8394057

Capital Punishment

What is the Death penalty you may ask​,​ it is an injustice process that puts innocent and

guilty people to death​. ​Almost, all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have

had it at one time​. ​It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws that were

expected of them​.​ Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely

unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States​. ​The use of the death

penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran​,​ which are two of the

world’s worst human rights violator​.​ ​The death penalty should be abolished because

death-row inmates should have a quick and peaceful death​,​ these process wouldn’t save

the judicial system money and hundreds of death-row inmates have been exonerated of

their crimes.

Today our society is assaulted with a barrage of violent images​, whether fictional or not​.

People no longer think twice when they see a character die in a movie, or a bullet riddled

high-schooler jump out of a second story window​. The concept of human life has completely lost

its meaning. Capital punishment contributes to this problem​. A convict is not thought of as a

person​. Their stripped of their humanity once committing the crime and once admitted to a jail or

prison​. ​This rationalization is required in order have a society where capital punishment is legal​.

31 out of 50 states carry out the death penalty. In Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky,

South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia they have two options lethal injection and ​electrocution
by chair. In Arizona and California they also have two options lethal injection and gas inhalation.

Utah in my opinion is the harshest punishment possible, and is the only option which is being

killed by a firing squad. Just maybe one day we’ll get rid of these outrageous methods.

Alva Campbell and Christopher Newton had somewhat of the same experience​. They

both had to wait more than an hour to get the lethal injections​. ​The technicians were just pricking

them waiting to find the correct vein​. It should have at least clicked that it just wasn’t working​.

Mr​. ​Campbell was comforted and was told he was going to die soon​. Mentally, you’re preparing

yourself to take your last breath, and most likely making amends​, ​but in this case they just

weren’t ready​. The technicians finally gave up after 2 hours and gave him another execution date

(​Board 2018)​.

What gives them the right to do these to a human being​.​ I don’t know how other people view

these people on death row but i know for a fact they are exactly like us​.​ We’ve all made mistakes

probably not as bad or maybe we have but that shouldn’t have to justify on how the system treats

them​. ​I'm just hoping that one day people will start opening their eyes and see that we are all the

same (Blanco 2006)​.

The price for execution is horrific. W​e pay different prices for using a death penalty.

Sadly, today more than ever, the dollar seems to be the endlessly interchangeable standard of

value.We strive to make money, save money and when we spend money we do so with a valued

return in mind. Accordingly, a popular argument contends that we spend too much money

incarcerating prisoners for life​. ​We probably do but the price tag on issuing a death sentence
according to a California study is $4 billion compared to $1 million for a life sentence​. ​What

intrigues me about these is that they just don’t care about either saving or wasting money​.​ Just

for pre-trial and trial their spending almost $2 million, They could easily use these money to do

bigger and better things​.​ But that isn’t the case at all because based on researcher Gil Garcetti,

former District Attorney for Los Angeles said "46% of all murders and 56% of all rapes go

unsolved in California, in large part because of inadequate funding to investigations" (​Alarcon

2011)​.

Such more important cases have gone unsolved because of their spendings on this

process​. ​Their priority isn’t these unsolved cases it’s putting some to death​. ​People out there are

just waiting and scared because their rapist and murders are still roaming the streets looking for

other victims​. ​Why should we as people have to walk around being terrified and haunted by our

attackers? Just because our judicial system believes that putting one person to death is enough.

Well is just will never be enough because 9 out of 10 times their is going to be another person

just like them and you know what our judicial system is going to do their most likely going to

spend that much money again.

These Graph Shows The Cost of

The Death Penalty​.​ Below You See

They Spend an Average of $4 Billion

Dollars Every Time Someone is

Sentenced to Death.For the Pre-Trial

and Trial They spend almost $2 Billions

Dollars​.​This Graph Gives us Some Type of Piece of Mind on What The Judicial System is

Spending on With The People’s Tax Money​.

I believe everyone should get a shot of having peace and not having to constantly have to

look over their shoulder. What their showing the people is that their cases isn’t as important, and

that it doesn’t matter, and it should never have to be that way. Women, Men, Boys, and Girls all

over the world are just going to have to wait their there turn​.​ Money is just a number on paper,

and it shouldn’t have to dignify anything. If they can fund a case that cost $4 billion dollars then

why can’t they do it for the other cases awaiting to be looked into.

