Prison Overcrowding Being a Burden on a Taxpaying Society - Assignment Example

Overcrowding in our prisons systems is becoming a burden on a taxpaying society. Should more people sentenced to the death penalty be put to death and should non violent offenders be given leniency [Student Name] [Student ID] [Lecturer] [Submitted To] [Submission Date] [University] It is a fact that the taxpaying society wants to find out on a regular basis as to where exactly there money is being utilized. It is their hard work and commitment and more than anything else, their loyalty that they contribute towards their nation and thus there is every reason as to why they should gain in-depth knowledge of the money spent within their homeland. For this reason, Americans have a right to know whether their money is used in the right zones or their money is plundered by looters, dacoits and criminals, staying in high class confinements of the land and exercising their wrath over the fabric of the society. In this paper, discussion has been centered on the fact that the taxpaying society has a right to know where and how their money is being spent and to what levels they get to know about these respective utilizations. Also an effort has been made to understand why death penalty is considered harsh for non-violent offenders and how death penalty itself is harsh right from the onset. A number of advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist in the times much like today and many members of the United States and respective State governments have conflicting views to the same. On the other hand it also seems that the stronger arguments and proof including the cost effectiveness needs to bring the common citizens towards the resistance in the wake of the Capital Punishment. (Bienen, 1999) The people who choose to support Capital Punishment are of the view that since death is an unqualified shape of punishment; it would lead to a solid warning in the wake of crime. It is without a shadow of a doubt that the capital punishment has always been and has continued to be a very contentious subject. People from both fronts have one thing or the other to suggest in this perspective. United States has for long continued to support the capital punishment as a number of opposition parties are raising their voices every now and then. They bring in all sorts of opinions and points of view in the line of the same. As a matter of fact, United States is the only Western nation which has to date been supportive of granting permission for having the capital punishment implemented within it and because of this reason it has the highest crime rate. (Cottrol, 2004) The supporters of the capital punishment have a number of reasons behind their differing viewpoints. They believe that keeping a prisoner in jail for a life time can indeed be a very costly exercise and the unfortunate thing to understand is that the funding for the same accounts on the pocket of the tax payer – the common citizen of the United States of America. However the non-violent offender within the realms of America deserve a special place and they must be given the right to have freedom once they have completed their jail terms. They must not be put in the same lockers where hardened criminals are tried or those on whom death penalty has been imposed. What this does is to make such individuals into morally wrong individuals and once they are eventually free, they opt for committing the evil in a much more vehement manner than they did when they ultimately landed up within the confinements of the law. People present quite a number of emotional stances on the account that an innocent man must not be executed for one reason or the other. They believe that it is against the normal human practice to kill someone in this manner let alone any manner possible. What these people forget is the fact that the number of people who die due to these criminals on an annual basis is something more drastic and depressing than killing the criminals just to attain justice. In a way, what capital punishment according to them does it to save a number of lives each year as it saves the people who would have been killed in the first place due to these killers. (Hood, 1996) The supporters of the death penalty are pretty much hesitant as concerns to its effectiveness nonetheless. The prison does not bring a sense of rehabilitation for anyone but what it really does is to make the person’s life more miserable and sickening to say the least. In the end, this person becomes an even worse offender and at times takes the brunt of his punishment from the society. This could be in the wake of proving themselves as innocent or incorrectly criminal. Going further ahead, we find that the penal system of the United States and Texas in meticulous is not only insane but also filled to capacity which surely cannot bring a positive image to the prisoners held within it as well as their training and education. Thus the reform process of these prisons is something that poses as a problem in the line of the change that needs to happen in the views concerning the death penalty. (Bedau, 1964) Therefore, society has a huge role to play in the related scheme of things and for facilitating those who earnestly require our assistance rather than discarding and abolishing the problem on the whole. For a number of