Dissertation on Death Penalty
Do you know that 38 of the 50 states in the United States uphold the death penalty? This system has been a topic of debate for many years. Whether or not it is fitting and adequate punishment, whether or not it carries out as a deterrent to crime, and whether or not it is morally wrong, people who either support or oppose the death penalty are still arguing each other. In our attempt to create a safe and secure environment, life imprisonment must be much more favorable in laws compared to the death penalty. It is true that capital punishment can bring about a more protected feeling because there is no way the criminal can escape, but executing a law breaker – even who is guilty of committing a murder – is not humane. Maybe some people consider execution as more humane because it is quick and instant, but still, we have no right to take one’s life for punishing and disciplining. That is not our duty; that is God’s role. None of us should have the power to decide another’s destiny. The death penalty is also irreparable. Even if we see it through an economical motive, the belief that the death penalty costs less than life imprisonment is a myth.
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Saving money is another excuse provided by those who support the death penalty, but there has been a lot of research to prove that this belief is a mistake. Studies done by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) show that the cost of a single capital case, from arrest to execution, is three to ten times more expensive than a non – death penalty case, even one resulting in a sentence for life without possibility of being released. The Sacramento Bee also estimated that between 1977 and 1993, California spent $1 billion on death – row cases, only to execute two people during that time period. The state can use that money for education, health programs, and many other public facilities. Assuredly, the money spent on the death penalty case can easily cover the cost of life imprisonment. For this reason, we can clearly see that the system of life imprisonment is economically more beneficial.
The purpose of the law is to provide safety and security. But the death penalty takes revenge and punishes. Law-breaking consequences are made to prevent crimes occur more, not to punish the person who is responsible the crime. To take revenge means we just do the same bad thing as the criminal. To kill someone with knowledge of what we are doing is surely a murder. The object of taking revenge is to satisfy ourselves, to see someone suffer and to feel pain just as what he did to us – or to our relatives. That is just the same awful and cruel thing. It is just as tragic for the innocent to lose his life as for the states that pretend to have a power and right to take the life of the criminal convicted of a capital crime. Two wrongs do not make a right. It is nonsense to say that two people dead is better than one. The death penalty is also not proved to deter crime, which is the main purpose of law.
According to the December 5, 1997, Chicago Tribune, “A new national poll of police chiefs and sheriffs was conducted, and the death penalty was ranked as the least cost effective way of reducing crime.” In 1974, states with the death penalty had an average murder rate of 9.3 per 100,000 populations, whereas states without it had an average rate of 5.8. And none of the states with the six lowest murder rates had death penalty laws. This result shows a lack of correlation between the threat of the death penalty and the occurrence of violent crimes. We can not pretend we can make people stop killing by demonstrating a vengeful punishment. Murderers are not rational people who always consider the consequences of their actions.
The death penalty is also irreversible. Capital punishment is a permanent solution; however, what happens if an innocent person is convicted or sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit? People make mistakes, justice can be miscarried. Research shows that in the last hundred years, there have been more than 75 documented capital punishment cases of wrongful convictions. Undoubtedly, many other cases of mistaken convictions and executions remain undocumented. An example of a wrongful conviction case is the execution of Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee who were sentenced to the electric chair in Florida in 1963, and they were later proven innocent in 1975 – which was of course too late to cancel the punishment. Pitts and Lee have been executed for a crime that they did not commit. The death penalty is a permanent solution, which should not be upheld in law. Innocent people do not have to be killed just because of a wrongly conviction. A prisoner discovered to be blameless can be freed, but neither release nor compensation is possible in an execution.
With all those facts, surely we can see that the death penalty is not a solution. Beyond its horror, it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the criminal.
Capital punishment has cheapened human life and dignity. There is no doubt that people can do more when they are alive, not when they are dead. Criminals can be put in jail and instructed to work. Money is of course no value in jail. There is no reason for the criminals to receive any compensation for their work. But by working, the criminals can actually “pay back” society. One of the most well known examples of the criminal contributing to the betterment of society is the case of Leopold and Loeb who were 19 years old when they committed the crime of kidnapping and murdering a 14 year old boy. They murdered this boy only to experience an “entertaining and intellectually challenging game”; this case was later famous as “the crime of the twentieth century”. Leopold and Loeb were sentenced to life imprisonment. While in jail, their accomplishments included working at hospitals, teaching illiterates to read, creating a school for prisoners, making significant developments in the World War II Malaria Project, and writing a grammar book. So now, with all the researcher’s results, the states should realize that the capital punishment does not benefit the society. The death penalty is not a final solution; there is another way that is better and even more beneficial. We do not have to kill people to demonstrate that killing is wrong.
