Capital Punishment 12 Essay, Research Paper

Capital punishment is the penalty of death for a crime. It has been part of the world’s criminal justice system since the time of Babylonia’s Hammurabic Code. The system of capital punishment is full of injustices and inequalities. All the arguements for the death penalty ared filled with holes. Today’s reality is far removed from the days of Hammurabi. Today, the death penalty is not a deterrent, as many claim; in fact, it is costly, time consuming , ddiscriminatory and immoral.

A common belief is that capital punishment deters criminals from committing murder. Studies have shown that life imprisonment is just as efective a deterent as the death penalty. Some American states who employ the death penalty have higher murder rates than those without. In addition, the death penalty cnnot deter all types of homicides. It can only deter the pre meditated murder but not the impulsive or drunken murder. If capital punishmen is not a deterrnet, it’s use is not justified because then , it is simply revenge.

Contrary to popular belief, executions do not save money or time. On average, it costs taxpayers three times more money to execute a criminal than to imprison him for life. The whole process of executions is time consuming. Judges are reluctant to shorten the the process for fear that an innocent person might be executed. The average time between sentencing and the actual execution is nine anda half years.

The death penalty discriminates aagainst the poor, African Americans and those liveing in rural areas. Although murdereres are from all socio0-economic classes, most death row inmates are poor. They were represented by stat appointed lawyers who weren’t competent. Also, juries in rural areas are more likely to impose a death sentence than those in urban areas. The death penalty is racist. If the victim is white, the chance of a death sentence is five to ten times greater tahn if the victim was black. Governments should not use the deth penalty until it is able to treat all of its citizens equally.