The Use of Capital Punishment Has no Dissuasive Effect - Essay Example

This retributive justice was carried out in a public square where other citizens could witness the agonies of the accused before his or her death. Today, many nations, including the United States, still allow for the death penalty even though many human-rights organizations still assert that the death penalty is not the right way of dealing with extreme crimes. Thesis Statement: The reality is that in the absence of a fool-proof system of justice in the nations that have allowed for the death penalty, there is the ever-present risk of putting innocent suspects to death.

In any case, the point of justice should not be to revenge on behalf of society but to force the criminal to understand the errors of his or her ways. There are different reasons why the death penalty should be abolished. Some of these include: Executions cost more where taxpayers are concerned than even life imprisonment: The reality is that it is more expensive for taxpayers to execute criminals than maintain them in life imprisonment. According to a study conducted in 2011, the state of California alone has spent approximately $4 billion on executing death row prisoners since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1978 (Death Penalty Focus). . The cases also take longer because there may be many appeals. After all, a human being’s life is in danger (Banner 136).

Such cases could even last for years; thus resulting in a lot of expense. The use of Capital Punishment has no Dissuasive Effect: According to Baldwin, the use of the death penalty does not stop identical crimes such as were committed by the accused from being committed again (Baldwin 57). In many nations, the main crime which often results in the death penalty is the murder of another human being. Moreover, scheming people who plan on committing murder cannot be convinced not to murder due to the possibility of being murdered themselves; but have to have the mental deterrence not to be criminals.

Also, it is not always convicted criminals who plan on committing murder. In many cases, individuals who kill others do so in the heat of the moment; at a time when the thought of the death penalty is not in their minds. Others will kill because they have a serious mental disorder or imbalance. For these individuals, the existence of the death penalty does not have the power to change their actions before they commit murder. Innocent People are often Wrongly Executed: According to the Death Penalty Focus online periodical, the re-enactment of the death penalty in the United States alone, which took place in the 70s, has resulted in the execution of hundreds of innocent people (Death Penalty Focus).

While this has resulted in the death penalty becoming ever more controversial, it has not stopped different states from still practicing it. Some of the more common examples are those of men such as Cameron Todd Willingham.