Should Capital Punishment in the US Be Abolished - Research Paper Example

Capital Punishment in the US al Affiliation The paper generally talked about capital punishment in the US. The paper argued that the death penalty is not deterrent. It further argued that capital punishment is uncivilized and inhumane as it takes one’s life which morally unacceptable. It also pointed out that death penalty is not an absolute punishment that must be given to inmates as there might be innocent people who are wrongfully accused and are therefore convicted. These people do not deserve to be executed. Moreover, death penalty is financially impractical. It is too costly for a punishment. Therefore, capital punishment must be abolished. Introduction In the United States, Capital punishment is cited as one of the most significant moral, legal, political, and practical issues in the country that needs to be greatly considered (Zimring & Simon, 2003). It can be said that it is a very critical topic for discussion in the country. In particular, there have been a certain number of people or citizens had expressed their thoughts and opinions with regards to the existing death penalty in the country. Most of them had been fighting to abolish capital punishment and to eventually stop the authorities in executing lives. In connection to this, the paper is geared to present and discuss arguments that capital punishment in the United States must be abolished. Capital Punishment should be Questioned It was reported and argued by many that capital punishment is not deterrent. In fact according to the data presented by the FBI (cited in Death Penalty Facts, 2011) that all the 14 states in the US who are not implementing death penalty are recorded in 2008 to low homicide rates which are far below the national rates. Whilst DPIC (2014a) reported that states that are practicing capital punishment have a homicide rate that is above the national average. DPIC (2014a) further pointed out that for the last 20 years up to the present there have been around 48%-101% homicide rate in states having death penalty, however, states that are not into executing their inmates have less. Furthermore, it was also found out that in the last ten consecutive years, US was recorded to have an increased number execution penalties whilst murder rate have declined. This would be because of the increasing number of executions. However, DPIC (2014a) also identified that rates of murder cases in states with no capital punishment had remained low as compared to those states that have. Hence, the effectiveness of capital punishment in deterring people from doing unlawful behaviors should be questioned since data showed that states with no death penalty have lower crime rates than those who have. Capital Punishment in Uncivilized and Inhumane Capital punishment is considered to be a premeditated murder in planning to take another human’s life. Governor Cuomo (2011) stated in his article sentencing a criminal with a capital punishment is like stooping to the level of the killers which is deemed to be unlikely and uncivilized. He strongly argued that the states in America who are practicing death penalty need to have another form of punishment that would deter people from engaging into heinous crimes. Cuomo (2011) further pointed out that a true life sentence is a lot better than capital punishment in punishing inmates with the crime they did. Most of the inmates who were listed to be executed preferred to undergo execution than living behind bars for the rest of their lives. In other words, Cuomo (2011) wanted to convey that in an inmates perspective life imprisonment is worse than capital punishment which he have known himself through the inmates he encountered. With these information on hand, it can be interpreted that Cuomo (2011) wanted to expressed that life sentence is a more effective punishment in deterring people to engage into crimes since criminals disliked spending their entire life in prison. Furthermore, the means in executing inmates such “lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging” DPIC (2014b) are viewed to be to totally inhumane. Inmates are also human who have the right to live and to treat accordingly. Hence, they must not be punished and killed in these ways. Even if they are criminals, they still deserve to have civilized and humane treatment. On the other hand, for people who believe in the existence of God, it is significant for them to follow the commandments of the Lord. It was stated in the sixth commandment of the Lord not to kill anybody. The gift of life is given by God; hence, He is only the one who has the right to take it. These are major arguments of the people who have strong convictions with their faith and are morally concerned with the inhumane execution of inmates, more specifically for those inmates who are wrongfully accused with the crime they never did. Innocent People are Convicted and Put to Death It is very sad to note that due to the existence of capital punishment in the United States, there have been people who had been executed due to a false accusation against them; although, it cannot be stated that the US has a poor legal system. However, it can be understood that some of the States in America had some lapses with regard to their justice system. This can be manifested with some innocent people who have been executed. According to the article of Cuomo (2011), as of the 20th century, 23 innocent individuals were falsely executed. New York is the top leading state to have executed innocent inmates. These facts are truly heartbreaking. Killing innocent lives are totally immoral and injustice. These people deserve to live, but they were killed all for nothing. Nevertheless, there are also people who were lucky enough to have acquired a fair and just trial which allowed them to defend themselves in court and proved their innocence. As of December 10, 2014, there have been 150 individuals who have been exonerated from capital punishment in different states in the US (DPIC, 2014c). Shujaa Graham, an African American, is one of those people was exonerated from a death row. In 1976, Graham was falsely sentenced to death due to the crime he allegedly did. Through the help of his defense and legal counsel, they were able to prove his innocence in court and save himself from execution (Bever, 2013). Capital Punishment entails High Cost Many have argued that the death penalty is too costly. It specifically caused taxpayers to spend millions in a year for capital punishment. According to the report of DPIC (2014d), death penalty cases are highly expensive as compared to other criminal cases. In Texas alone, their taxpayers are spending around $2.3 million US dollars for a single death penalty case while Florida spends an average of 3.2 million per execution. DPIC (2014d) also reported that every State who is implementing death can save around $90 million each year if they will abolish capital punishment. DPIC (2014d) further showed that the capital punishment entail higher cost in comparison to lifetime imprisonment. Hence, it can be interpreted that capital punishment, other than being immoral and uncivilized, this is also an impractical option in punishing a criminal. The fact that taxpayers as well as the states need to allocate millions of money just to kill lives is totally impractical, given the fact that there are other options in punishing inmates that are both practical and humane. Summary and Conclusions The effectiveness of capital punishment in discouraging and preventing people from doing unlawful acts can be questioned. The data and information showed that the states that have penalty have higher crime rates compared to those who do not have. Moreover, capital punishment is further deemed to be uncivilized and inhumane due to the means used in executing inmates and due to the fact that states who are practicing this is literally taking one’s life which is morally unacceptable. Death penalty is also considered to be an inhumane and unjust punishment for those innocent people who have been wrongfully accused and been executed for the crime they never did. Other than being uncivilized and inhumane, capital punishment also entails high costs for the taxpayers who are indeed impractical. Therefore, capital punishment in the US must be abolished. References Bever, L. (2013). Capital punishment is murder- especially for the wrongfully accused. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/27/capital-punishment-wrongful-conviction?CMP=share_btn_link. Cuomo, M. (2011). Death penalty is dead wrong: It’s time to outlaw capital punishment in America completely. Retrieve from http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/death-penalty-dead-wrong-time-outlaw-capital-punishment-america-completely-article-1.961087. Death penalty facts. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/deathpenaltyfacts.pdf. DPIC. (2014a). Deterrence: States without death penalty have had consistent lower murder rates. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates. DPIC. (2014b). Description of execution methods. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/descriptions-execution-methods. DPIC. (2014c). Innocence and death penalty. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty. DPIC. (2014d). Millions misspent: What politicians don’t say about the high cost of the death penalty. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/599. Zimring, F. & Simon, W. (2003). The contradictions of American Capital Punishment. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More