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Saving money is another excuse provided by those who support the death penalty, but there has been a lot of research to prove that this belief is a mistake. Studies done by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) show that the cost of a single capital case, from arrest to execution, is three to ten times more expensive than a non – death penalty case, even one resulting in a sentence for life without possibility of being released. The Sacramento Bee also estimated that between 1977 and 1993, California spent $1 billion on death – row cases, only to execute two people during that time period. The state can use that money for education, health programs, and many other public facilities. Assuredly, the money spent on the death penalty case can easily cover the cost of life imprisonment. For this reason, we can clearly see that the system of life imprisonment is economically more beneficial.
The purpose of the law is to provide safety and security. But the death penalty takes revenge and punishes. Law-breaking consequences are made to prevent crimes occur more, not to punish the person who is responsible the crime. To take revenge means we just do the same bad thing as the criminal. To kill someone with knowledge of what we are doing is surely a murder. The object of taking revenge is to satisfy ourselves, to see someone suffer and to feel pain just as what he did to us – or to our relatives. That is just the same awful and cruel thing. It is just as tragic for the innocent to lose his life as for the states that pretend to have a power and right to take the life of the criminal convicted of a capital crime. Two wrongs do not make a right. It is nonsense to say that two people dead is better than one. The death penalty is also not proved to deter crime, which is the main purpose of law.
According to the December 5, 1997, Chicago Tribune, “A new national poll of police chiefs and sheriffs was conducted, and the death penalty was ranked as the least cost effective way of reducing crime.” In 1974, states with the death penalty had an average murder rate of 9.3 per 100,000 populations, whereas states without it had an average rate of 5.8. And none of the states with the six lowest murder rates had death penalty laws. This result shows a lack of correlation between the threat of the death penalty and the occurrence of violent crimes. We can not pretend we can make people stop killing by demonstrating a vengeful punishment. Murderers are not rational people who always consider the consequences of their actions.
The death penalty is also irreversible. Capital punishment is a permanent solution; however, what happens if an innocent person is convicted or sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit? People make mistakes, justice can be miscarried. Research shows that in the last hundred years, there have been more than 75 documented capital punishment cases of wrongful convictions. Undoubtedly, many other cases of mistaken convictions and executions remain undocumented. An example of a wrongful conviction case is the execution of Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee who were sentenced to the electric chair in Florida in 1963, and they were later proven innocent in 1975 – which was of course too late to cancel the punishment. Pitts and Lee have been executed for a crime that they did not commit. The death penalty is a permanent solution, which should not be upheld in law. Innocent people do not have to be killed just because of a wrongly conviction. A prisoner discovered to be blameless can be freed, but neither release nor compensation is possible in an execution.
With all those facts, surely we can see that the death penalty is not a solution. Beyond its horror, it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the criminal.
Capital punishment has cheapened human life and dignity. There is no doubt that people can do more when they are alive, not when they are dead. Criminals can be put in jail and instructed to work. Money is of course no value in jail. There is no reason for the criminals to receive any compensation for their work. But by working, the criminals can actually “pay back” society. One of the most well known examples of the criminal contributing to the betterment of society is the case of Leopold and Loeb who were 19 years old when they committed the crime of kidnapping and murdering a 14 year old boy. They murdered this boy only to experience an “entertaining and intellectually challenging game”; this case was later famous as “the crime of the twentieth century”. Leopold and Loeb were sentenced to life imprisonment. While in jail, their accomplishments included working at hospitals, teaching illiterates to read, creating a school for prisoners, making significant developments in the World War II Malaria Project, and writing a grammar book. So now, with all the researcher’s results, the states should realize that the capital punishment does not benefit the society. The death penalty is not a final solution; there is another way that is better and even more beneficial. We do not have to kill people to demonstrate that killing is wrong.
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