As of today there has been 163 exonerated cases​.​ A man by the name of ​Frank Lee

Smith, was convicted of a 1985 rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl, and was later cleared of

these charges by DNA testing, and before being able to be released he died of cancer​.​ This man

was a ticking time bomb​.​ He was wrongfully convicted and paid the ultimate price​. ​Cases like

these are the ones that just break people’s heart because he was sitting in that cell waiting for that

day they came and tell him he was a free and innocent man, and that day just never came for

him​. ​This is one way you know the system is broken ​(Dieter 1994).

There is no way to tell how many of the more than 1,470 people executed since 1976 may

also have been innocent​.​ Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the

defendant is dead​.​ Carlos DeLuna,Ruben Cantu, Larry Griffin, Joseph O'Dell, David Spencer

Leo Jones, Gary Graham, Claude Jones, Cameron Willingham, Troy Davis, Lester Bower, Brian

Terrell, Richard Masterson, Robert Pruett, and Carlton Michael Gary are some of the men who

were wrongfully convicted and were put to death. When an innocent person is incarcerated, it is
an injustice to the individual being sentenced, the families of the sentenced, and the criminal

justice system altogether​.​ What does it mean to be exonerated? Basically it means to clear

someone of guilt or from accusations and blame​.

All of the people who have been exonerated of the death penalty have wasted years of

their lives sitting in a cell knowing they were innocent​.​ Being incarcerated to being released for

the individual is a hard into a “normal” life which many times can be difficult​.​ Not only should

our society do its’ part to improve the criminal justice system but also to uphold the

responsibility in restoring those whom have served their time under a false conviction​.​ If there is

anything we as a society should also provide to these formerly incarcerated, it is compensation

for what they have suffered​.​ But instead of doing this we shame them​.

Most of the exonerated people can never find a stable job because they were once a so

called ‘‘criminal’’ and most likely shown on television​.​ Shouldn’t we as citizens give them a

chance? We’ve all gone through somewhat of the same process when your siblings do something

wrong and try to blame you for something they did, and most likely you try to prove you didn’t

do it well these people who were exonerated are exactly like us​.​ They are no different, just

because they went to jail for it instead? That is probably one thing us human lack, we are quick

to judge someone no matter there skin​,​ religious belief​, ​and ethnicity​ ​(Rodricks 2018).

We should become one and help these people because what they went through to prove

their innocence wasn’t easy for them to do​.​ There really isn’t anyone to blame, To make

mistakes is human but to blame it on someone else that’s even more human​.
 As of today the death penalty should be obliterated, also these process would open doors

to the unsolved cases due to lack of funding, and many innocent people have been wrongfully

convicted of these punishment. The death penalty is not fun and games. They are juggling people

lives and that just isn’t right. How would you feel if your life was in someone hands? I would

most certainly be scared out of my mind. The death penalty puts a big toll on all awaiting cases

because of the dreadful cost. Their have been many innocent wrongfully accused human beings

in our country due to the lack of evidence.

Why does my topic matter? Well the death penalty is very controversial, either your

against it or for it. And that’s why i'm writing these paper to inform you about what these does to

people and what it stands for. Why is it important? These is important because people should

know what’s going on in the real world. People are being fed lies and you just don’t know what

to believe. Why should our society be concerned about it? Our society should be concerned

about these because we really aren’t informed about these. Have you ever heard from the news

that someone was sentenced to death. I certainly haven’t. Everyone should be informed about

what’s going on behind closed doors.

Alarcon , Judge Arthur, and Prof. Paula Mitchell . “Costs of the Death Penalty.” ​Costs of the
Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center​, 16 May 2011,
deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

Blanco, Juan Ignacio. “Murderpedia.” ​Christopher Newton | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of

Murderers​, 7 Jan. 2006, murderpedia.org/male.N/n1/newton-christopher.htm.

Board, The Editorial. “Capital Punishment Deserves a Quick Death.” ​The New York Times​, The
New York Times, 1 Jan. 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2017/12/31/opinion/capital-punishment-death-penalty.html.

Dieter, Richard C. “Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the
Death Penalty.” ​Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the
Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center​, 21 Oct. 1994,
deathpenaltyinfo.org/millions-misspent.

Payette, Brandon. “Stanford Progressive.” ​The Stanford Progressive​, 12 Oct. 2011,

web.stanford.edu/group/progressive/cgi-bin/?p=1765.

Rodricks, Dan. “Innocence: List of Those Freed From Death Row.” ​| Death Penalty Information
Center,​ 22 Apr. 2018, deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row.