Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty:
The Headquarters of Controversy The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics of modern day. There are many people on both sides of the fence in this heated debate. I, personally, am pro death penalty for many reasons. The death penalty is a dire part of the U.S. criminal justice system that should not be extinguished. There is irrefutable proof on why we need the death penalty. The problem with the death penalty is it needs to be reformed. Death penalty reform is the sine qua non of an effective compromise. 35 of 36 of the states that allow the death penalty, and the U.S. government, use lethal injection as their primary method. Lethal injection euthanizes the convicted felons. Many argue that this
method is in humane because it may be causing the felons pain. Yet, Euthanasia is considered humane enough for us to use it on pets and other animals. Those sentenced to the death penalty have usually been found guilty of committing a heinous act, and lost many appeals. Should we really be that considered if they feel a little pain as they pass away? Think of the pain felt by their victims and the families of those victims because of the acts of that one individual. The death penalty is a needed part of our correctional system. On the other hand, I feel our capital punishment system does need reform.
I feel that those convicted of a crime without scientific or forensic proof should just receive life without parole. Leaving them on death row costs tax payers more money than having them in prison for life. Many criminals still waiting on death row are said to have committed crimes back as far back as the 70’s. The fact that these people committed these crimes is still disputable. Criminals of the 21 century who are on death row were found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt with the assistance of physical and forensic evidence. These criminals should remain on death row. The time it takes from being on death row to being executed it to long. These people should receive few appeals, if any, and then be executed. We leave them waiting for years upon years wasting tax payers’ dollars. The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life. (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005.) We can drastically decrease this level of wasted tax revenue by going through with these reforms. The relationship between race and the death penalty must also be changed. In 96% of the states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both. (Prof. David Baldus report to the ABA, 1998). Only 15 white people have been executed for crimes involving black
victims, but 223 blacks have been executed for crimes involving white victims. This clearly shows a flaw in the road to execution. It should not discriminate. A recent study in California found that those who killed whites were over 3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks and over 4 times more likely than those who killed Latinos. (Pierce & Radelet, Santa Clara Law Review 2005). This is undeniable proof that our justice system is flawed. Our juries need to be improved and our sentencing must be nondiscriminatory. We also need to stop pretending that the death penalty is a crime deterrent. Many studies, since 1995, have shown that the death penalty is not effective in deterring crime. Those who are against the death penalty often make statements like, “The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to life...It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment." That statement was put forth by Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights activists group. This statement is directed at all countries and the capital punishment performed by these countries. I can not speak on the behalf of other countries, but as for the correctional system of the United States of America, it does not torture or treat people with cruelty through the death penalty. The death penalty is given to convicted felons who have had chances to appeal. Many people have the moral value of “do onto others as you want done onto yourself.” With this in mind, those felons denied people their human rights by killing them. But, yet, these felons deserve to have their right to life protected? Even to those who don’t believe in an “eye for an eye,” do you really feel that cold blooded murders still have the right to walk this earth after taking the lives of others? The United States' capital punishment is needed yet flawed. Reforming the system to make death row stays shorter and sentencing less discriminatory will decrease the amount of tax payers’ dollars going to death row and the amount of executed felons who were innocent. Despite the noticeable flaws in the system I am still pro death penalty, we just need to fix the issues.