Capital Punishment is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for someone. “In America there has been 1422 executions since 1976 and the number continues to grow week by week” (DPIC 1). Were those lives worth killing just because they killed someone else., or is a double standard present in how the United States government verifies capital punishment. Americans approve the death penalty because it deters crime and morality. A 2010 poll by Lake research showed that “33% of voters would chose the death penalty for murder” (DPIC 4) than any other punishment. The other “66% chose options such as life without parole or had no opinion on it” (DPIC 4). the disapproval of the death penalty for capital punishment was because
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The study showed that it costs about “$137 million annually to maintain the state 's death penalty system” (Lain 1). The study also stated that “the state had only conducted 11 executions since reinstating the death penalty in 1978” (Lain 1). Which would show the “average cost per execution to $250 million” (Lain 1). The study showed that “California 's estimated cost of administering a system without capital punishment is $11 million annually” (Lain 1). Which if you do the math again California would be saving up to $126 Million per year for getting rid of the capital punishment that they rarely use. That is money that could go into healthcare, education, and to help put more police officers on the street to deter …show more content…
Since 1973, “more than 150 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence, Florida had 26 alone” (DPIC 2). How could the criminal justice system fail so many people? Here is an example of a story with a duo on death row. In late September 1983, an 11-year-old girl named Sabrina Buie was found murdered in a soybean field in Robeson County. Within days, police got two local teenagers to confess, Henry Lee McCollum and his half brother Leon Brown who was 19 and 15. They were both sentenced to death. Over 30 years later a judge ordered both men to be released after multiple pieces of evidence were shown which proved that neither McCollum nor Mr. Broom were responsible for the crime. DNA was taken from a cigarette found at the crime scene and it matched a man by the name of Roscoe Artis, who is already serving life in prison for a similar murder committed just weeks after Sabrina Buie’s killing. There was no physical evidence that linked either man to the crime. To make matters worse Mr. Artis was a suspect from the start. This is just one of the 150 stories of the people who were wrongly accused. How many more people need to be wrongly accused before the death penalty goes away for
The study showed that it costs about “$137 million annually to maintain the state 's death penalty system” (Lain 1). The study also stated that “the state had only conducted 11 executions since reinstating the death penalty in 1978” (Lain 1). Which would show the “average cost per execution to $250 million” (Lain 1). The study showed that “California 's estimated cost of administering a system without capital punishment is $11 million annually” (Lain 1). Which if you do the math again California would be saving up to $126 Million per year for getting rid of the capital punishment that they rarely use. That is money that could go into healthcare, education, and to help put more police officers on the street to deter …show more content…
Since 1973, “more than 150 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence, Florida had 26 alone” (DPIC 2). How could the criminal justice system fail so many people? Here is an example of a story with a duo on death row. In late September 1983, an 11-year-old girl named Sabrina Buie was found murdered in a soybean field in Robeson County. Within days, police got two local teenagers to confess, Henry Lee McCollum and his half brother Leon Brown who was 19 and 15. They were both sentenced to death. Over 30 years later a judge ordered both men to be released after multiple pieces of evidence were shown which proved that neither McCollum nor Mr. Broom were responsible for the crime. DNA was taken from a cigarette found at the crime scene and it matched a man by the name of Roscoe Artis, who is already serving life in prison for a similar murder committed just weeks after Sabrina Buie’s killing. There was no physical evidence that linked either man to the crime. To make matters worse Mr. Artis was a suspect from the start. This is just one of the 150 stories of the people who were wrongly accused. How many more people need to be wrongly accused before the death penalty goes away for