Young Abolitionist
Many people believe that it is more expensive to keep criminals in jail than to put them to death. However, evidence proves this untrue. In a criminal justice system examination in Texas, the results concluded that, on average, the cost of putting someone to death in their state was about $2.3 million. Florida spends around $3.2 million on each execution. North Carolina usually squanders over $2.2 million for each prisoner sentenced to death. Yet, the average cost of keeping someone in a maximum security prison for 80 years, longer than most live, is about $1.5 million (Porter). These statistics tell that it is a great deal more expensive to execute criminals rather than sentencing them to life in prison and an unnecessary expense at that.
Beyond expense, few people know that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime. Common sense often causes people to forget that most murders are committed in
the “heat of the moment.” Not thinking of the consequences of their actions, these people commit crimes that could cost them their life in most states. The United States has a high execution rate. Yet it fails to have a low homicide rate. Put another way: In the 1990s, the average murder rate was 9.3 people per 100,000. Fifteen states were over this average (Death Penalty Information Center). All 15 states permitted capital punishment! According to William J. Bowers, author of Legal Homicide, “The point is that the way we have carried out executions historically in the United States appears to have contributed slightly but significantly to the increase of homicides” (Death Penalty Arguments). There is no point to having capital punishment sentences if it doesn’t deter crime.
Aside from the fact that the death penalty increases the number of homicides, there is the factor of discrimination. Discrimination still exists today; no one can deny this. Obviously, this can play a factor in how a trial ends if the jury is prejudice. But few people know just how much of a role it can play. According to Samuel Gross and Robert Mauro, racial inequality experts and authors of Death and Discrimination, “It is no small comment on our society that we openly and consciously tolerate a system in which race frequently determines whom we execute and whom we spare.” If an African-American murders a Caucasian in Oklahoma, s/he is 10.1% more likely to receive a death sentence than a Caucasian murdering a Caucasian. Under the same circumstances, in North Carolina, s/he is 6% more likely to receive death. In Mississippi s/he is 20.8% more likely to be executed; in Virginia, s/he is 6.9% more likely to die, and in Arkansas, s/he is 10.5% more likely to receive death. Also, since 1976, almost 40% of executions have happened to African-Americans, although African-Americans only account for 13% of the population. Last year, 89% of death sentences had Caucasian victims, even when 50% of homicide victims were African-American (Porter). Although most probably made the unfortunate mistake of murder, they may be sentenced because of a choice they did not make, the color of their skin.
Making mistakes is something everyone does. The justice system, the police and even the people who collect evidence all make mistakes. The government that prides itself on a system of checks and balances makes mistakes. It is irrational to let the government have the power to give punishment that cannot be undone. What gives fellow humans the power to decide if another’s life is not worth living anymore? They shouldn’t have the ability to decide that there is no going back and that this person will never be able to contribute to society again. Life is the most precious gift anyone can ever receive. There is hardly ever any way to be 100% positive that a person is guilty of a capital crime and to take away this life is irresponsible and immoral. Studies made by Hugo Adam Bedau and Michael L. Radelet, authors of Miscarriages of Justices in Potentially Capital Cases, show that 350 people convicted of felonies in the United States between 1900 and 1985 were innocent. Twenty-three of these innocent people were executed (“Death Penalty Facts” and “Uniform Crime Reports”). That is 23 innocent lives that were taken because of the death penalty. Not saved, taken. In the introduction, it was stated that Mr. Ray Krone was the 100th person released from death row after later evidence found him not guilty of the crime. Waiting to die, he wasted 11 years of his life on death row for a crime he did not commit. Well, there have been 23 more people released from death row since then because of new evidence (“To Kill or Not to Kill”). “In many cases, it was good fortune rather than the criminal justice system that established innocence” (“A Question of Innocence”). This means that since 1973, the United States has wrongly convicted 123 people of capital crimes. According to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, about one in every twenty inmates who have been sentenced to death since 1973 is innocent. And this is only what has been found so far. Imagine how many more innocents are waiting on the death row.
To conclude, the death penalty is immoral and ineffective. It increases the amount of murders in our country, is unfair because of discrimination, and innocents can be killed. Everyone has the right to life, and the government shouldn’t endorse what it opposes. How will executing someone teach people that killing is wrong? People should only ever die of natural causes. The justice system shouldn’t sink to the level of murderers. To help this cause, please vote for politicians that do not support the death penalty and write letters to your state government saying that the system Wisconsin has in place now is the right one for everyone.
Works Cited:
"A Question of Innocence." American Civil Liberties Union. 09 Dec. 2003. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
"Death Penalty Arguments." Pro Death Penalty. 03 May 2001. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
"Death Penalty Facts." Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, Inc. 2006. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
"Death Penalty Information Center." Death Penalty Information Center. 21 Mar. 2007. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
"Death Penalty Information Center." DPIC. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
Porter, Phil. "The Economics of Capital Punishment." Mind Spring. 1998. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
"To Kill or Not to Kill." Ebsco Host. 17 Mar. 2007 <link>.
Uniform Crime Reports. 03 Oct. 1993. 18 Mar. 2007 <link>.
Yes, this does show only the US. Only place I could find reliable info on :(
