Scores of these individuals were sentenced to death. Need a professionally written Custom Essay? People with a mental illness should be exempt from the death penalty Essay. Inagainst death penalty essay, the Supreme Court declared that under then-existing laws "the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty… constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. We ensure that we hire individuals with high academic qualifications who can maintain our quality policy.
INTRODUCTION TO THE “MODERN ERA” OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE UNITED STATES
The death penalty has been used for years as a way to punish the guilty. Over the years the death penalty has cost our Justice system millions. Besides the cost, it violates our Human Rights Bill and punishes the innocent people. The death penalty is not effective at reducing crime. Our society is not any safer and does not deter people from breaking the law. There are many different options in our system to fight crime, but the death against death penalty essay in not one of them. The death penalty is supposed prevent others from killing but it does not. A murder it usually starts, as an argument gone bad when the person is angry. No one makes death penalty their first thought when they leave the house. It never crosses the people mind: if they kill a person, they will get the death penalty.
People are still killing and it has not slowed down the number of murder cases in the US. If the death penalty is sending a message, unfortunately no one is listening to the message, against death penalty essay. Second, the death penalty cost more for an execution versus life in prison. Our country spends millions to execute prisoners versus leaving them in prison. Our country is having a budget crisis but it seem like we have millions of dollars for the death penalty. Third, the death penalty goes against our Human Right Bill. On December 10,United Nations adopted the Human Rights Bill. The death penalty is heartless to humans and a cruel punishment. We say do not kill, against death penalty essay, but we are doing the same thing.
A form in which a human life is being taken by execution is merciless. Many prisoners reform while they are in prison. Criminals have committed some unspeakable crimes, but they do not deserve to have their life to end. The US has changed the meaning of Human Rights Bill to justify our system settling of scores against another. In48 nations has abolish the death penalty. Fourth, the death penalty has executed people who are not guilty. If we continue the Death penalty, not guilty people will die. The problem with the death penalty is that innocent people is killed. The system makes mistakes and do not always have the evidence when convicting people. Many prisoners spend years serving time for a crime they did not do. There is no justice for them or their families.
Justice system do not question how many not guilty has died. We can punish them end other ways beside the death penalty. They argue that the death penalty executing those that are guilty. Capital punishment takes many steps to assure that fewer mistakes is made. In support of their side it is true that criminals get a fair trial in the legal system. Our system assures that lives will be save by execution, just the opposite there little evidence to prove that the death penalty saves lives. Retribution for a crime means the justice system is going to get even for the crime you committed. Retribution it is a cruel way for our justice system justifying what they are doing. Taking the life of the people who has killed, against death penalty essay, we are doing the same crime.
Killing the criminal is not going to bring back the victim, against death penalty essay. The victim family heals no faster than they did while the prisoner was in jail. They will grieve the same way in the same amount of time. The system is adding murder on top of murder there is no end to crime. The against death penalty essay goes on and does not end and the whole purpose is the stop murder. At some point, the system has to face reality and find another way that works. Despite the claim that capital punishment can serve as a way to stop criminals. Showing would be criminals the consequences of their actions.
There is a law and justice system and you have followed it. The death penalty should make people think before doing a crime but it is just the opposite. All things consider the justice system is morally wrong when it comes to the death penalty. The cost to execute a person is more expensive than life in prison without parole. Knowing that innocent people will be executed it is heartless way of punishment. We should focus more on how stop and prevent crime, against death penalty essay. We use cookies to offer you the best experience. You cannot copy content from our website. If you need this sample, insert an email and we'll deliver it to you. Essay Against Death Penalty Download. Category: Social Issues Subcategory: Human Rights Topic: Death Penalty Words: 2 pages.
