Essay on Why the Federal Government Must Abolish the Death Penalty

     Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished because of many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also. People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person life on their hands. This makes them just as guilty as the person who committed the crime: the only difference is that they didn't use weapon except their mouth to kill them. The death penalty should be abolished because it is racist, punishes the poor, condemns those who are innocent to death, and is a cruel punishment.

The death penalty today is a hot button question that many experts cannot agree on. The topic deals with justice, logistics, and human morality which leads to either a person remaining alive or losing their life. It is not an easy choice to make because the death penalty has so much to do with human desires for justice as it does the justice system carrying out just punishments for crimes committed. In almost all of human history, capital punishment has been a punishment that was used to punish individuals who broke laws the society upheld. The United States of America is no different as it still continues to use the death penalty as a punishment in many states across the nation. The United States has contemplated the legality of the death penalty, with multiple court decisions dictating if and what is legal, as discussed in the video produced by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/videos/crime/2014/05/06/orig-jag-death-penalty.cnn/video/playlists/death-penalty/).

As all of us know that the death penalty is not a good thing, but it is a great way of reform and preventing something happening more than once. All of the US states should not abolish the death penalty.

There's a long history of capital punishment in the USA as it has been used since colonial times. The American constitution gives each state the right to govern over their own criminal laws. 31 states still have capital punishment and they use it on a number of crimes, including treason and crimes causing death, and use a number of different methods to kill those convicted of capital crimes. The death penalty has its supporters and opponents. Both groups have heated and emotional reasons for their point of view, plus, they each have their statistics to strengthen their argument. Additionally, each side uses the US Constitution to bolster their argument. Proponents use the Fifth Amendment which outlines the conditions for capital crimes. Opponents

In 1940, Lawrence Bittaker, an infamous serial killer from the 1970’s, was born to two unloving parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was adopted but eventually left abandoned by his adoptive parents who could not put up with him anymore (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). By the age of 17, Bittaker dropped out of high school, never to obtain his GED. From the ages of 21 to 26, Bittaker was diagnosed “borderline psychotic” and “basically paranoid” multiple times by different doctors (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). Bittaker was in and out of jail before murdering five teenage girls in 1979 with a partner, Roy Norris (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 2). In 1981, Bittaker was sentenced to death. As of today, he is 70 years old and is still on death row at San Quentin Prison in California (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 3).

Still, many people are wrongfully executed and put into a death sentence row because an error of judgements and stereotypes based on a race especially for African Americans. “New research found that almost four percent of U.S. capital punishment sentences are wrongful convictions, almost double the number of people set free, meaning around 120 of the roughly 3,000 inmates on death row in America are not guilty” . It is ironic though, killing innocent people can be attributed to murder and the government is doing the same thing as other convicted criminals who were put into a death row. Example for a wrongful conviction, “Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for murdering his three young daughters by setting his house on fire”. But, after his execution multiple fire science experts reviewed the case and “released a report admitting that Willingham’s conviction was based on flawed science” . Willingham was b wrongfully convicted by the government because of their mistake. Wrongful execution was common before technology was developed. It was hard to find the evidence and people made mistakes during the investigation. If there was no Death Penalty, Willingham might have been still alive claiming for his

It is argued that most people who support capital punishment are the families of the victims. In their eyes execution is revenge, but how can you trust a system that is not always correct? Would taking a life of another stop criminals and lower the crime rate, or would it bring the victims back to life? In most cases the answer is no. Moreover, it appears that the legal system is not always accurate, and that innocent people have been executed and convicted. Over 142 men and women have been discharged from the death row over the past 40 years. Also in the past four years evidence has come up that some men have been mistakenly executed for crimes they did not commit. (Love, 2013) After learning about these mistakes that the law has made and continues to make, it is petrifying to know that the majority of people are blinded by sorrow and justice, that they exclude the truth and facts from their knowledge. If they were to take into consideration its inaccuracy shown many times over, they would agree on suspending the use of the death penalty as a punishment for

The death penalty does not keep crime from happening. Over the years, the death penalty has been a very major moral issue within today’s society. This particular form of punishment is usually given to people who have been found guilty of capital crime. However, penalizing an individual in this manner is not a solution to the problem. The United States is already in a tremendous amount of debt and dealing with budget shortages, so spending thousands even hundreds of thousands on ending an individual’s life because they were found guilty of a crime is absolutely absurd. The death penalty costs taxpayers way more per year than a prisoner within the general population. It is a cruel punishment against mankind and therefore should be ceased. In conclusion, the death penalty should be discontinued in the United States because it uses up tax

The use of the capital punishment or the “death” penalty should not stop being used in the U.S. or declared as cruel or unusual punishment.

Lawful executions have recently made the news due to failed attempts to put convicted prisoners to death which resulted in a slow and painful process. Many people are rethinking their position on the death penalty for that reason and others. All three branches of the United States government are and have been involved in the question of the death penalty. Is it now time for the people to decide whether or not the government can end the federal death penalty? An execution in the state of Oklahoma that went wrong made headlines in newspapers, television, and social media. A convicted prisoner, who was given lethal injection came to and was clearly awake. The prisoner showed signs of extreme pain. The President had always supported the death penalty

When taking a human life in response to a crime, a state is acting on behalf of all of its citizens. Capital punishment is an expensive procedure with permanent ramifications. It is therefore very important that the matter of capital punishment be seriously reconsidered. In order to protect all of America's citizens, I recommend that congress approve a constitutional amendment that reads:

The Death Penalty has been a long standing part of the American justice system. For many years, the death penalty went without opposition, but as of recently it has gained it’s long overdue mass opposition. The Death Penalty is barbaric, and is costing our nation obscene amounts of money. While one would think that modern-day American citizens would have done away with this method, a good portion of Americans reason that it lowers the crime rate and it provides closure (or rather vengeance) to families of victims.

Should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty has been around for a long time. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. The U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976. It is used for those who have done multiple serious offenses such as murder. The death penalty shouldn’t be abolished because it is needed to punish those who have committed harsh crimes.

“Any last words?” is the sentence that is given to the people who are about to be put to death.

The sentence of capital punishment is an expensive barbaric alternative for punishing a criminal. Where does the hostility and ignorance stop once it begins? Murder is unaccepted by society, yet people seem to pacify themselves by killing criminals. Is that not considered to be murder? Sentencing a criminal to death does not solve the questions and problems that are left behind. Parents will still cry for a child that is never coming home. Mourning families will still carry a never-ending heartache, and the criminal no longer has to pay for the consequences of their actions. The only people left to pay are taxpayers. According to The International Debate Education Association (IDEA),