The Economics of The Death Penalty - Essay Example

In the modern times, the world is divided in half as to countries that use capital punishment and countries that do not. Many nations including some of the developing nations have abolished the system of death penalty by any means or methods described above. One country where it would be greatly expected that this system does not operate is the United States of America (USA). Unlike other industrialized nations, some states of the US have capital punishment or death sentence system still intact.

The above graph shows the increase and decrease in the execution during periods of 1930 to 2004. If the western part of the globe is reviewed, it would be seen that US is the only western country where death sentences are executed. The executions in the country are linked to the legal system of the country which is considered to one of the most developed systems in the world due to its characterization for respect of human rights (Zimring, 2000). According to article by Zimring published in the MSN Encarta, the practice of death penalty and laws regarding it vary between the states of US.

Almost 12 states do not have death penalty but do have life imprisonment laws. This life imprisonment can sometimes be without parole. The rest of the states have different death penalty laws for different kinds and degrees of offences. About 200 to 300 criminals and prisoners are sentenced to death. The use of death penalty as a punishment rose to its heights when the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Since then more than 600 executions have place in US. The graph taken from Wikipedia.com shows the death penalty status in US since 1976.

29 states out of 38 carried out capital executions in the last two decades. The states which did conduct the execution include Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Georgia, Utah, Texas and many more (Zimring, 2000). If the graph is looked at more closely, it