Essay due? We'll write it for you! Any subject Min. Hire writer. More Essay Samples on Topic Death Death Penalty Gay Individual Rights Gun Control Sex Trafficking African American Affirmative Action Clock is ticking and inspiration doesn't come? No plagiarism guarantee. Deadline from 3 hours. Order now. We can write it better! Just try! Choose your writer among professionals! Order against death penalty essay essay. Sorry, You cannot copy content from our website. By clicking "Send", you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails. Would you like to have an against death penalty essay essay?
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We have already succeeded in gathering useful information about even the distant planets in and out of the solar system; but still our knowledge about the origin of life, architecture of the life, life before birth and life after death etc are very limited. Proponents of capital punishment argue that instead of giving capital punishment, keeping the hardcore criminals in prison for a lifelong period is highly expensive and meaningless. In my opinion, considering the value and mysteries surrounding human life, capital punishment is unethical or immoral.
Get your assignments done by real pros. Save your precious time and boost your marks with ease. Just fill in your HW requirements and you can count on us! Criminal justice systems in most of the countries believe that even if thousands of criminals escaped, no innocent people should be punished under any circumstances. We have lot of examples in which innocent people forced to accept punishments because of the circumstantial evidences collected against them by the law enforcement agencies. We should remember the story of one of the greatest philosophers of all time, Socrates, who forced to accept capital punishment since he tried to teach the word, the truth.
In other words, the existing criminal justice laws are not perfect and the loopholes may take the life of even innocent people. Life is the most precious thing in this world and once it is finished, no science or technology can regain it. In short, considering the possibility of human error in judgements, capital punishment should be avoided under all circumstances. Judiciary always declare a person as innocent or criminal based on evidences collected by the law enforcement agencies. But it is quite possible that the law enforcement agency may fabricate evidences against the culprit in their thirst to prove their credentials and achieve fame.
Many people believe that most of the evidences collected against the former Iraqi president Saddam Husain were fabricated ones and the criminal judicial system executed him because of the immense pressure exerted by America. Extensive and comprehensive trails are required before giving capital punishment to a person. These trial processes are lengthy, time consuming and expensive compared to other cases. Evidences from eye witnesses, forensic testing, and the services of expert advocates etc are necessary before the court taking their ultimate decisions against the criminal. In short, the expenses required to give a person capital punishment is more than the expenses needed to keep him in jail for his life term.
For more help, tap into our pool of professional writers and get expert essay editing services! In a civilized society like ours capital punishment is a barbarian act. Only the creator has the right to take or modify life of his creations. Since we are unable to create a life, we have no moral right to take a life. This world is not belonging to us. Even the strongest, powerful, influential or the wealthy person will leave this world one day, taking nothing in his hand. In other what we have in this world are only some illusions. We are only the temporary custodians of our properties. The properties in this world belong to the creator and only he has the authority to do whatever he wants with his property.
The system is adding murder on top of murder there is no end to crime. The cycle goes on and does not end and the whole purpose is the stop murder. At some point, the system has to face reality and find another way that works. Despite the claim that capital punishment can serve as a way to stop criminals. Showing would be criminals the consequences of their actions. There is a law and justice system and you have followed it. The death penalty should make people think before doing a crime but it is just the opposite. All things consider the justice system is morally wrong when it comes to the death penalty.
The cost to execute a person is more expensive than life in prison without parole. Knowing that innocent people will be executed it is heartless way of punishment. We should focus more on how stop and prevent crime. We use cookies to offer you the best experience. You cannot copy content from our website. If you need this sample, insert an email and we'll deliver it to you. Essay Against Death Penalty Download. Category: Social Issues Subcategory: Human Rights Topic: Death Penalty Words: 2 pages. Essay due? We'll write it for you! Any subject Min. Hire writer. More Essay Samples on Topic Death Death Penalty Gay Individual Rights Gun Control Sex Trafficking African American Between and , men were executed for rape, of whom — 90 percent — were black.
