“It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice” (“Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional?”). This is not some twisted, medieval government policy: this is the modern death penalty, or capital punishment. Capital punishment, or the execution of criminals by the government as punishment for particularly horrific crimes like murder, has been implemented for centuries; it dates back to Babylon in the 18th century B.C. Its morality and modern appropriateness have been debated at length, at one point provoking a 4 year period from 1972 to 1976 in which it was suspended by the Supreme Court for unconstitutionality (Part I). The death penalty should be abolished for many reasons. For one, it is
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In fact, a death penalty case is about 1 million dollars more expensive than one of similar severity without a death notice (“Does the Death Penalty Cost”). Supporters of the death penalty praise the ease at which a judge can permanently discard a criminal. They also hail how it appears to save years of capital that would have been used for caring for prisoners in LWOP. However, the paperwork, manpower, and, most importantly, capital required to put a man to death is not surprisingly enormous. Indeed, the longer trial preparation, longer jury decisions, and many more appeals have increased the price of a death sentence exponentially past the relatively inexpensive price of LWOP (“Does the Death Penalty Cost”). The death penalty is a bureaucratic nightmare, specifically designed to ensure that only guilty people are killed; this explodes the amount of money needed to put a guilty man to death to astronomical heights. Capital punishment is therefore much more expensive than life without parole and is simply too expensive to be financially worthwhile and …show more content…
No one deserves to die, even the vilest of criminals, and the government certainly does not have the right to kill them. Capital punishment also breaks the Eighth Amendment and can be interpreted as multiple punishments. Additionally, it is considerably more expensive than LWOP and wastes valuable capital that could be used to better prisoners’ or citizens’ lives. Inferior attorneys can poorly fight for a defendant and greatly increase their chances of dying. Finally, the risk of killing innocents is far too great to warrant the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment should be abolished as it has many legal and financial flaws and breaks the important ethical rules that no one, not even the government, has the right to kill a human being and that innocence must be valued above all
In fact, a death penalty case is about 1 million dollars more expensive than one of similar severity without a death notice (“Does the Death Penalty Cost”). Supporters of the death penalty praise the ease at which a judge can permanently discard a criminal. They also hail how it appears to save years of capital that would have been used for caring for prisoners in LWOP. However, the paperwork, manpower, and, most importantly, capital required to put a man to death is not surprisingly enormous. Indeed, the longer trial preparation, longer jury decisions, and many more appeals have increased the price of a death sentence exponentially past the relatively inexpensive price of LWOP (“Does the Death Penalty Cost”). The death penalty is a bureaucratic nightmare, specifically designed to ensure that only guilty people are killed; this explodes the amount of money needed to put a guilty man to death to astronomical heights. Capital punishment is therefore much more expensive than life without parole and is simply too expensive to be financially worthwhile and …show more content…
No one deserves to die, even the vilest of criminals, and the government certainly does not have the right to kill them. Capital punishment also breaks the Eighth Amendment and can be interpreted as multiple punishments. Additionally, it is considerably more expensive than LWOP and wastes valuable capital that could be used to better prisoners’ or citizens’ lives. Inferior attorneys can poorly fight for a defendant and greatly increase their chances of dying. Finally, the risk of killing innocents is far too great to warrant the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment should be abolished as it has many legal and financial flaws and breaks the important ethical rules that no one, not even the government, has the right to kill a human being and that innocence must be valued above all