Capital Punishment 20

A detailed Summary of Capital Punishment 20

Capital Punishment is the ultimate denial of human rights. There are strong indications that rather than deterring violence, it increases people's tolerance of and tendency toward violence. Though capital punishment does not deter capital crimes it does constitute a uniquely cruel and degrading punishment. It's imposition forever deprives a potentially innocent individual the benefits of new evidence or a new law that might warrant the reversal of a conviction or the setting aside of a death sentence. In addition, the cost of executing a person in the U.S. is far higher than the cost of imprisoning him or her for life. States wishing to condemn cruel and inhuman acts of killing do not serve their purpose by repeating the act of killing.

The average homicide rate in the 13 states without the death penalty is lower than the average homicide rate in the 37 states where it is legal. Between 1972 and 1990, the homicide rate in Michigan which has no death penalty, was generally as low or lower than the neighboring state of Indiana, which restored the death penalty in 1973. The U.S. Bowers- Pierce study analyzing executions between 1907 and 1963 concluded, that an average of two additional homicides were committed in the month after

an execution; they also noted a "brutalizing" effect on society resulting from executions. According to FBI statistics the murder rate in some states which use the death penalty is twice that of some states which do not use the death penalty. Between 1976 and 1985, almost twice as many law enforcement officers were killed in death penalty states as were killed in states that don't use the death penalty. The death penalty has not proven its worth to society; study after study has shown that it fails to deter crime, no credible body of evidence contradicts them.

"Concerning the claim of justice for the victim's family, I say there is no amount of retaliatory deaths that would compensate to me the inestimable value of my daughter's life, nor would they restore her to my arms. To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims. We cannot put a price on their lives. That kind of justice would only dehumanize and degrade us because it legitimates an animal instinct for gut- level, blood thirsty revenge." -Marietta Jaeger

Experience has shown that innocent people are often convicted of crimes including capital crimes and that some of them have been executed. A recent study revealed over 400 cases of wrong conviction for capital offenses in the United States between 1900 and 1991. Most of the convictions were upheld on appeal, with evidence produced years after sentencing to prove the prisoner's innocence. But, for 24 of the prisoners, that evidence appeared too late they had already been executed. Because human beings are fallible, innocent people have been executed in the past and will c

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Approximate Word count = 1135
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics