Argumentative Essay: America And The Death Penalty
Khang Le
ENGL 0960-07
Mrs. Beth Heim de Bera
Dec 18, 2014
America and the Death Penalty
Capital Punishment is the ultimate means to end someone’s life. Currently, capital punishment, or the death penalty, is used in the United States. Although it is legal in the United States, only thirty-two states have adopted the law. The goal of those states is to deter the criminals and recover justice. However, capital punishment is the wrong way to punish someone, which affected the moral issues and misconceptions. The moral issues that illustrate the death penalty as an error are the conviction of innocent people, rejudice against minorities, cruel and unusual punishment involved in the process of capital punishment. While the misconceptions include …show more content…
Many innocent victims have been killed by the death penalty, and there are only to be discovered innocent later on. Hugo Bedau of Tufts University and Michael Radelet of the University of Florida researched the amount of innocent people who have been condemned to death and people who are being convicted, that “... since the turn of the century, 343 cases in which a defendant facing a possible death penalty was wrongfully convicted. Of these, 137 were sentenced to death and 25 were actually executed. Sixty-one served more than ten years in jail and seven died in prison” (Baird, Rosenbaum 108). One of the likely causes for innocent people receive the death penalty is because not all of them get fair trial. A prisoner might have an ineffective lawyer because he or she is young, doesn 't have enough experiences or doesn’t care about the case. …show more content…
However, because of the cost of trials and appeals made by prisoner, the price of keeping a prisoner alive vastly exceeds executing them. “Ordinarily criminal cases, including murder cases, are resolved by guilty pleas and without the expense of a trial. Eight-five or 90% are determined that way. All capital cases, by contrast, require jury trials – and the trials are longer, more complex, and more expensive than those in other cases, including other murder cases” (Bedau 241). Whereas if there were no trials or appeals but just a life sentence, the money that would be saved would be immense. “A 1991 study of the Texas criminal justice system estimated the cost of appealing capital murder at $2,316,655. Some expenses include $265,640 for the trial; $294,240 for the state appeals; $113,608 for federal appeals (over six years); and $135,875 for death row housing. In contrast, the cost of housing a prisoner in a Texas maximum security prison single cell for 40 years is estimated at $750,000” (Baird, Rosenbaum 109). Even if cost were an issue in keeping prisoners alive, the amount of innocent people executed wouldn’t make up for any amount of money
ENGL 0960-07
Mrs. Beth Heim de Bera
Dec 18, 2014
America and the Death Penalty
Capital Punishment is the ultimate means to end someone’s life. Currently, capital punishment, or the death penalty, is used in the United States. Although it is legal in the United States, only thirty-two states have adopted the law. The goal of those states is to deter the criminals and recover justice. However, capital punishment is the wrong way to punish someone, which affected the moral issues and misconceptions. The moral issues that illustrate the death penalty as an error are the conviction of innocent people, rejudice against minorities, cruel and unusual punishment involved in the process of capital punishment. While the misconceptions include …show more content…
Many innocent victims have been killed by the death penalty, and there are only to be discovered innocent later on. Hugo Bedau of Tufts University and Michael Radelet of the University of Florida researched the amount of innocent people who have been condemned to death and people who are being convicted, that “... since the turn of the century, 343 cases in which a defendant facing a possible death penalty was wrongfully convicted. Of these, 137 were sentenced to death and 25 were actually executed. Sixty-one served more than ten years in jail and seven died in prison” (Baird, Rosenbaum 108). One of the likely causes for innocent people receive the death penalty is because not all of them get fair trial. A prisoner might have an ineffective lawyer because he or she is young, doesn 't have enough experiences or doesn’t care about the case. …show more content…
However, because of the cost of trials and appeals made by prisoner, the price of keeping a prisoner alive vastly exceeds executing them. “Ordinarily criminal cases, including murder cases, are resolved by guilty pleas and without the expense of a trial. Eight-five or 90% are determined that way. All capital cases, by contrast, require jury trials – and the trials are longer, more complex, and more expensive than those in other cases, including other murder cases” (Bedau 241). Whereas if there were no trials or appeals but just a life sentence, the money that would be saved would be immense. “A 1991 study of the Texas criminal justice system estimated the cost of appealing capital murder at $2,316,655. Some expenses include $265,640 for the trial; $294,240 for the state appeals; $113,608 for federal appeals (over six years); and $135,875 for death row housing. In contrast, the cost of housing a prisoner in a Texas maximum security prison single cell for 40 years is estimated at $750,000” (Baird, Rosenbaum 109). Even if cost were an issue in keeping prisoners alive, the amount of innocent people executed wouldn’t make up for any amount of money