decades now the debate has continued in the line of the merits and demerits concerning the capital punishment and this will be the case in the years to come as well. A number of opposition forces refer to the Marshalls as well as the Millgards while on the other hand the ones defending it relate it with the Jeffery Dahmers as well as John Wayne Gacys. All said and done, on the part of the society, it needs to be kept at a safe distance of the inhuman acts of the individuals thus involved which could include the serial killers, terrorists and the like. We need to make sure that the common citizens of the American nation remain safe. A number of voices are heard in the wake of the death penalty not working to its full effect in the wake of its deterrence act however one should understand that there are far fewer murders on a per capita basis as compared to the nations which has it and the ones which do not employ it. For the same to work as a point of deterrence, there needs to be a conscientious endeavor on the part of the offender before he thinks of committing a fallacy which could take the lives of so many innocent people in essence. He must be made aware that other people have been punished in a brutal manner in much the same manner as he would be if he commits any such heinous act. Individuals, who commit these types of crime range from auto theft to 1st degree murder, never actually take into consideration the ramifications related with their respective actions and undertakings. Thus deterrence to crime must be rooted deep down within the individuals nonetheless so as to have a proper framework in place in the related settings. One needs to understand that each and every human being has a personal set of conduct that he strictly adheres to no matter how trying and hard the circumstances turn out to be, say at some point in time. However the influencing factor on this personal set of conduct can be developed or at times simply shredded away by a number of different people including friends, family members, opinion leaders and acquaintances so to speak. Therefore the need is to understand here that an individual who has never been preached some kind of self-control in his life might just never comprehend the limitations that impose on his part and thus there would be no know how as to what he can do and what is simply prohibited for him to endeavor. For that reason, capital punishment might just never truthfully work as a point of deterrence simply because of the fact that the human nature does not know how to do away with the advice thus present and the self learning process. Then there are the people who suggest that the death penalty in itself is a shape of revenge on the killer. However this is not the case. It should be made compulsory on any offender who goes about ravaging the law of the land and thus is easily escapable whenever there is a huge crime committed. This person needs to be taken to task and given the heinous possible punishment so that he could become an example for one and all. What this teaches in the long run is the fact that no one is above the law and everyone needs to live his life under a strict code which is understandably prescribed by the state. All said and done, it is the duty of the country to find out what is right and what is termed as wrong as far as the capital punishment debate is concerned. The controversy is sure to hot up even more as time passes and there is going to be a lot of debate in the related contexts. Leniency must definitely be shown towards individuals who have record of being non-violent as per their nature and thus it is the duty of the American government to comprehend that such individuals must not be tried upon in a rigorous manner. (McCarthy, 1988) This is inhuman and no law allows for such individuals to be given death penalty as there is a fair amount of chance that they will lead their lives in accordance with the ethical norms and moral regulations of the society. Thus every effort must be enacted in order to give them a right to be free from the confinements of the darkness – an aspect that needs much thinking from all possible quarters in the most apt manner possible. (Morgan, 2006) All said and done, it is the duty of the law of the land and more than anything else, the judiciary which runs the law in the first place to enact certain measures which are fair and balanced from all sides and which have no potential pitfalls in the event of any circumstance whatsoever. Then only can the aspect of impartiality exist within the lengths and breadths of the society and this indeed is a ‘picture perfect’ scenario from all counts. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bedau, Hugo Adam. (1964). The Death Penalty In America: An Anthology. Aldine Publishing Bienen, Leigh B. (1999). The Death Penalty: A World-Wide Perspective. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 89 Cottrol, Robert J. (2004). The Death Penalty: An American History. Stanford Law Review, Vol. 56 Hood, Roger. (1996). The Death Penalty: A World-Wide Perspective. Clarendon Press McCarthy, Belinda. (1988). Older Offenders: Perspectives in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Praeger Publishers Morgan, Elizabeth. (2006). Crime and Punishment: Wrestling with the Death Penalty. The Christian Century, Vol. 123 Word Count: 1,782 Read More