What this information should tell us is that we are incapable of deciding whether someone should receive capital punishment or not based solely on the facts of the case. Our nature dictates that our personal biases will always play a part in the final decision. We cannot give ourselves the power to kill if we cannot be just in deciding who dies. If the death penalty was truly invented for the greater good and intended to protect society, then punishment would be based on the facts of the crime alone. Race would never be factored in to the decision.
These disadvantages are just a few of the ways that the death penalty is not only unjust but arbitrary. Beyond the increased likelihood of being convicted based on poverty or race, other factors …show more content…
If we have alternatives that will do the same job the death penalty will then there is no reason for its use. Spending time and money maintaining death row inmates is nothing but a huge waste of resources. So why should we spend the extra $90,000 a year to accomplish the same goal with double the risk of doing irreversible damage? Our solution to crime is only creating more problems and with no added benefit other than being slightly more soothing to the public. We cannot even justify its practice by saying that it deters crime. 88% of criminologists believe that the death penalty is ineffective in stopping crime (Gillespie). This makes sense seeing as a planned murders don’t make up the majority of capital crimes committed. If even this argument in support for the death penalty can be refuted then we must conclude that the only rational we have left in keeping the death penalty is our own need for revenge on the criminals who have committed unforgivable acts. The need to set things right and restore balance is not necessarily bad in itself. But the risk we take with using this as our motive is that it blinds us. In our desperate attempt at achieving justice we will willingly ignore the flaws within the system we believe to be a tool for
These disadvantages are just a few of the ways that the death penalty is not only unjust but arbitrary. Beyond the increased likelihood of being convicted based on poverty or race, other factors …show more content…
If we have alternatives that will do the same job the death penalty will then there is no reason for its use. Spending time and money maintaining death row inmates is nothing but a huge waste of resources. So why should we spend the extra $90,000 a year to accomplish the same goal with double the risk of doing irreversible damage? Our solution to crime is only creating more problems and with no added benefit other than being slightly more soothing to the public. We cannot even justify its practice by saying that it deters crime. 88% of criminologists believe that the death penalty is ineffective in stopping crime (Gillespie). This makes sense seeing as a planned murders don’t make up the majority of capital crimes committed. If even this argument in support for the death penalty can be refuted then we must conclude that the only rational we have left in keeping the death penalty is our own need for revenge on the criminals who have committed unforgivable acts. The need to set things right and restore balance is not necessarily bad in itself. But the risk we take with using this as our motive is that it blinds us. In our desperate attempt at achieving justice we will willingly ignore the flaws within the system we believe to be a tool for