Pro
Plain and simple, I agree with the death penalty. Now, I am not a proponent of using the death penalty in every situation, but I definitely believe that it has its place.
From an economic standpoint, taxpayers should not have to support the financial burden that people with multiple life sentences have become. There are mixed reports of whether the death penalty or life in prison is more expensive, but either way, the cost of death penalty needs to go down. It should be an extremely swift process that is definitively used as a consequence for the most gruesome of crimes.
8,032 people have been sentenced to death (from 1977-2012), but they are not being killed willy-nilly; according to the Bureau of Justice, 67.1 percent of death row inmates had prior felony convictions. Why continue to support a person with multiple life sentences in prison? It is true that serial rapists and mass-murderers have been sentenced to thousands of years in prison, but why? No one receives a sentence that large if there is a chance of innocence.
Of course, I realize that there have been cases where death row inmates have been proven innocent, but with increased use of surveillance, such as body cameras and security cameras, and other advanced technology being used, the number of these cases has decreased dramatically. Executions are at their lowest in 20 years, according to a new report by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Capital punishment should not be on the table in all cases, but should be considered in those that would land someone behind bars for an improbable amount of time.
The death penalty provides a definitive act of closure for victims’ families, ridding them of further pain and grief caused by a heinous event. Recently, Dylann Roof, the 22 year-old who used a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun to kill nine people at a Charleston church in June, was sentenced to death for his actions. His cold blooded murders were premeditated, he outright admitted that he killed those innocent people, and there was even video evidence of him practicing the crime. What other answer is there for someone who causes so much harm to our society? A person who would kill innocent people so viciously has absolutely no place in our city or even in the worst prison this country has to offer.
As a society, a balance must be found between the power of the government and its right to impose the capital punishment. At the same time, what does it say about our society if we let mass murderers and serial rapists walk away with their lives?
Anti
The number of executions is on the decline, and rightfully so. Not only is the practice of sentencing another human being to death morally wrong, but there are many other alternatives that provide a more effective route for punishment, such as life imprisonment. All of the flaws with the practice of executions are obvious indicators that it is not an effective method to punish criminals.
Using the death penalty as a punishment for criminals who have committed murder has many parallels to the outdated Hammurabi’s Code and the logic behind the “eye for an eye” ideology. Our society has become more modern, and our punishment methods must follow suit. While on the surface it may seem like the purpose of executions is to protect the general public by getting rid of the most dangerous threats, our lives are actually left in the hands of the government. There must be limitations on the power of the government, and allowing it to play God by deciding whether people live or die is dangerous.
Not only is the death penalty morally wrong and has proven weak compared to other alternatives, but it has also been found to enable racism. A study by Professor Jack Boger and Dr. Isaac Unah from the University of North Carolina found that defendants whose victims were white were 3.5 times more likely to receive the death penalty than if the victim was nonwhite. This clearly shows inequality regarding who is sentenced to execution.
It is also important to consider the fact that there are plenty of cases in which felons are found to be innocent after years of waiting on death row or even being executed. In fact, a study conducted by a group of legal experts from Michigan and Pennsylvania found that at least 4.1% of those sentenced to death are actually innocent. Any margin of error that results in wrongful persecution or execution is a good enough reason to stand against the death penalty.
The death penalty also has many economic disadvantages. A study published by Philip Cook, a professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, finds that North Carolina spends an estimated $11 million on the death penalty every year. Millions of dollars spent on executions could be used to improve our state’s quality of education or environmental initiatives, but are instead being wasted on killing people.
Sentencing a prisoner to life imprisonment over the death penalty is not an act of mercy or a condonation of their actions. The death penalty has numerous flaws that make it an ineffective method of punishing our worst criminals. Life imprisonment serves as a much better alternative both morally and economically.