The “Other Side” of the Capital Punishment Debate, Essay Example

Historically, many people have argues that capital punishment is a cost effective, space effective, and morally just method of corrections. Jails are becoming overcrowded, it is expensive for state and federal governments to support prisoners for entire life sentences, and people who commit homicides and other crimes deserve a taste of their own medicine. Despite the commonality of these beliefs, many facts used to support these arguments are false. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, “It costs far more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life” (NCADP, n.d.). Ultimately, capital punishment is expensive, does not deter crime, and can lead to the accidental death of innocent convicts. In addition, capital punishment is applied unevenly to people across the board and many religions argue against the use of this sentence.

It is difficult to support the idea that a person deserves to die because of a crime that he or she committed. It’s even more difficult to support this idea when one considers the true expensive of putting a criminal to death. Since it is us, the taxpayers, who are responsible for paying for both jail time and capital punishment, wouldn’t we benefit more greatly from the less expensive option? An excellent example of capital punishment’s expense can be seen by studying the state of New Jersey. The state once allowed capital punishment, but it is now illegal. “When the state had the death penalty, it cost New Jersey taxpayers $253 million since 1983, a figure that is over and above the costs that would have been incurred had the state utilized a sentence of life without parole instead of death” (NCADP, n.d.). New Jersey officials report that they are now putting this money to better use by giving the law enforcement community more resources. Essentially, you can prevent the need for capital punishment by reallocating the money that would be used on the implementation of this system to law enforcement. Overall, it’s a far more effective policy to prevent the need for the death sentence; decreasing crime in the first place will allow a community to become safer.

Scientists who have conducted statistical studies revealing the link between states with the death penalty and those without it have found that states without the death penalty actually have lower murder rates. In addition, the possibility of a capital punishment sentence does not actually deter people from committing any crimes. It was found that a majority of executions occur in the South of the United States (80%), and this region has the highest murder rate compared to the rest of the country. Furthermore, it is difficult to be absolutely certain that the people being executed actually committed the crime. It has been found that since the death penalty has been reinstated in this country, only 138 innocent men and women have been released from death row. Some of these people were only minutes away from execution before their names were cleared; in addition many convicts end up having their names cleared after their death (Meehan, 1982). This mistake is simply unacceptable.

In conclusion, the death penalty is expensive, doesn’t deter crime, and occasionally leads to the execution of innocent people. Therefore, doing away with this policy would benefit the majority of Americans and protect everyone’s natural right to life. It is entirely unethical to chance executing someone that may ultimately be innocent; therefore, it is more reasonable to sentence convicts to life in prison. Life in prison is a less expensive punishment and allows a convict to be cleared if they are later found to be innocent. The money that capital punishment costs could be better spent helping families of murder victims, increasing law enforcement to prevent life threatening crimes, and improving the community in general. A life is a terrible thing to waste; we need to reallocate our monetary resources to focus on protection rather that execution.

References

Meehan, M. (1982). Ten Reasons To Oppose the Death Penalty. America Magazine. Retrieved from http://americamagazine.org/issue/100/ten-reasons-oppose-death-penalty

NCADP. (n.d.). Death Penalty Overview: Ten Reasons Why Capital Punishment is Flawed Public Policy. Retrieved from http://www.ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=5