In Texas, the Dallas Morning News concluded that a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years (Cost). Whereas European and most other fully developed countries have abolished the death penalty for all offenses, the U.S. federal government and 31 of its states are still holding on to capital punishment. This controversy is very emotionally and hotly debated throughout the country, whenever violent crimes are brought to our attention, but rarely can a common ground be found as to whether the death penalty is an appropriate form of punishment. Because the death penalty no longer meets any societal aims and trials for capital
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As Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director Death Penalty Information Center, says in his speech before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee, “In public opinion polls, there is a clear upward trend in support for life-without-parole sentences as a substitute for the death penalty. Moreover, the states without the death penalty have fared better in reducing their murder rates than states with the death penalty (Cost).” This passage shows that the death penalty as a whole does not deter criminals, because at the point where people kill they don 't think about the long reaching consequences their action might have. Also, the public slowly realizes that when people want to justify what the criminal did, putting them in prison might do them more harm than a quick ten minute death. Noting that the Supreme Court is now working to make executions as painless as possible, Stevens found a paradox and wrote that by requiring that an “[E]xecution be relatively painless, we necessarily protect the inmate from enduring any punishment that is comparable to the suffering inflicted on his victim (In).” This quote shows that Justice Stevens thinks that executions should be a punishment for a crime committed. But since the Supreme Court is working to make executions as painless as possible, the criminal does not suffer anything comparable to the …show more content…
Capital punishment should be abolished for all offenses throughout America. States without the death penalty have done better in reducing crime than others. Victims experience pain, yet the murderer 's pain is as light as possible. Executing is not the solution, simply because criminals might escape, though very unlikely. Most likely, the trial was unjust, racially biased and excluded death penalty opponents. The death penalty should not exist and be set aside to avoid further death. Eliminating the death penalty would be much cheaper and more humane. No one, not even the state, can repay for a life
As Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director Death Penalty Information Center, says in his speech before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee, “In public opinion polls, there is a clear upward trend in support for life-without-parole sentences as a substitute for the death penalty. Moreover, the states without the death penalty have fared better in reducing their murder rates than states with the death penalty (Cost).” This passage shows that the death penalty as a whole does not deter criminals, because at the point where people kill they don 't think about the long reaching consequences their action might have. Also, the public slowly realizes that when people want to justify what the criminal did, putting them in prison might do them more harm than a quick ten minute death. Noting that the Supreme Court is now working to make executions as painless as possible, Stevens found a paradox and wrote that by requiring that an “[E]xecution be relatively painless, we necessarily protect the inmate from enduring any punishment that is comparable to the suffering inflicted on his victim (In).” This quote shows that Justice Stevens thinks that executions should be a punishment for a crime committed. But since the Supreme Court is working to make executions as painless as possible, the criminal does not suffer anything comparable to the …show more content…
Capital punishment should be abolished for all offenses throughout America. States without the death penalty have done better in reducing crime than others. Victims experience pain, yet the murderer 's pain is as light as possible. Executing is not the solution, simply because criminals might escape, though very unlikely. Most likely, the trial was unjust, racially biased and excluded death penalty opponents. The death penalty should not exist and be set aside to avoid further death. Eliminating the death penalty would be much cheaper and more humane. No one, not even the state, can repay for a life