Death Penalty Killing A Criminal example essay topic

Death Penalty Killing a criminal does not constitute serving justice. Today's system of capital punishment is made with many inequalities and injustices. The commonly offered arguments for the death penalty are filled with holes. It was a deterrent. It removed killers.

It was the ultimate punishment. It is biblical. It satisfied the public's need for retribution. It relieved the anguish of the victim's family. Realistically, the deathpenalty is expensive and time consuming. Also, it has yet to be proven as a deterrent.

Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of deterrence. The idea of the death penalty was to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies have been made attempting to prove this belief, however, all the evidence taken together makes it hard to believe that capital punishment deters more than long prison terms do. We could execute all the people on death row, and most people would not feel any safer tomorrow.

In addition, with the population growing, the number of inmates actually put to death is lower than 50 years ago. This decline creates a situation in which the death penalty is not a deterrent when the most criminals begin to think that one can get away with a crime and go unpunished. Also, the less that the death sentence is used, the more it becomes unusual, thus coming in conflict with the eighth amendment. The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death. This creates a major problem when there continues to be many instances of innocent people being sentencedto death. In our legal system, there a lot of ways in which justice might be poorly served for someone with the death sentence.

First is in the handling of his own defense. If defendant is without lawyer, one will be provided. Attorney's appointed to represent broke criminals often lack the qualities necessary to provide a good defense. With lawyers not making much money on these cases, there is no much incentive for a lawyer to spend a great deal of time representing a criminal. When you compare this to the prosecution, aided by the police, other law enforcement agencies and crime labs, the defense has no chance. If, in fact, a defendant has a valid case to offer, what chance has he to offer it and have it properly recognized.

Furthermore, why should he be punished for a mis justice that was created by the court itself when it appointed the incapable lawyer. Revenge is an unworthy motive for our society to want. In our society, there is a great expectation placed on the family of a victim to pursue vengeance to the highest degree, the death penalty. Pat Bane, executive director of the Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (M VFR), stated, One parent told me that people made her feel like she was betraying her son because she did not want to kill the person who murdered him. This creates a dilemma of morality. If anything, by forcing families to seek the deathpenalty, their own consciences will be burdened by the death of the killer.

Furthermore, killing him will not bring back the one you lost. At some point, man must stop the violence. Most of us would agree that the punishment should fit the crime, but can we really justify murdering someone else simply on the basis that they deserved it Many people believe it is cheaper to execute someone than to have them sentencedto life in prison. The death penalty is a long and very expensive process. The average time between sentencing and execution for the 31 prisoners put on death row in 1992 was 114 months, or nine and a half years.

Criminal justice process expenses, trial court costs, appellate and post-conviction costs, and prison costs perhaps including years served on death row awaiting execution adds up to a quarter million dollars, and per execution exceeds $2 million. When you compare this to the average costs for a twenty year prison term for first degree murder (roughly $330,000), the cost of putting someone away for life is a deal. Is it really worth the hassle and money to kill a criminal, when we can put them away for life for less money with a great deal more ease.