Death Penalty: Should or Shouldn't We.
Death is the penalty dealt to some for committing heinous crimes. Though not every murderer receives this punishment, who are we to decide that killing one will make up for the murder of another. Capital punishment should be eliminated from use in our society. .
The death penalty is used to hastily at times. Especially in cases involving minorities and the poor. Between 1977 and 1992, 162 people were executed, twenty-nine of which were convicted of the killing of a non-white and only one of the twenty-nine was himself white (www.deathpenaltyfacts.com). Poor individuals cannot afford an attorney thus not receiving the best defense available. Ninety percent of those on death row could not afford a lawyer during trial (www.deathpenaltyfacts.com). A punishment so harsh should allow all people the same opportunities to defend themselves.
The United States is one of the only remaining countries that implement the death penalty. The U.S. has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and many believe the two are linked. During the 1980's, death penalty states averaged an annual rate of 7.5 criminal homicides per 100,000 of the population. States not implementing capital punishment averaged 7.4 (www.deathpenaltyfacts.com).
The total cost of putting a person to death is more than the cost of imprisoning a person for life. In 1992, The Dallas Morning News study found that .
the total cost of capital trials and appeals is 2.3 million dollars per case not including the cost of federal appeals where fifty to seventy percent of the death sentences are overturned. It costs 750,000 dollars to house an inmate at a maximum-security prison for life. The 1.55 million dollars saved by not executing one individual could go a long way in research or developing for ideas on how to prevent future crimes.
Another reason the death penalty should be eliminated is that even though it may be rare, innocent people are convicted.