Death Penalty essay
Studies show that the death penalty is an in-effective deterrent of crime and is an economic burden to tax-payers, counties, and states. The main issues of this essay are whether or not the death penalty is in fact, a deterrent of crime, and if the burden of the cost associated with the death penalty is worth the retribution. As Mahatma Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye leaves us all blind.”
Capital punishment is the sentencing of convicted criminals to death. It is a highly controversial and debatable topic. This is an issue that keeps many people, mainly politicians, tossing and turning at night. Is it moral? Is it a deterrent of crime? Is it worth the money we spend on death penalty cases? There are an abundance of studies, articles, arguments, and opinions both for and against the death penalty. This essay will look at the arguments, and show that the death penalty is not a highly effective deterrent of crime, and it will also show that it is not economically justified.
The death penalty dates back thousands of years, but it in the United States it has become a topic that is very controversial. There have been many legal challenges in the past fifty years, challenging the morality of the executions. In 1967 a moratorium was placed on the death penalty after the Supreme Court’s finding that it was arbitrary and capricious and that it violated the 8th Amendment. (Capital Punishment, 2013). It wasn’t a ruling that the death penalty itself was unconstitutional, but that the laws as written were “cruel and unusual punishment.” States wrote new laws, and in 1977 executions resumed. The first execution after the moratorium was in Utah, death by firing squad. Deterrence, in the mindset of death penalty supporters, is the belief that criminals or would be criminals fear death more than anything else. Judge Robert E. Crowe stated “It is the finality of the death penalty which instills fear into the heart of every murderer, and it is the fear of
Capital punishment is the sentencing of convicted criminals to death. It is a highly controversial and debatable topic. This is an issue that keeps many people, mainly politicians, tossing and turning at night. Is it moral? Is it a deterrent of crime? Is it worth the money we spend on death penalty cases? There are an abundance of studies, articles, arguments, and opinions both for and against the death penalty. This essay will look at the arguments, and show that the death penalty is not a highly effective deterrent of crime, and it will also show that it is not economically justified.
The death penalty dates back thousands of years, but it in the United States it has become a topic that is very controversial. There have been many legal challenges in the past fifty years, challenging the morality of the executions. In 1967 a moratorium was placed on the death penalty after the Supreme Court’s finding that it was arbitrary and capricious and that it violated the 8th Amendment. (Capital Punishment, 2013). It wasn’t a ruling that the death penalty itself was unconstitutional, but that the laws as written were “cruel and unusual punishment.” States wrote new laws, and in 1977 executions resumed. The first execution after the moratorium was in Utah, death by firing squad. Deterrence, in the mindset of death penalty supporters, is the belief that criminals or would be criminals fear death more than anything else. Judge Robert E. Crowe stated “It is the finality of the death penalty which instills fear into the heart of every murderer, and it is the fear of