Death Penalty Essay - 1171 Words

Death Penalty The death penalty, outlawed in most of Europe, Canada, Australia and most other countries in the world, is still practiced in almost 40 states in the U.S. Today, there are more than 3,000 people on death row waiting the day of their execution. They are put to death by methods such as hanging, electrocution, lethal injection and by firing squad. Since the death penalty was reinstated bye the supreme court in 1976, by the Gregg v. Georgia decision, more than 525 people have been put to death. Today there are many people for the death penalty and see nothing wrong with it but there are many people who feel hat it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The 8th amendment of the U.S. protects its citizens from cruel and†¦show more content†¦Almost all capital punishment defendants are indigent when arrested, and are generally represented by court appointed lawyers, who are inexperienced and unpaid. The federal government and many states have drastically slashed funding to attorneys to represent defendants in the death penalty cases. Some defendants have told stories of their lawyers being drunk or asleep during the trial, never meet with their clients, nor have no legal experience previous to their trial. Often the attorney’s who have been disbarred because of wrong doings take the death penalty cases because no one wants them and they often do them for service to their business. Defending a death penalty case is very time-consuming and usually takes seven hundred to one thousand hours. In some cases the hourly rates for the attorneys is less than the minimum wage, and usually less than the lawyer’s hourly expenses. Wealthy people who can hire their own counsel are usually not put to death, no matter how serious their crime was. Poor people do not have the same opportunities to buy their lives. Death row in the U.S has always had a bigger population of colored people then whites. The most important factor of the death penalty concerning races is the race of the victim. Those who kill a white person are more likely to receive the capital punishment then those who kill a colored person. A report by the Death Penalty Information Center found that in ninety-six percent of the studies examiningShow MoreRelatedPro Death Penalty Speech1482 Words   |  6 Pagesintroduce myself before we get started. My name is Slick Perry and if you didn’t already know, I am the state governor of Texas. You are all aware that we are reviewing our recidivism rate to various crimes and reviewing our stance regarding the death penalty as we approach 2009. Everyone here understands that capital punishment is a very controversial topic in the United States. In Texas, from December 1982 through August 2008, only 361 criminals of the millions of Texans in our good state were executedRead MoreThe Truth About The Death Penalty973 Words   |  4 Pages In her article â€Å"The Truth About The Death Penalty†, Carina Kolodny argues that the death penalty should be abolished in all fifty states due to the fact that it is ineffective and very expensive. Kolodny believes that capital punishment has too many complications and variables that cause it be more of an issue than a real solution for capital offenses. She proposes that the death penalty should be dropped and exchanged for better programs such as Proposition 34, which replaces capital punishmentRead MoreThe Bible and Death Penal ty Essay example812 Words   |  4 Pagesa person’s view of the Bible influence what they think about the death penalty for murderers.† I would like to see if a person’s view of the bible influence what they think of the death penalty. This is interesting to me because I am interested in the field of criminal justice and the death penalty is a huge topic to this day. There are many journals that talk about studies that were done on religion and views of the death penalty which have to do with my topic of interest. My hypothesis is thatRead MoreEssay on Death Penalty: Capital Punishment and Violent Crime1570 Words   |  7 PagesCapital Punishment and Violent Crime Hypothesis Most Americans are pro-death penalty, even though they dont really believe that it is an effective deterrent to violent crime. Those who are pro-death penalty will remain so, even if faced with the best arguments of anti-death penalty activists and told to assume the arguments were absolutely true. Violent crime Violent crime is a major problem in the United States. According to the ACLU, the violent crime rate rose sixty-one percentRead MoreEssay on Article Analysis: OSullivans View of the Death Penalty1536 Words   |  7 PagesBritain should have the death penalty. O’Sullivan addresses all the main counter arguments when explain to his audience his conclusion. His supporting evidence includes death penalty decisions in history and several other statistics. Emotionally terms, faulty cause and effects scenarios, and either/or point of views are other ways the author conveys his opinion to the audience. The article begins with an overall theme threw out O’Sullivan’s piece: does the death penalty appropriately punishRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is Justified1143 Words   |  5 PagesAllison Shu 2/25/16 Period 2 Objective paper on the death penalty Capital punishment is legally authorized killing as punishment for a crime. The death penalty questions the morality of killing a person as justification for their crime. It also brings to question whether the death penalty actually serves as a deterrent for crime, and that some of the people executed are found innocent afterwards. The debates over the constitutionality of the death penalty and whether capital punishment should be usedRead MoreThe Death Penalty For Juveniles946 Words   |  4 Pages The death penalty for minors differs greatly from the death penalty for adult. The law that minor could be put on death row was decided to rule against the eighth amendment. The eighth amendment prohibits the act of â€Å"cruel and unusual punishment† which putting minors on death row breaks. On March 4, 2005 the law that minors could not be put on death row for their actions was set into place. The new laws say, â€Å"They cannot punish a minor by death penalty and they cannot punish someone for a crimeRead MoreShould The Death Penalty Be Mandatory?925 Words   |  4 Pagesopinions on the subject. When we were discussing the death penalty although my opinion didn’t change, after hearing what some of my classmates had to say about the subject during our lab I was able to respectfully see why they had those thoughts and feelings about the subject. I believe that we should have the death penalty, and that it helps prevents more crime from happening. However, during our lab students that thought we should ban the death penalty had some pretty interesting reasons behind theirRead MoreThe Death Penalty Should Be Legal1805 Words   |  8 Pagesthat we all know is the death penalty. This penalty has been going around for years. To many people it might be the best way of punishing a person. On the other hand there are people who think that if you kill a person you should be sentenced to die as well. For me I would say it might not be the best way and it not working as many would like it. When choosing if you are for the death penalty you have to okay with an insect person dyei ng or even a family member being in death row. I know that is somethingRead MoreThe Death Penalty : An Effective Reliable Tool904 Words   |  4 Pagesthe death penalty has been a frequent topic of discussion, as our recent technological advancements have evidently led individuals to consider the â€Å"new found† legitimacy of our court systems, as statistics display that our previous racial bias and the apparent morality of the practice itself have a miniscule impact on our conviction rate. Both the advancements and ethics that the death penalty provides become apparent through the utilization of anecdotes and statistics, as the death penalty has prevailed