While growing up our family and teachers always told us that two wrongs don’t make a right. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, there has been a total of 1448 executions and 157 exonerations and as of July 1, 2016, 2905 inmates sit on death row awaiting execution (deathpenaltyinfo.org). The death penalty can turn into a very controversial and misinterpreted subject when talking about what offense validates the sentencing. People have a tough time deciding whether capital punishment is the best punishment for the crime that was committed. When trying to get a clear understanding of the death penalty the best way to start is with the basics. When I say the basics, I’m referring to what defines capital punishment, the statistics behind
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In 2016, there were 2905 inmates on death row awaiting their sentencing, out of that only 20 inmates received capital punishment (deathpenaltyinfo.org). For those arguing the fact that the death penalty helps reduce the population of our prisons, in turn helping the overpopulation, you are technically correct. While your statement is true, in 2016 there was a total of 2.3 million inmates in our country’s prisons (prisonpolicy.org). Those 20 inmates don’t even start to put a dent in the overpopulation problem. Even if all the inmates on death row were to be given the capital punishment, it would not help the overpopulation issues our country has. “In 2000, a fiscal impact summary from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services stated that the Oregon Judicial Department alone would save $2.3 million annually if the death penalty were eliminated and it is estimated that the total prosecution and defense costs to the state and counties equal 9 million per year” (oadp.org). Also, a study in California in 2008 states that the cost of confining an inmate to death row is $90,000 more per year per inmate than is compared to inmates sentenced to life without possibility of parole in maximum security prisons. At the time of the census California had 670 prisoners on death row, which cost $63.3 million that year (deathpenaltyinfo.org). On the federal …show more content…
Either side you chose in this argument, you must decide if it is ethically right to take a life and you can’t answer it for yourself because you aren’t performing the act of taking the life. The prison guards and physicians are performing this act, whether it is their choice or not. Physicians do not become doctors to take lives, they are healers and dedicate their lives to preserving life when applicable. By having a state mandate that physicians must be forced to break their code undermines the most basic foundation of modern medicine, to do no harm. With the death penalty being abolished, we are lifting this burden that has been forcefully placed on these physician’s shoulders. It has been shown in multiple studies that the guards that are in any way affiliated with the act of capital punishment show signs of PTSD extremely similar to those in our military veterans and police officers. They may or may not be against this policy, but when it comes to their livelihood, they will perform their job as told. There is no cure for PTSD and to forcibly change a prison guard’s mental state for the act of one inmate is another ethical question you must ask yourself; is this inmate’s crime worth the destruction of even more lives even after conviction? If you still support this policy, you have another question to answer. If this inmate’s crime was awful enough to deserve the death
In 2016, there were 2905 inmates on death row awaiting their sentencing, out of that only 20 inmates received capital punishment (deathpenaltyinfo.org). For those arguing the fact that the death penalty helps reduce the population of our prisons, in turn helping the overpopulation, you are technically correct. While your statement is true, in 2016 there was a total of 2.3 million inmates in our country’s prisons (prisonpolicy.org). Those 20 inmates don’t even start to put a dent in the overpopulation problem. Even if all the inmates on death row were to be given the capital punishment, it would not help the overpopulation issues our country has. “In 2000, a fiscal impact summary from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services stated that the Oregon Judicial Department alone would save $2.3 million annually if the death penalty were eliminated and it is estimated that the total prosecution and defense costs to the state and counties equal 9 million per year” (oadp.org). Also, a study in California in 2008 states that the cost of confining an inmate to death row is $90,000 more per year per inmate than is compared to inmates sentenced to life without possibility of parole in maximum security prisons. At the time of the census California had 670 prisoners on death row, which cost $63.3 million that year (deathpenaltyinfo.org). On the federal …show more content…
Either side you chose in this argument, you must decide if it is ethically right to take a life and you can’t answer it for yourself because you aren’t performing the act of taking the life. The prison guards and physicians are performing this act, whether it is their choice or not. Physicians do not become doctors to take lives, they are healers and dedicate their lives to preserving life when applicable. By having a state mandate that physicians must be forced to break their code undermines the most basic foundation of modern medicine, to do no harm. With the death penalty being abolished, we are lifting this burden that has been forcefully placed on these physician’s shoulders. It has been shown in multiple studies that the guards that are in any way affiliated with the act of capital punishment show signs of PTSD extremely similar to those in our military veterans and police officers. They may or may not be against this policy, but when it comes to their livelihood, they will perform their job as told. There is no cure for PTSD and to forcibly change a prison guard’s mental state for the act of one inmate is another ethical question you must ask yourself; is this inmate’s crime worth the destruction of even more lives even after conviction? If you still support this policy, you have another question to answer. If this inmate’s crime was awful enough to deserve the death