Death Penalty
English 1101
27 November 2012
The death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1977, and since then murderers and rapist have been executed for the violent and harsh crimes they were found guilty of committing. In the past thirty years over 1,200 prisoners have been put to death for crimes in which they were convicted. The government of each state executes these prisoners by way of the electric chair, gas chamber, and the most common way lethal injection. A survey, from the Death Penalty Information Center, shows that over half of the citizens in the United States support the death sentence. Some supporter of the death penalty may even believe that sparing the guilty shows them mercy and the victims’ families no justice. If over half of the country is for the death penalty, then why should it be abolished? The United States of America should abolish the death penalty not to show mercy to the guilty but because it costs more than life in prison without parole, it is not effective in reducing crime, its racially biased and innocent people could be executed. The high cost of death penalty cases cost each state millions each year. The alternative to the death penalty, life in prison without parole can save the states thousands of tax dollars. According to the Associated Press, it’s cheaper to imprison killers for life than to execute them. Dieter points out in the article What Politicians Don’t Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty that “death penalty cases are much more expensive than other criminal cases and cost more than imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole.” Research shows that Texas is spending an estimated $2.3 million dollar per death penalty case and each execution in Florida cost the state 3.2 million (Dieter). Connecticut and Illinois are two states that abolished the death penalty due high cost, but other states still choose to pay millions in tax payer’s money to execute prisoners. The Death Penalty
27 November 2012
The death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1977, and since then murderers and rapist have been executed for the violent and harsh crimes they were found guilty of committing. In the past thirty years over 1,200 prisoners have been put to death for crimes in which they were convicted. The government of each state executes these prisoners by way of the electric chair, gas chamber, and the most common way lethal injection. A survey, from the Death Penalty Information Center, shows that over half of the citizens in the United States support the death sentence. Some supporter of the death penalty may even believe that sparing the guilty shows them mercy and the victims’ families no justice. If over half of the country is for the death penalty, then why should it be abolished? The United States of America should abolish the death penalty not to show mercy to the guilty but because it costs more than life in prison without parole, it is not effective in reducing crime, its racially biased and innocent people could be executed. The high cost of death penalty cases cost each state millions each year. The alternative to the death penalty, life in prison without parole can save the states thousands of tax dollars. According to the Associated Press, it’s cheaper to imprison killers for life than to execute them. Dieter points out in the article What Politicians Don’t Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty that “death penalty cases are much more expensive than other criminal cases and cost more than imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole.” Research shows that Texas is spending an estimated $2.3 million dollar per death penalty case and each execution in Florida cost the state 3.2 million (Dieter). Connecticut and Illinois are two states that abolished the death penalty due high cost, but other states still choose to pay millions in tax payer’s money to execute prisoners. The Death Penalty