The Alternative For Death Penalty Essay Research — страница 3

  • Просмотров 402
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 21
    Кб

women are sentenced to death. At year end in 1995, 48 women and 2.986 men were under death sentences. There are at least 62 times more men on death row than women. Of the men on death row in the United States, in 1995, 56 were executed, while all the females on death row remained on death row (United States Department of Justice 1). With respect to race, blacks consists of almost 41% of the total, while white make up only a little above 1% (Bedau 117). In addition, death row consists of mostly indigent individuals. And those who are accused of the murder of a white person are more likely to receive the punishment of death, than someone who murders a non-white person (Bedau 119). It is not surprising that almost 75% of blacks believe that a black individual is much more likely

than a white individual to receive the death penalty for similar crimes (Bedau 117). It is evident that there are problems inherent in the implementation of the death penalty. These inherent problems have prompted many individuals to oppose the United States capital punishment laws because it is an unfair, biased, arbitrary and discriminative method that cannot guarantee protection. Another problem that contributes to the errors in convictions are improper police work, unlucky chances, and frame ups (Radin 18). The flaws inherent in the death penalty policy must be eliminated. But how can an institution as large as the United States justice system guarantee perfection? It can?t. Since it cannot, a different alternative must be enacted in order to maintain social order and to

protect society without any fatal mistakes, such as wrongful executions. The implementation of the death penalty is irreversible. Life cannot be granted back to someone who is later found to have been innocent. The risk of losing an innocent life is, at least, an urgent cry to society that the death penalty is a flaw itself. At least with a different form of punishment that is reversible, innocent prisoners can be released back into society. Because mistakes are bond to occur within the judicial branch of government, as well as any other branch, an alternative to the death penalty punishment should be devised to eliminate the chance of wrongful execution and to save the nation thousands of millions of dollars. In order to guarantee the elimination of miscarriages of justice, I

propose a solution of abolishing the death penalty and enforcing life imprisonment without parole. The government needs to eliminate the death penalty to expunge the risk that it places upon innocent people in capital cases. To eliminate wrongful executions that may occur as a result of the imperfections of the United States justice system, it is only right that the death penalty be abolished completely. By sentencing accused offenders to life in prison without parole, their sentences can easily be overturned upon discovery of innocence. Though we would regret that the person had to spend time in jail, we can feel better that we were able to let him/her live life again (Stewart 99). An execution is final. Someone cannot be brought back to life once he/she has been executed. Life

imprisonment not only eliminates the risk of executing innocent lives, but it is also a more cost-effective method. Abolitionists contend that the death penalty is more expensive because of the multiple appeals that inmates request from behind bars (Barkan 525). And since most death row inmates are indigent individuals, the money needed for the appeals cases are funded with government tax money. In California, capital trials are six times more costly than other murder trials, simply because of the complex pre-trial motions, lengthy jury selections, and expenses for expert witnesses. And the pursuit by most death row prisoners to overturn their sentences through appeals are also very costly (Bedau 402). Steven Barkan, a criminal sociologist, argues that since the death sentences

puts the prisoner?s life at stake, death penalty cases are especially complicated from pretrial motions through sentencing and appeals, with the state usually having to pay for all the costs. Barkan estimates that the cost of each death penalty case is 2 to 3 million dollars (525). In California, one report estimated that the state could save $90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. And in New York, the Department of Correctional Services estimated that the death penalty would cost their state about $118 million annually. Sentencing someone to life imprisonment without parole would cost the state about $25,000 per year, or $1 million overall (Barkan 525). By using the funding that would otherwise be used for the implementation of the death penalty, the government