Leyva 1

Leyva, Candy

English 1301

Professor Woods

10 November 2016

Death Penalty

Criminals are people society easily accuses. Society is unable to let go of their prejudice

ways. The death penalty is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by

state as a punishment for a crime. The death penalty should be abolished because it is an

expensive practice, people can be wrongfully convicted, and it takes one murderer to end

another.

Although allowance of the death penalty can traced back to many centuries ago, this

practice was first brought to the United States in 1790, for the Punishment of Crimes Act.

“Solataroff, a magazine journalist and the author of a book of essays, provides a brief and

intelligent narration of the recent history of the death penalty, going back to the 1970’s.”

(Lowenstein, par. 1). The fact that this controversy emerged such a long time ago goes to show

how great of an impact it can have. This shows how something that was thought to be a form of

justice, has been transformed into something completely different. The idea of the death penalty

emerged from Hammurabi’s Code, and throughout time, societies have adopted it to their needs.

It has always been a form of punishment put to use in a cruel form. The death penalty was

designed to enact justice in a very brutal way. Time has not changed that aspect of it. It is still

inhumane to use it so liberally. Abolishing the death penalty is important because fighting fire

with fire will not help. You cannot expect to put down one murderer and give a medal to the
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other because he does it under the right name. the death penalty has since become controversial

because people argue about whether it is morally correct and if it actually helps society.

The death penalty is something that is overall immoral because no one, including the

government, has the right to kill anyone. “Amnesty International campaigns against the death

penalty worldwide because the death penalty is a fundamental, irreversible denial of human

rights.” (Evans, par. 1). The government should not have the privilege to decide who lives. It is

the people’s right to live, no one should be able to take that away from them. The human race

was not designed to be murderous or predatory, it was designed to be social and co-exist with

one another. It is not in human nature to kill, and so even the executioner would have some

problems with undergoing through the process of the death penalty. Death penalty is just a sugar-

coated and dressed up process, yet at the end it is no better than strapping someone to a post and

shooting them down.

Although people think that maintaining a criminal alive, and in jail, is far more expensive

that the death penalty, when it’s actually looked into, it is not. The death penalty should be

abolished because it is an outrageously expensive process to complete. “The ordinary system of

due process is insufficient with capital cases.” (Dieter, par. 1). Because this due process is

different, the trial tends to run for a longer period of times than usual. The average length of a

death penalty trial is 94 months. (Williams). Because the sentencing and the actual execution are

so far apart, the government still has to support all those months they stay alive. People who are

sentenced to the death penalty are not immediately executed, they are kept alive much after that.

These criminals are not housed in the normal prisons; they have customized places with cost

more money. If the death penalty is abolished, one buck less is coming out of the people’s

pocket.
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Furthermore, people believe that the only cost of the death penalty is the injection, but

there is so much more behind that needle. The death penalty is an expensive process because the

criminal who is being charged, is appointed with the best lawyers and investigating team. “The

death penalty cost California $90 million annually beyond the ordinary expenses of the justice

system of which $78 million was incurred at the trial level.” (Dieter, par. 10). The justice system

gives these criminals only the best lawyers and team. To ensure that they receive a fair trial; all

of this process costs too much money. “There is no national figure for the cost of the death

penalty. Every state is dependent on that states laws, pay scales, and the extent to which it uses

the death penalty.” (Dieter, par. 3). Although there isn’t a predetermined cost for the death

penalty, it is still expensive. The cost varies from states and how many resources they are able to

provide. Logically speaking, the death penalty should be abolished because the process is too

lengthy and too expensive.

Popular belief, is that the justice system is fair and balanced, when it is anything but. The

death penalty is also haunted by the fact that people are wrongfully convicted. When the accused

is confronted with a crime that is deemed as gruesome and inhumane, they do not get the same

treatment as others. They have a biased look on the case, that could affect how much effort they

input, in order to investigate their case. Once society has pre-formed an idea of the criminal, the

trial will become unfair, never truly asking themselves if they are innocent, they only want to put

them down. The justice system is biased, they primarily judge the action first, before they

investigate about what exactly occurred. This goes to show how the justice system can have

prejudice.

