give 3-5 sentences thought The death penalty still remains in America as a last
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give 3-5 sentences thought
The death penalty still remains in America as a last remnant of the frontier-style justice that the US has historically practiced. As of 2017, 31 states still practice the death penalty and of those thirty-one states, Texas has executed 545 death row inmates since 1976, the highest number in the country (deathpenaltyinfo.org). Executions are only given for criminals guilty of capital crimes, which include the murder of an on-duty police officer or fireman, murder of a child under 10, and murders in which more than one victim was killed. A string of court cases known as the "July 2nd" cases overturned previous rulings that the death penalty violated the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the 8th amendment and allowed for instatement of the death penalty as long as there were reforms to the application of such. Advocates of the death penalty argue that it reduces the population of the overcrowded American prison system, gives closure to a victim's family, deters crime, and offers a better serving of justice than a life imprisonment. However, the fact that the financial cost of keeping inmates on death row and performing executions far outweighs the cost of a life sentence, the possibility of condemning innocent victims, and the total number of death row inmates serve contrary to this claim and display why the death penalty should be repealed.
Perhaps the most compelling argument for the death penalty from a logistical standpoint is that it helps to reduce the populations of America's overcrowded prisons. However, the number of inmates currently on death row is only 234, a relatively small number, especially when considering that this population is dispersed across the entirety of Texas. In 2016 and 2017, a total of twelve of these 234 inmates were executed. Typically, these inmates spend an average of fifteen years on death row. These numbers should show the there are far more criminals being convicted and put on trial than there are being executed, meaning that the difference that the removal of these inmates from the prisons makes minimal difference in their respective prison's population. Additionally, several studies show that the cost of keeping an inmate on death row and conducting trials for said criminal is significantly higher than sentencing one to life in prison. For example, in 2015, the Law Office of Texas Defense Attorney Fred Dahl stated that the cost of a death penalty case was $3.8 million as opposed to $1.8 million for a life imprisonment case. From a cost effectiveness perspective, the death penalty does not make efficient use of taxpayer money. This money saved from giving life imprisonment sentences instead of death penalty cases could be put towards better mental health programs for inmates in the state of Texas, which over the long run could potentially decrease the amount of incarcerated and amount of criminal relapses (Carattini, Juliana: Mental Healthcare and Violent Crime: A Case Study of New York State).
Another reason for the repeal of the death penalty is that the risk of executing an innocent victim is too high. Advocates of executions state that DNA testing and other modern forensic practices eliminate such a risk. However, such methods are only as effective as those conducting them and the impartiality of those involved in the trial. For example, Claude Jones was executed on December 7th, 2000, for the murder of Allan Hilzendager. The only evidence to suggest Jones' guilt was a strand of hair (DNA Tests Undermine Evidence in Texas Execution). The only evidence against Jones was "a single strand of hair found at the crime scene" (DNA Tests Undermine Evidence in Texas Execution), which, after testing subsequent to his execution, revealed the hair did not belong to Jones. This new evidence suggests that the courts may have been too "trigger happy", so to speak, to give the death penalty when guilt has not been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. Additionally, a number of inmates have been found to be wrongfully convicted due to intentional withholding of evidence. In 2015, Alfred Brown was acquitted of murder charges and released from death row after it was revealed that the Harris County District Attorney's Office withheld phone records proving Brown's innocence (Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Wrongful Convictions). As long as there is a margin of error that could potentially result in the execution of innocent citizens, the death penalty should not be practiced.
One of the major issues with either repealing or keeping the death penalty legal resides in the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the 8th amendment. Proponents of both sides argue for different interpretations. The major question in deciding what constitutes a "cruel punishment" is whether to use the standards of America in 1789 or contemporary standards as a benchmark. Hangings and executions were a primary form of justice in the time of the drafting of the Constitution; however, so were the practices of dueling, flogging, and branding, all of which have long since been abolished. An "unusual punishment", according to Bryan Stevenson, translates to a "new" punishment, or one that has not been historically and commonly practiced by justice systems (Against Cruel and Innovation: the Original Meaning of the Clause and Why it Matters Today). Since the death penalty is still common and practiced in the US, and has been since the birth of the nation, it technically is not an unusual punishment. For those Americans who advocate for death penalty repeal, it is critical to push for interpretations of the Constitution based on modern principles, not those of two hundred years ago, in order for executions to be a rare enough occurrence that they would become "unusual".
The death penalty remains a controversial topic in America on financial and moral levels. However, evidence regarding the cost of death row trials and imprisonments show that life imprisonment is significantly cheaper than an execution. Additionally, there are too many cases of wrongful convictions and executions in the past to justify the practice.
Explanation / Answer
Capital punishment is abolished almost everywhere in the globe except few countries and few states in the U.S. There are few things to be considered in favor of abolishing capital punishment. Firstly, it is inhuman in this civilized and digital society where even life of the animals is respected more. Secondly, the cost of trial and execution is much more than a life sentence trial. Thirdly, the post traumatic stress that the family members of the executed will experience and finally, the wrong convictions means innocents are punished. Once a death penalty is executed and later when the person is proved innocent, no one can bring the life back. The states should look for opportunities to prevent such crimes right from the school days by identifying trouble makers and counseling them appropriately rather than keep killing people. It’s true that punishments reduce crime but there is no proof that capital punishment has reduced crime considerably.
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