A higher percentage of the blacks who were executed were juveniles; and the rate of execution without having one's conviction reviewed by any higher court was higher for blacks. Bowers, Legal Homicide ; Streib, Death Penalty for Juveniles In recent years, it has been argued that such flagrant racial discrimination is a thing of the past. However, since the revival of the death penalty in the mids, about half of those on death row at any given time have been black. More striking is the racial comparison of victims. African-Americans are six times as likely as white Americans to die at the hands of a murderer, and roughly seven times as likely to murder someone. Young black men are fifteen times as likely to be murdered as young white men. So given this information, when those under death sentence are examined more closely, it turns out that race is a decisive factor after all.
The classic statistical study of racial discrimination in capital cases in Georgia presented in the McCleskey case showed that "the average odds of receiving a death sentence among all indicted cases were 4. Baldus et al. Kemp and while the Court did not dispute the statistical evidence, it held that evidence of an overall pattern of racial bias was not sufficient. McCleskey would have to prove racial bias in his own case — a virtually impossible task. The Court also held that the evidence failed to show that there was "a constitutionally significant risk of racial bias In , the U. General Accounting Office reported to the Congress the results of its review of empirical studies on racism and the death penalty. The GAO concluded : "Our synthesis of the 28 studies shows a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty after the Furman decision" and that "race of victim influence was found at all stages of the criminal justice system process Texas was prepared to execute Duane Buck on September 15, Buck was condemned to death by a jury that had been told by an expert psychologist that he was more likely to be dangerous because he was African American.
The Supreme Court stayed the case, but Mr. Buck has not yet received the new sentencing hearing justice requires. These results cannot be explained away by relevant non-racial factors, such as prior criminal record or type of crime, as these were factored for in the Baldus and GAO studies referred to above. They lead to a very unsavory conclusion: In the trial courts of this nation, even at the present time, the killing of a white person is treated much more severely than the killing of a black person. Of the white defendants executed, only three had been convicted of murdering people of color. Our criminal justice system essentially reserves the death penalty for murderers regardless of their race who kill white victims.
Both gender and socio-economic class also determine who receives a death sentence and who is executed. Women account for only two percent of all people sentenced to death , even though females commit about 11 percent of all criminal homicides. Many of the women under death sentence were guilty of killing men who had victimized them with years of violent abuse. Since , only 51 women have been executed in the United States 15 of them black. Discrimination against the poor and in our society, racial minorities are disproportionately poor is also well established. It is a prominent factor in the availability of counsel. Fairness in capital cases requires, above all, competent counsel for the defendant.
Yet "approximately 90 percent of those on death row could not afford to hire a lawyer when they were tried. As Justice William O. Douglas noted in Furman , "One searches our chronicles in vain for the execution of any member of the affluent strata in this society" US The demonstrated inequities in the actual administration of capital punishment should tip the balance against it in the judgment of fair-minded and impartial observers. Justice John Marshall Harlan, writing for the Court in Furman , noted "… the history of capital punishment for homicides … reveals continual efforts, uniformly unsuccessful, to identify before the fact those homicides for which the slayer should die…. Those who have come to grips with the hard task of actually attempting to draft means of channeling capital sentencing discretion have confirmed the lesson taught by history….
To identify before the fact those characteristics of criminal homicides and their perpetrators which call for the death penalty, and to express these characteristics in language which can be fairly understood and applied by the sentencing authority, appear to be tasks which are beyond present human ability. Yet in the Gregg decision, the majority of the Supreme Court abandoned the wisdom of Justice Harlan and ruled as though the new guided-discretion statutes could accomplish the impossible. The truth is that death statutes approved by the Court "do not effectively restrict the discretion of juries by any real standards, and they never will. No society is going to kill everybody who meets certain preset verbal requirements, put on the statute books without awareness of coverage of the infinity of special factors the real world can produce.
