Death Penalty

Death penalty

The death penalty, a topic that could be debated about for days. Should we replace the death penalty with a life-without-parole sentence? Well “many who are sentenced to death will never see the death chamber”. Or how about, when speaking of how expensive the death penalty is fox news commented “Every time a killer is sentenced to die, a school closes”. The death penalty has more cons than pros. Although people who support the death penalty may argue minor things such as the belief that murderers will get out and kill again. Those risks are little compared to what goes on to keep the death penalty in effect. To start, the death penalty costs a lot more than life without parole. It costs California an extra 1 billion dollars every five years to keep a person on death row. This can add up very quickly and in a nation that is in need of money now more than ever, we could save millions and possibly billions by getting rid of the death penalty. Money that could be used to build bigger jails to house all of our prisoners and the money could also go towards education and societal benefiting programs.
“Even if all post-conviction proceedings (appeals) were abolished, the death penalty would still be more expensive than alternative sentences”. The death penalty is expensive because of the many appeals a prisoner on Death Row is entitled to. The appeals during a death sentence are mandatory and sometimes result in the reversal of cases. This means that even after years of spending our citizens hard earned tax money to put a murderer to death, he can just as easily walk away and the money will have already been spent. California’s death penalty alone is about 336 million dollars and just housing a death penalty prisoner costs taxpayers an additional 90,000 dollars per person, per year. It’s because these prisoners are not housed with other prisoners and are in need of special services throughout their sentence that these costs are so high. Another factor contributing to the downfall of the death penalty is the question of whether it is effective. “An inmate sentenced to death in the state is more likely to expire from illness or old age than to actually be killed by the government”. Prisoners sentenced to death have years of appeals and preparation before they can be executed. It would take nearly two millennia to kill every person sentenced to death in California’s prisons alone. Most people sentenced to death are merely serving a life without parole sentence and getting better treatment for it. The families of the victim get no real justice. Having the courts tell you that a killer will be put to death and then waiting years to see it happen only adds to a person’s suffering. If we replaced the death penalty with life without parole, we can insure the victim’s family will get some relief in knowing justice is being served as soon as the murderer is cuffed and taken away. “The finality of life without parole sentences allows them [victims/survivors] to move on”. It also helps to make sure the prisoner has little to no appeals against any charges and can serve his time in full.

Bibliography:

Dow, David R. (2012) http://www.thenation.com/article/170852/life-without-parole-different-death-penalty#
Hess, Amanda (2011) http://www.good.is/posts/weighing-the-death-penalty-vs-life-without-parole/
Phillips, Kelly (2011) http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2011/09/22/death-and-taxes-the-real-cost-of-the-death-penalty/
Unknown https://www.aclunc.org/issues/criminal_justice/death_penalty/the_truth_about life_without_parole_condemned_to_die_in_prison.shtml

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[ 1 ]. Hess, Amanda 2011
[ 2 ]. Phillips, Kelly 2011
[ 3 ]. Phillips, Kelly 2011
[ 4 ]. Unknown
[ 5 ]. Unknown
[ 6 ]. Hess, Amanda 2011
[ 7 ]. Dow, David R. 2012
[ 8 ]. Unknown

Bibliography: Dow, David R. (2012) http://www.thenation.com/article/170852/life-without-parole-different-death-penalty# Hess, Amanda (2011) http://www.good.is/posts/weighing-the-death-penalty-vs-life-without-parole/