Death Penalty Vs Capital Punishment Analysis

A former Cincinnati resident was ordering his last meal before execution in prison when the governor reversed his sentence because the DNA on his shoes did not match the blood of the victim. A Cleveland man was freed from his death sentence after serving forty years when a witness confessed to lying during the trial about seeing the murder. A man from Akron was spared from execution after officials confirmed that he was mentally disabled and contained the mind of a second-grader. (Johnson and Wagner, 2015) Capital punishments consist of being sentenced to civil death or execution. Many arguments and debates have risen about the whether the death penalty or life in prison without parole is the best option for Ohio. Cost of punishments, fairness …show more content…
In reality, civil punishment is much cheaper than the death penalty. The states could save billions of dollars over the years knowing that the death penalty is off of the tables. Some believe civil death is a better option for taxpayers. (Johnson and Wagner, 2015) The tax money can then be used for more efficient projects. Housing prisoners adds up to an average of only $90,000 per year. (ACLU) Certainly, sentencing a criminal to life in prison without parole is more fair than being condemned to death. Decreasing the use of the death penalty will make it less likely that an innocent life will be taken for a crime of another person. (Valley Morning Star, 2015) Timothy Young, director of the Ohio Public Defender’s office argued that having the death penalty was not fair and life without parole would be better for the accused. “It’s all become about fighting the fight,” young said, “Our system is failing, and our system has a horrible record of accurate review. We have corrupted our law to justify a death-penalty process that is unfair.” (Johnson and Wagner, 2015) Unlike death penalty cases, however, civil death sentences receives no special consideration on appeals, limiting the possibility that the sentenced could be reduced or reversed. (ACLU) People like the idea of having a death penalty to provide pain to the criminals, but most criminals say life in prison is much worse. Spending even just a small amount of time in an overcrowded, dangerous prison is not pleasant. Tyler, a prisoner at Trumbull Correctional Institution and other inmates who were close to dying say a long, hopeless life behind bars is a worse fate. (Johnson and Wagner, 2015) By all means, life in prison does not sound like an awful punishment, it impacts many people just as the death penalty. “I did 32 years straight on Death Row,” said