The Ultimate Crime
There were approximately 23 people who were executed while being on death row in the United States this year. California alone is projected to spend around one billion dollars in the next five years on the death penalty. Capital punishments adds up to be 24 million for every individual person in the United States(Source). This ends up costing more than keeping a person in prison for the duration of their life. Do people agree with capital punishment? Whether individuals are for, against, or only for capital punishment in heinous crimes, everyone will agree it needs to be more cost efficient.
A study conducted in 2013 found that 63 percent of Americans are in favor of the death penalty. Those who are in favor of capital punishment …show more content…
The main argument against the death penalty is how cost inefficient the death penalty is. The statistics on the numbers are plain to see that it is simply not worth the amount of money poured into one individual. The vast amount of money could be put towards programs that help keep individuals out of the prisons. It makes more sense to save people 's lives than to take one. Another reason people are opposed is due to the barbaric act that is killing another. It directly violates the United States Bill of Rights, the eighth amendment to be exact. This amendment prohibits any cruel or unusual punishment to any United States citizens. Many individuals would find a firing squad, lethal injection, or the electric chair a form of cruel punishment. To sentence a man to death in a system that has failed in the past, 4 times to be exact, seems unreasonable. (Source) If a civilization cannot prove completely that a person was guilty or not under no circumstances should that person be executed. The third argument people against the death penalty make is that life in prison is worse then being put to death. In the past most Colombians that committed a crime preferred to be executed over the chance of being extradited. Spending a life sentence in prison gives a person a lot of time to think about the acts they have committed. Every day they wake up in that prison they can think about the victim they …show more content…
The cost of capital punishment is too excessive. Many Americans will argue that the state should find more affordable ways to execute the inmate when infact most of the money spent on a capital punishment case is put into the trials preceding the execution. On average a death penalty trial will cost $116,700.00 more than a regular murder trial. This is largely due to jury selection, pretrial motions, and expenses for expert witnesses, all of which are more complicated than a regular case. If california alone were to abolish capital punishment it would save the state 90 million each year(Source). Now this initially seems ideal, however there are other pros for having that death penalty that I previously went over. There just needs to be a more efficient judicial system that can process these inmates faster, yet still stay at or above its current efficiency. Now a low budget, yet efficient system seems a little too optimistic, but the current situation simply will not do. The average cost ranges from 2.3 million in Texas to 3.2 million in Florida for each individual case. This is a substantial amount compared to life sentences in these states that our are not even one third the cost. The solution to lowering the cost is not easy, yet it is achievable. The first thing would be moving criminals through the system faster that have a direct DNA match to the crime scene. This makes sense because DNA testing
There were approximately 23 people who were executed while being on death row in the United States this year. California alone is projected to spend around one billion dollars in the next five years on the death penalty. Capital punishments adds up to be 24 million for every individual person in the United States(Source). This ends up costing more than keeping a person in prison for the duration of their life. Do people agree with capital punishment? Whether individuals are for, against, or only for capital punishment in heinous crimes, everyone will agree it needs to be more cost efficient.
A study conducted in 2013 found that 63 percent of Americans are in favor of the death penalty. Those who are in favor of capital punishment …show more content…
The main argument against the death penalty is how cost inefficient the death penalty is. The statistics on the numbers are plain to see that it is simply not worth the amount of money poured into one individual. The vast amount of money could be put towards programs that help keep individuals out of the prisons. It makes more sense to save people 's lives than to take one. Another reason people are opposed is due to the barbaric act that is killing another. It directly violates the United States Bill of Rights, the eighth amendment to be exact. This amendment prohibits any cruel or unusual punishment to any United States citizens. Many individuals would find a firing squad, lethal injection, or the electric chair a form of cruel punishment. To sentence a man to death in a system that has failed in the past, 4 times to be exact, seems unreasonable. (Source) If a civilization cannot prove completely that a person was guilty or not under no circumstances should that person be executed. The third argument people against the death penalty make is that life in prison is worse then being put to death. In the past most Colombians that committed a crime preferred to be executed over the chance of being extradited. Spending a life sentence in prison gives a person a lot of time to think about the acts they have committed. Every day they wake up in that prison they can think about the victim they …show more content…
The cost of capital punishment is too excessive. Many Americans will argue that the state should find more affordable ways to execute the inmate when infact most of the money spent on a capital punishment case is put into the trials preceding the execution. On average a death penalty trial will cost $116,700.00 more than a regular murder trial. This is largely due to jury selection, pretrial motions, and expenses for expert witnesses, all of which are more complicated than a regular case. If california alone were to abolish capital punishment it would save the state 90 million each year(Source). Now this initially seems ideal, however there are other pros for having that death penalty that I previously went over. There just needs to be a more efficient judicial system that can process these inmates faster, yet still stay at or above its current efficiency. Now a low budget, yet efficient system seems a little too optimistic, but the current situation simply will not do. The average cost ranges from 2.3 million in Texas to 3.2 million in Florida for each individual case. This is a substantial amount compared to life sentences in these states that our are not even one third the cost. The solution to lowering the cost is not easy, yet it is achievable. The first thing would be moving criminals through the system faster that have a direct DNA match to the crime scene. This makes sense because DNA testing