ACC/290 team paper
Article Rebuttal
Larry D. Bluford, Jr.
BCOM/275
December 12th, 2012 Ernestine Givens, MBA
University of Phoenix
The death penalty has been in existence over 100 years in California. When capital punishment began the first method of execution was hanging. In 1937, they stopped hanging the convicted and replaced the method with the gas chamber. However, in 1972, the death penalty was considered cruel and unusual punishment. The abolishment of the death penalty was reinstated two years later in 1974. In 1992, lethal injection was added as a method of execution. The condemned would be able to choose how they wanted to be executed, however, in two years later in 1994; the gas chamber was ruled cruel and unusual punishment, which left only one method of execution, lethal injection (California has never used the electric chair as a method of execution). Despite being a legal, later abolished legal again, the question is; is this method of execution benefiting the state of California?
The death penalty is set in place to punish individuals for the most violent crimes. Its purpose to keep the death penalty legal was to deter people from doing these horrible crimes. That attempt has failed terribly. According to a report conducted by the National Research Council, it was said that we could not depend on the death penalty to deter the effect of murder rates. “Claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are fundamentally flawed and should not be used when making policy decisions” (Radelet & Locock, 2012).
As of April 2012, there are 724 inmates on death row. This is the largest population of inmates on death row in the nation. In 1974 when the death penalty was reenacted there was only 107 inmates on death row. Since 1974 there only has been 13 executions in 38 years. These inmates sit on death row for literally decades awaiting execution. Because of the lengthy appeal process
Larry D. Bluford, Jr.
BCOM/275
December 12th, 2012 Ernestine Givens, MBA
University of Phoenix
The death penalty has been in existence over 100 years in California. When capital punishment began the first method of execution was hanging. In 1937, they stopped hanging the convicted and replaced the method with the gas chamber. However, in 1972, the death penalty was considered cruel and unusual punishment. The abolishment of the death penalty was reinstated two years later in 1974. In 1992, lethal injection was added as a method of execution. The condemned would be able to choose how they wanted to be executed, however, in two years later in 1994; the gas chamber was ruled cruel and unusual punishment, which left only one method of execution, lethal injection (California has never used the electric chair as a method of execution). Despite being a legal, later abolished legal again, the question is; is this method of execution benefiting the state of California?
The death penalty is set in place to punish individuals for the most violent crimes. Its purpose to keep the death penalty legal was to deter people from doing these horrible crimes. That attempt has failed terribly. According to a report conducted by the National Research Council, it was said that we could not depend on the death penalty to deter the effect of murder rates. “Claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are fundamentally flawed and should not be used when making policy decisions” (Radelet & Locock, 2012).
As of April 2012, there are 724 inmates on death row. This is the largest population of inmates on death row in the nation. In 1974 when the death penalty was reenacted there was only 107 inmates on death row. Since 1974 there only has been 13 executions in 38 years. These inmates sit on death row for literally decades awaiting execution. Because of the lengthy appeal process
References: Capital Punishment. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.ca.gov/capital _punishment/history_of_capital. punishment.html Death Penalty Information Center. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo .org/documents/FactSheet.pdf