Furthermore, people believe that segregation no longer exists, and that people are only

judged by their actions towards others. Yet the reality is, that the justice system undermines
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minority groups and those who are not wealthy. This makes for an unfair trial. “Mark Costanzo

argues that death penalty is artistry and discriminatory. Murderers of whites re more likely to

receive death penalty than are murderers of blacks.” (Costanzo, par. 1). The justice system still

holds the death of a white, more significant than any other race. This puts more pressure on

minorities being judged. “The poor—who receive substandard legal assistance—are executed

more often than the rich.” (Costanzo, par. 1). The justice system is also biased towards money.

The color of freedom is green. People can buy their way out of punishment. The death penalty

should be abolished because people are wrongfully convicted, whether because of the actual

crime, the color of their skin, or the color of their pockets, these people are judged unfairly.

Although some people argue that if we don’t put them down they will keep on torturing

society, but the truth is that crime is unaffected by the death penalty. The death penalty makes

murderers out of the government. They need to become a murderer in order to be able to put one

down. “John Kavanaugh mentions that the death penalty undermines basic ethical tenants

because it calls for the depersonalization of humans.” (Kavanaugh, par. 1). When the death

penalty is enacted, the criminal is reduced to no more than an animal; his rights stripped from

him. “That lump of flesh has ceased to be human and has become a cancer on the body of society

and must be killed to help cure the whole.” (Kavanaugh, par. 2). There comes a point were

society dehumanizes the criminal so much that they can no longer see them with compassion.

This goes to show how the death penalty dehumanizes the executioners and the criminal beyond

morality.

Some people believe that the death penalty lowers crime, yet studies show that it has no

effect in it whatsoever. The death penalty only builds murderers of the state, and it is all for

nothing. “The conclusion was that criminals were clearly not deterred by the death penalty.”
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(Weil, par. 1). The government goes out of its way to eliminate these criminals yet their deaths

make no difference in crime; they become a death in vain. The most important thing is that these

criminals, for all they have done, they are still human. Murdering the murderer will not make

anyone feel better, it will only bloody the people’s hands. What does all of this make of them,

eliminating people they deem as people who don’t deserve to draw another breath?

The death penalty should be abolished because it is unreasonable to use so much money

on one person, one trial. Even through all these law regulations, some people are still wrongfully

accused, and then slaughtered like an animal. People lose their humanity along the way. The

solution would be completely abolishing the death penalty, because no one should have the right

to decide someone else’s life should continue or not. Judgement and justice can always find

another way to bring criminals to what they deserve, but not through death.
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Works Cited
Bradbury, Michael D. "The Death Penalty Affirms the Sanctity of Life." The Death Penalty,
edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context,
ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHig
hlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId
=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-
query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%
7CEJ3010124250&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=
&source=Bookmark&u=txshracd2503&jsid=ff75e61fed8de665ad2f4b889702afbe.
Accessed 10 Nov.
Costanzo, Mark, and Friends Committee on National Legislation. "The Death Penalty Is
Discriminatory." The Death Penalty, edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press,
2002. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHig
hlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId
=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-
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Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.
Dieter, Richard C. "The Death Penalty Is Too Costly for Society." Death Penalty, edited by Noël
Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context,
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Accessed 10 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "Testimony of Richard C. Dieter,
Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center," 2013.
Evans, Kim Masters. "Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished." Capital Punishment: Cruel
and Unusual?, 2012 ed., Gale, 2012. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing
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Kavanaugh, John. "The Death Penalty Violates the Sanctity of Life." The Death Penalty, edited
by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context,
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Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.
Lowenstein, Tom. "Legal lynching: the death penalty and America's future. (Books In Review:
the burden of execution)." The American Prospect, vol. 12, no. 21, 2001, p. 45+.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
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"Preface to 'Is the Death Penalty Just and Ethical?'." Death Penalty, edited by Noël Merino,
Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
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OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-
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true&source=Bookmark&u=txshracd2503&jsid=d6c5cf925fc7d8f0c253b20783494719.
Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.
"Time Between Imposition of Death Sentence and Execution, 1977-93." The Death Penalty,
edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press, 1997. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
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a3588c11. Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.

Weil, Jack. "The Death Penalty Does Not Deter Crime." The Death Penalty, edited by Jenny
Cromie and Lynn M. Zott, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context,
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Accessed 10 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "The Death Penalty Isn't the Answer to
Crime Woes," Star, 4 Nov. 2010