them to feel the pain they caused someone and their family.Life
without parole makes sure that the convict will not be able to get out and leave prison.
The death penalty is a serious matter. Sure there are movies that have a long
sermon in front of a small group of people after the criminal has been killed but the
purpose of it all is to set a scene. In real life that is not how it works, we pay taxes for it
and finding out that it is a waste of the citizen’s money; the scene we set are those of the
dead not a new start for the living. Seeing that there is no improvement in the crime rate
in our country, makes it really unbelievable to still have people that believe this system
could improve anything. Isn’t it that if there were someone telling you not to do
something you would do it anyway? Many do the things they are not supposed to do
causing more trouble than needed. Innocent people are dying for a crime that they have
not committed; it is unjust. People who are being sentenced to death should have a
reason, not die for a crime they never did. The only possible way to fix this is sentencing
someone to life without parole. This will save the US more money, and cause those who
are innocent to get a retrial.
Cited Work
Death Penalty Focus. (2009). Facts, The High Cost of the Death Penalty, and Deterrence.
Retrieved from http://www.deathpenalty.org/section.php?id=13
"capital punishment." The People's Law Dictionary. 2005. Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T.
Hill 18 Oct. 2012 http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/capital+punishment
The guardian. (2011). Death penalty statistics from the US: which state executes the most
people? Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/sep/21/deathpenalty-statistics-us