Pro Death Penalty Essay Research Paper A

Pro Death Penalty Essay, Research Paper

A battle rages between Americans who are fighting for a safe and just world and those who want to abolish the death penalty, thereby weakening our already struggling legal system. Capital punishment may not be a pretty subject, but it is one that is necessary in today s violent society. Our nation s cities have become plagued with crime and violence with the encouragement of a soft legal system. Capital punishment provides the necessary penalty and deterrent for criminals in

America.

An anti-death penalty protestor may claim that a major problem with capitalpunishment is the high price tag for the process of appeals and warrants that death row inmates go through. Many claim that the annual cost of a person on death row is higher than the cost of jailing that person for life. Meaning that capital punishment, when compared to life imprisonment, is very costly. These people are in fact correct when taken into consideration that our legal system forces endless appeals and stays of execution, only delaying the inevitable. Most states with the death penalty provide for an automatic appeal to the state s highest court in cases where the death penalty is imposed, whether or not the defendant wishes to waive this right. Other tie-ups and delays in the death sentencing occur in a direct appeal to the state supreme court. Here the defendant may challenge his or her conviction

on the grounds of any legal or constitutional errors that come about at the trial. State supreme courts want no doubt when they convict these people so many times the supreme court will review the cases for legal error and also compare death sentences with sentences given in similar cases. This determines whether the death sentence is proportionate to other sentences brought on. If the state supreme court decides to uphold the conviction or sentence, oddly the defendant still has a chance to survive by petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision (United States of America: The Death Penalty p.123-125). Appeals such as these, along with many others are reoccurrant in our present day legal system. That is where our conservative legal system needs to take a step back and look at the big picture. Should these murderers and rapists have the rights to waste our hard earned tax money on endless appeals and stays of execution that just prolong their death s. Cutting back on these appeals by the defendants would greatly effect the price of a prisoner on death row. No more excruciatingly long, drawn out sentences and convictions where the prisoner is awaiting his or her death regardless. Just touch down with reality here, how much would it really cost for a bullet which could sufficiently do the trick. Compare that price, possibly fifty cents, to the cost of keeping a prisoner in jail for their entire life.

Christians may turn to the Bible for the morality and justness of capital punishment, while many anti-capital punishment supporters appeal to the sixth amendment that states, Thou shalt not kill (Ex 20:13). This statement may seem bold and very subjective to a person with little knowledge or background of the Bible, and this statement could be easily misunderstood. These anti-capital punishment supporters look at this issue of capital punishment and relate it directly to that famous quote, Thou shalt not kill. They may say that executing a murderer is just the same as the murderer s crime itself. But on the contraire, the Hebrew word kill in the Old Testament means to murder especially with premeditation. It also states that murder and other major crimes such as kidnapping, and rape are punishable by the death penalty. In (Genesis 9:5-6), God says to Noah and his family, And surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; and at the hand of every man s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth a man s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. These verses are simply saying that murder is forbidden. Any person guilty of murder of another is to be

killed. Not the person who carries out the execution like an anti-capital punishment supporter may believe. This supporter may strike back at God s quote that a person who kills should be killed and point out that people in war kill, however,God excuses persons who execute by legal terms and persons who kill enemies in war. No one can deny that execution of a murderer is a horrible spectacle. But we must not forget that murder is more horrible.

Even though a state prescribes the death penalty for a given crime, not

everyone who commits such an offense and who is arrested is actually subjected to a possible death sentence. A guilty person may escape trial for their crime by a plea of non vult (no defense), or the court may determine that he should not be tried for reasons of his insanity. Most jurisdictions require that he be committed to a hospital for the criminally insane. Though rare, it is even possible that the prosecutor will decide not to press charges against the guilty party. But by far the most common reason for exempting a person from trial on a capital crime, even when he is guilty, is his age. The standard Juvenile Court Law, prepared by the National Council on crime and Delinquency, prohibits execution of any child under sixteen. This also