Anti Capital Punishment

Anti-Death Penalty

Author W. Somerset Maugham once said, "Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it." Society continues to struggle and debate the issue about the death penalty being morally wrong. In my opinion, the death penalty is unjust, ineffective, and morally incorrect. Statistics show that sentencing criminals to the death penalty does not decrease the crime rate and also shows that it is more costly to have a criminal on death row than it is to sentence someone to life in prison. Also, in my eye, the death penalty is the easy way out for a criminal. I also believe that it is up to the criminal's God, whomever they worship, to decide their fate and what his or her punishment will be for his or her sin.

Although many people may debate the issue that taxpayers would eat the cost to have and inmate spend life in prison, but tax payers are also eating the cost to have and inmate spend time on death row. Statistics show that it cost more to have an inmate waiting on death row for execution than to keep him or her in prison for life. A New Jersey Policy Perspective report show that states death penalty has cost taxpayer $253 million since 1983, a figure that is over and above the cost that would have been incurred had the state sentenced life without parole instead of death. Also based on the 44 executions Florida has carried out since 1976, which amounts to an approximate cost of $24 million for each execution. Florida would save $51 million each year by punishing all first-degree murderers to life in prison without parole, according to estimates by the Palm Beach Post. I believe, if tax payer's money is going to be used toward the state's prison system, it should be used to provide more job opportunities and training to prisoners, therefore inmates can provide a living for themselves. This will show inmates that there is an alternative way of living. Also the costly funds that are being spent on the execution of an inmate can be used towards the victims' families to offer counseling and financial assistance to help them get their lives back on track. Furthermore, sentencing inmates to death does not deter the crime rates.

When a criminal make a conscience decision to commit a crime, what consequences they could face doesn't matter at that moment therefore, a criminal does not think of the possibility of the death sentence and does not stop them from committing that crime. Studies have failed to show that the death penalty stops people from committing crime no more that life without parole. Yet, studies do show that states without the death penalty has lower murder rate. Congressman Dennis Kucinich stated in a bill to abolish federal death penalty, "I strongly believe that violent offenders must be severely punished and prevented from committing future crimes," continued Kucinich. "However, capital punishment is not the answer. The death penalty is not a restraint, it allows innocent people to be executed, and magnetize the United States in the fight for human rights in the international community". In addition, to the unproven facts that the death penalty is effective bad lawyers and proper representation has been a constant problem when determining whether a defendant should receive death penalty. In almost all capital murder cases a defendant cannot afford his or her own attorney and therefore are appointed to public defenders, which may lack the experience in represented someone in these types of cases. The attorney may be unprepared for trial. The death penalty does not allow the opportunity for new evidence to surface for innocent offenders and mistakes to be corrected. An execution of an innocent person is a mistake that can never be reversed nor rectified. With this in mind, are these cases real and who determines if the death sentence is deserved?

Although some people use and believe in the cliché' "an eye for an eye", this is not the answer and nor does is resolve the grief the victims family may feel. In the words of Mohandas Gandhi, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." I asked several people, "If one of their family members were murders, would sentencing the offender to death would heal their wounds." In my research I found that people felt that lose of a family member(s) to murder would be painful experience and the death penalty will not heal their wounds completely. The lengthy process of awaiting execution of an offender would only prolong the agony the family is experiencing. Also, I see the death penalty is the easy way for a criminal to escape