Evidence obtained by the Capital Jury Project has shown that jurors in capital trials generally do not understand the judge's instructions about the laws that govern the choice between imposing the death penalty and a life sentence. Even when they do comprehend, jurors often refuse to be guided by the law. The effect [of this relative lack of comprehension of the law]… is to reduce the likelihood that capital defendants will benefit from the safeguards against arbitrariness built into the… law. Even if the jury's sentencing decision were strictly governed by the relevant legal criteria, there remains a vast reservoir of unfettered discretion: the prosecutor's decision to prosecute for a capital or lesser crime, the court's willingness to accept or reject a guilty plea, the jury's decision to convict for second-degree murder or manslaughter rather than capital murder, the determination of the defendant's sanity, and the governor's final clemency decision, among others.
Discretion in the criminal justice system is unavoidable. The history of capital punishment in America clearly demonstrates the social desire to mitigate the harshness of the death penalty by narrowing the scope of its application. Whether or not explicitly authorized by statutes, sentencing discretion has been the main vehicle to this end. But when sentencing discretion is used — as it too often has been — to doom the poor, the friendless, the uneducated, racial minorities, and the despised, it becomes injustice. Mindful of such facts, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association including 20 out of 24 former presidents of the ABA called for a moratorium on all executions by a vote of to in February The House judged the current system to be "a haphazard maze of unfair practices.
In its survey of the death penalty in the United States, the International Commission of Jurists reinforced this point. Despite the efforts made over the past two decades since Gregg to protect the administration of the death penalty from abuses, the actual "constitutional errors committed in state courts have gravely undermined the legitimacy of the death penalty as a punishment for crime. In , the American Law Institute ALI , the leading independent organization in the U. producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and improve the law, removed capital punishment from its Model Penal Code.
The ALI, which created the modern legal framework for the death penalty in , indicated that the punishment is so arbitrary, fraught with racial and economic disparities, and unable to assure quality legal representation for indigent capital defendants, that it can never be administered fairly. Thoughtful citizens, who might possibly support the abstract notion of capital punishment, are obliged to condemn it in actual practice. Unlike any other criminal punishments, the death penalty is irrevocable. Speaking to the French Chamber of Deputies in , years after having witnessed the excesses of the French Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette said, "I shall ask for the abolition of the punishment of death until I have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me.
Since , in this country, there have been on the average more than four cases each year in which an entirely innocent person was convicted of murder. Scores of these individuals were sentenced to death. In many cases, a reprieve or commutation arrived just hours, or even minutes, before the scheduled execution. These erroneous convictions have occurred in virtually every jurisdiction from one end of the nation to the other. Nor have they declined in recent years, despite the new death penalty statutes approved by the Supreme Court. Disturbingly, and increasingly, a large body of evidence from the modern era shows that innocent people are often convicted of crimes — including capital crimes — and that some have been executed.
He was convicted largely based on eyewitness testimony made from the back of a police car in a dimly lit lot near the crime scene. This sample of freakish and arbitrary innocence determinations also speaks directly to the unceasing concern that there are many more innocent people on death rows across the country — as well as who have been executed. Several factors seen in the above sample of cases help explain why the judicial system cannot guarantee that justice will never miscarry: overzealous prosecution, mistaken or perjured testimony, race, faulty police work, coerced confessions, the defendant's previous criminal record, inept and under-resourced defense counsel, seemingly conclusive circumstantial evidence, and community pressure for a conviction, among others.
And when the system does go wrong, it is often volunteers from outside the criminal justice system — journalists, for example — who rectify the errors, not the police or prosecutors. To retain the death penalty in the face of the demonstrable failures of the system is unacceptable, especially since there are no strong overriding reasons to favor the death penalty. Prisoners are executed in the United States by any one of five methods; in a few jurisdictions the prisoner is allowed to choose which one he or she prefers:. The traditional mode of execution, hanging , is an option still available in Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington. Death on the gallows is easily bungled: If the drop is too short, there will be a slow and agonizing death by strangulation.
