The Cost of Capital Punishment - Term Paper Example

Module Module ID: The Cost of Capital Punishment Background: Capital punishment or death penalty serves as the severest punishment introduced and imposed by the authorities in order to reprimand the offenders involved into homicide, rape, sodomy or any other heinous crime of grave nature. Hence, in order to discourage and eradicate the crimes and offences from society, the authorities introduce such harsh sentences, so that the people would not dare to hurt and harm other members of society, and thus avoid breaking of the statutes of prevailing law. Somehow, the death sentence has been banned in many developed nations, including the UK, Australia, Canada and others by replacing it with the life imprisonment or some other penalty of this type. Additionally, some US states also do not observe the sentence by declaring it as ruthless and costly, expenditures on which exceeds the life imprisonment sentence even. There are so many reasons behind the revocation of the same during the second half of twentieth century, which include its long procedure of going to appeals, being emotionally painful for the family of victim, against the rule that murder is condemnable crime and heavy cost, which becomes challenging for the tax-payers. “A 2003 legislative audit in Kansas found that the estimated cost of a death penalty case was 70% more than the cost of a comparable non-death penalty case. Death penalty case costs were counted through to execution (median cost $1.26 million). Non-death penalty case costs were counted through to the end of incarceration (median cost $740,000).” (Amnesty USA) Consequently, one of the major causes behind capital punishment includes the heavy cost spent on the application of death sentence; for the tax payers have to pay heavy duty for the imposition of the sentence to the offender of heinous crime. The techniques applied in observing death sentence include lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging and killing through the firing squad; all of which impose heavy costs on tax-payers, which they certainly pay for the maintenance of law and order. Statement of the Problem: Death sentence is aptly regarded as an effective method to combat with the high growth rate of the nefarious crimes inflicted upon the innocent people at the hands of the criminals. Some of the theorists absolutely refute the application of the sentence by declaring it as cruel and ruthless. Somehow, they entirely neglect the emotions and sentiments of the family whose member has brutally been victimized by the obnoxious offender by raping or killing the victim in cold blood. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 provided the initial framework for the development of what is now a sophisticated and complex system of international human rights law. It has been argued occasionally that the death penalty is not even a human rights issue.” (Schabas, 2003:3) Hence, instead of providing justice to the victim’s family, the school of thought opposing death sentence starts offering moral, legal and financial aid to the culprit in order to save his life. Thus, protecting the criminal, responsible of inflicting pains ad sufferings upon others, is vehemently justified on purported human grounds without taking into consideration the deplorable and pathetic condition of the victim and his family. Nevertheless, some of the theorists oppose capital punishment on some other grounds: the first reason behind rejecting death sentence is the long procedure of appeals the offender goes for in order to save his life; and the second one is the heavy cost the parties as well as the tax-payers have to consume for the observing of the same. Thus, an over-whelming majority of people does not reject it because of being the sentence as harsh one; instead, they look for decrease in the huge taxes they are liable to pay for the implementation of capital punishment. “Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the annual costs of the present (death penalty) system to be $137 million per year. The cost of the present system with reforms recommended by the Commission to ensure a fair process would be $232.7 million per year.” (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011) Consequently, the cost of keeping the offenders in prison is far lesser than the cost required for applying death sentence upon them. Analysis of Alternatives: The theorists suggest alternative punishments to the capital punishment for the offenders, which are, according to them, more painful and revengeful for the criminals. Life imprisonment is the most frequently suggested substitute in this regards that not only save the life of the culprit, but pushes him into the ditch of long wait, anxiety, defamation and humiliation. Hence, the offender dies daily in prison, where he is unable to lead a life of his choice. Neither he can demand for the recreational activities of his choice, nor can he get involve into any type of sexual relationships. Hence, he has to lead an isolated life far from his family, friends and companions. Moreover, his career is also ruined even on his release from the jail, as he has to spend the rest of his years with the stamp of ex-prisoner and offender. As a result, society refuses to offer him a respectable place and a career job as well due to the very fact that he is viewed as an irresponsible and unreliable person, which could do anything to harm others. Furthermore, the expenditures by putting the culprits behind the bar are also lesser than those of death penalty. “The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year.” (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011) Detailed Recommendations: It is frequently stated that imposition of rule of law as well as severe penal system can prove highly supportive in respect of decreasing the crime rate from society. If an offender is treated leniently after committing the horrible crime like rape, robbery, physical harm, homicide or some other violent act, it would certainly encourage other members of society to commit the same and even more horrible and heinous crimes. It is therefore in order to discourage the advancements of obnoxious offences, severe punishments must be announced to the nefarious criminals, who serve as an infamous blur on the very face of society. Consequently, capital punishment is the best method to teach a remarkable lesson to the killers, rapists, terrorists and habitual criminals. On the contrary, setting them free and treating them in a normal manner would make the entire society a safe haven for criminals. The example of Afghan terrorists and the cruel American rapists is before the world, where neither did the UNO announce adequate sentences to the Afghan terrorists, nor did anyone do bother the heinous and shameful crimes the American troops committed on the helpless and innocent Iraqis while their invasion on this wretched Arab country. As a result, the same nature of crimes remained at vogue for the future years to come. Had the culprits been hanged at the main roads of New York, no one could gather courage to repeat the same in any part of the globe. “The argument for capital punishment usually hinges on the fear of increasing murder rates. Yet in Queensland, for example, in the decade prior to the abolition of capital punishment (1912-21), there were 131 murders, whereas in the decade following abolition (1923-32) there were 129 murders.” (Potas & Walker, 1987:3) Nevertheless, instead of announcing capital punishment to the offenders, life imprisonment is also an effective way to come the criminals to terms; for long incarceration and stay in prison may also remind the offenders of their crimes and faults, and thus may work out for their reformation and improvement for the future years to come. Additionally, since the crime cannot be reversed altogether, so taking the life of the offender will also not bring the murdered one back to life. It is therefore the imprisonment is a better way to bring the criminal to terms eventually. Moreover, a respectable and sensible man dies everyday after his humiliating arrest and stay within the four walls of prison house, which brightens the probabilities of his improvements to become a reasonable and responsible citizen. Furthermore, since imprisonment saves plenty of state funds, in comparison to the execution of the culprit, it also relaxes the public from paying the additional taxes. It is therefore long imprisonment is the better method to teach the offenders a lesson for the cruelty and misdeeds they have committed. However, if the nature of crime is highly painful and grave, the court should not hesitate in announcing death sentence to the culprit. Works Cited Potas, Ivan & Walker, John. Capital Punishment Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice Australian Institute of Criminology 1987 3 Schabas, William A. The Abolition of Capital Punishment from an International Law Perspective International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law 17th International Conference ‘Convergence of Criminal Justice Systems – Bridging the Gaps’, The Hague, 24-28 August 2003 1-8 Amnesty International Death Penalty Cost 2011 Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-cost Death Penalty Information Center Financial Facts about the Death Penalty: California 2011 Retrieved from http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty Read More