Essay Outline On The Death Penalty
Thesis & Outline
I. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) Innocence List (2015), during the period 1973 to June, 2015 there has been 155 exonerations due to acquittal, pardons, and charges being dropped. This seem to indicate that there is no absolute guarantee that a guilty verdict means a guilty individual therefore and absolute sentence of death seem unjust.
II. Capital punishment was introduced to the new world by the first European settlers in the 17th century.
A. By the late 18th century the United States abolitionist movement began.
B. In an attempt to make the death penalty more humane, the electric chair and later lethal injection was introduced as an alternative to hanging.
C. By the early 1960’s it was …show more content…
The death penalty is racially and gender biased.
A. Studies have shown that there have been more death sentences and executions if the victims were white (2015).
B. As of 2013 approximately 43% of the inmates on death row were white and 41% were black. The remaining 16% comprised of Latino, Native American, and Asian. Only 1% were women. NAACP LDF Report (2013).
C. Since the first DNA exoneration in 1989 there has been over 300 to date, while not all were death row inmates, 205 were African Americans.
IV. Supporters of the death penalty argue that it deters further violent crime and that it is more cost effective.
A. A study conducted by leading criminologists found that “…death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment.” (Radlett, M & Lacock, T, 2009).
V. Studies have also determined that it was more expensive to keep an inmate on death row, considering the lengthy appeals process, than to execute. What would happen if the death penalty were abolished?
A. Millions of dollars would be saved by eliminating the costly appeals process for death row inmates.
B. The absolute error of death cannot be corrected but a life sentence can be overturned.
It can be argued that the death penalty is definitely warranted like in the case of serial killers, and it certainly affords the victims’ families some closure but it boils down to the fact that taking someone’s life is murder no matter what argument is used to justify
I. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) Innocence List (2015), during the period 1973 to June, 2015 there has been 155 exonerations due to acquittal, pardons, and charges being dropped. This seem to indicate that there is no absolute guarantee that a guilty verdict means a guilty individual therefore and absolute sentence of death seem unjust.
II. Capital punishment was introduced to the new world by the first European settlers in the 17th century.
A. By the late 18th century the United States abolitionist movement began.
B. In an attempt to make the death penalty more humane, the electric chair and later lethal injection was introduced as an alternative to hanging.
C. By the early 1960’s it was …show more content…
The death penalty is racially and gender biased.
A. Studies have shown that there have been more death sentences and executions if the victims were white (2015).
B. As of 2013 approximately 43% of the inmates on death row were white and 41% were black. The remaining 16% comprised of Latino, Native American, and Asian. Only 1% were women. NAACP LDF Report (2013).
C. Since the first DNA exoneration in 1989 there has been over 300 to date, while not all were death row inmates, 205 were African Americans.
IV. Supporters of the death penalty argue that it deters further violent crime and that it is more cost effective.
A. A study conducted by leading criminologists found that “…death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment.” (Radlett, M & Lacock, T, 2009).
V. Studies have also determined that it was more expensive to keep an inmate on death row, considering the lengthy appeals process, than to execute. What would happen if the death penalty were abolished?
A. Millions of dollars would be saved by eliminating the costly appeals process for death row inmates.
B. The absolute error of death cannot be corrected but a life sentence can be overturned.
It can be argued that the death penalty is definitely warranted like in the case of serial killers, and it certainly affords the victims’ families some closure but it boils down to the fact that taking someone’s life is murder no matter what argument is used to justify