If the drop is too long, the head will be torn off. Two states, Idaho and Utah, still authorize the firing squad. The prisoner is strapped into a chair and hooded. A target is pinned to the chest. Five marksmen, one with blanks, take aim and fire. Throughout the twentieth century, electrocution has been the most widely used form of execution in this country, and is still utilized in eleven states, although lethal injection is the primary method of execution. The condemned prisoner is led — or dragged — into the death chamber, strapped into the chair, and electrodes are fastened to head and legs. When the switch is thrown the body strains, jolting as the voltage is raised and lowered. Often smoke rises from the head. There is the awful odor of burning flesh. No one knows how long electrocuted individuals retain consciousness.
In , the electrocution of John Evans in Alabama was described by an eyewitness as follows:. the first jolt of volts of electricity passed through Mr. Evans' body. It lasted thirty seconds. Sparks and flames erupted … from the electrode tied to Mr. Evans' left leg. His body slammed against the straps holding him in the electric chair and his fist clenched permanently. The electrode apparently burst from the strap holding it in place. A large puff of grayish smoke and sparks poured out from under the hood that covered Mr. Evans' face. An overpowering stench of burnt flesh and clothing began pervading the witness room. Two doctors examined Mr. Evans and declared that he was not dead. Evans was administered a second thirty second jolt of electricity.
The stench of burning flesh was nauseating. More smoke emanated from his leg and head. Again, the doctors examined Mr. At that time, I asked the prison commissioner, who was communicating on an open telephone line to Governor George Wallace, to grant clemency on the grounds that Mr. Evans was being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. The request …was denied. At , the doctors pronounced him dead. The execution of John Evans took fourteen minutes. The introduction of the gas chamber was an attempt to improve on electrocution. In this method of execution the prisoner is strapped into a chair with a container of sulfuric acid underneath. The chamber is sealed, and cyanide is dropped into the acid to form a lethal gas.
Execution by suffocation in the lethal gas chamber has not been abolished but lethal injection serves as the primary method in states which still authorize it. In a panel of judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California where the gas chamber has been used since ruled that this method is a "cruel and unusual punishment. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens:. A few seconds later he again looked in my direction. His face was red and contorted as if he were attempting to fight through tremendous pain. His mouth was pursed shut and his jaw was clenched tight. Don then took several more quick gulps of the fumes. His face and body turned a deep red and the veins in his temple and neck began to bulge until I thought they might explode.
After about a minute Don's face leaned partially forward, but he was still conscious. Every few seconds he continued to gulp in. He was shuddering uncontrollably and his body was racked with spasms. His head continued to snap back. His hands were clenched. At this time the muscles along Don's left arm and back began twitching in a wavelike motion under his skin. Spittle drooled from his mouth. Approximately two minutes later, we were told by a prison official that the execution was complete. District Court , S. The latest mode of inflicting the death penalty, enacted into law by more than 30 states, is lethal injection , first used in in Texas. It is easy to overstate the humaneness and efficacy of this method; one cannot know whether lethal injection is really painless and there is evidence that it is not.
As the U. Court of Appeals observed, there is "substantial and uncontroverted evidence… that execution by lethal injection poses a serious risk of cruel, protracted death…. Even a slight error in dosage or administration can leave a prisoner conscious but paralyzed while dying, a sentient witness of his or her own asphyxiation. Heckler , F. Its veneer of decency and subtle analogy with life-saving medical practice no doubt makes killing by lethal injection more acceptable to the public. Journalist Susan Blaustein, reacting to having witnessed an execution in Texas, comments:. Nor does execution by lethal injection always proceed smoothly as planned. In "the authorities repeatedly jabbed needles into … Stephen Morin, when they had trouble finding a usable vein because he had been a drug abuser.
Although the U. Supreme Court has held that the current method of lethal injection used is constitutional, several people have suffered because of this form of execution. In Ohio, Rommel Broom was subjected to 18 attempts at finding a vein so that he could be killed by lethal injection.
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