Anthony Chan

Chan 1

10-24-15
Government
Death Penalty
The Death Penalty isnt only just killing the person being executed but also the United
Sates. The costs of an execution are putting America more into debt than they were before. The
states without the death penalty enforced have a lower crime rate than states with the death
penalty enforced. Also, there have been many cases where people have been wrongfully
convicted and sentenced to death. The Death Penalty should be abolished because the process of
an execution is expensive, states without the death penalty have lower crime rates, and people
have been wrongfully convicted.
The cost of an execution is more expensive than keeping the person in jail for life.
Statistics show that an average death penalty case to the execution cost about $1.26 million.
Executing a single capital case costs about three times as much as it costs to keep a person in
prison for their remaining life expectancy, which is about 40 years ( Capital Punishment: Our).
As it says, a capital case is three times more expensive than a person in jail for life and that
money difference can be out into having more police on the streets. The cost of the death
penalty in California has totaled over $4 billion since 1978 (Costs of the). Since 1978, the death
penalty in California has cost $4 billion dollars and that is only one state out of 31 states that
have the death penalty enforced as of July 1, 2015. The price of obtaining convictions and
executions ranges from $2.5 million to $5 million per case (Capital Punishment: Deterrent). A
case can become so expensive because there can be many retrials throughout the case. If states

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abolished their death penalty, they can use the money to have more police out and have lower
crime rates.
States that do not enforce the death penalty have a lower crime rate than states that do
enforce it. From 1991 to 2013, the states without the death penalty have had a lower crime rate
than states that do have it. Data from 1973 to 1984 show that murder rates in the states without
the death penalty were consistently lower and averaged only 63% of the corresponding rates in
the states retaining it ( Lamperti pages 775-776). As I said before and including this data, the
states without the death penalty have low crime rates. Police officers on duty do not suffer a
higher rate of criminal assault and homicide in states that have abolished the death penalty than
they do in death-penalty states (The Case Against). The states that do not have the death penalty
might have more police out and that causes some people to not perform acts against the police.
These low crime rates conclude that we should abolish the death penalty so that there wont be
any wrongfully convictions.
There have been many cases where people have been wrongfully convicted. Out of all the
people that have been sentenced to death, there has been much exoneration for them. Since
1979, there have been 681 executions in the United States (Trial and Error). This shows that not
everybody sentenced to death is wrong. In 2009 there were 3,279 people on death row: 1,364
blacks, 370 Hispanics, 1457 whites, and 77 classified as other (Death Penalty). This shows
that there is some racial discrimination when convicting a person. If we abolish the death
penalty, we wouldnt have people being wrongfully convicted.

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People would say that people deserve to die because they must pay for their actions and
that it will keep the criminal out of the streets forever. Both reasons are good reason to keep the
death penalty. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is not a per se violation of
the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment, but the Eighth Amendment does
shape certain procedural aspects regarding when a jury may use the death penalty and how it
must be carried out (Death Penalty). This talks about how the Supreme Court ruling that the
death penalty is not a violation to the Eighth Amendment but the jury must take action for the
person being convicted of what action he/she made and may use the death penalty. Death
sentences are permitted only for the crime of aggravated murder (a murder involving
circumstances that increase its magnitude) (Capital Punishment). Depending how bad the
murder was, the person can be sentenced to death because of what action he/she made. These
reasons are why the death penalty is also good for the country.
An execution is expensive, states without the death penalty have lower crime rates than
states that do, and people have been wrongfully convicted are all reasons why the death penalty
should be abolished. It has been a huge and ongoing argument about whether the death penalty
should or shouldnt be abolished. Some people believe that when a person commits a horrible
act, he/she should be sentenced to death while other people think that executing the person is
unconstitutional. There is no right decision if a person should or shouldnt be executed because
in each way, there are problems in it. I think that the death penalty should be abolished.

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Works Cited
1.Andre, Claire. "Capital Punishment: Our Duty or Our Doom?" Capital Punishment: Our Duty or Our
Doom? N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n3/capital.html>.
2. "Costs of the Death Penalty." Costs of the Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty#financialfacts>.
3. "Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects and Capital Costs." Columbia Law School. N.p., n.d. Web. 18
Oct. 2015.
<https://www.law.columbia.edu/law_school/communications/reports/summer06/capitalpunish>.
4. Lamperti, John. "Capital Punishment for Murder." Bmj 2.4839 (1953): 18 Oct. 2015.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/deathpenalty
5. Bedeau, Hugo A. "The Case Against The Death Penalty." Hugo Bedeau, The Case Against the Death
Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://ethics.sandiego.edu/applied/deathpenalty/bedeau.html>.
6. McFeely, William S. "Trial and Error: Capital Punishment in U.S. History." Trial and Error: Capital
Punishment in U.S. History. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5420>.
7. "Death Penalty." Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.siue.edu/~evailat/Death
%20Penalty.htm>.
8. "Death Penalty." LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

9. "Capital Punishment." SpringerReference (2011): n. pag. Why Does the U.S Have
Capital Punishment. Web.