Juan Mendoza

Professor Connelly
English 2
11/28/16
Who Are We Really Hurting
Our government runs many certain ways, some of those that are for the people and others
that are against the people. I believe that the death penalty is one that is against the people, not
only does it go against what we believe in on how we shouldnt kill one and other but also cost a
lot, killing innocent victims, curl and unusual punishment and targeted at certain individuals.
There are many people that are for the death penalty but they just dont have the sufficient
knowledge to see why it is bad for all of us. Many people cannot see all the good that will come
with if we abolish the death penalty.
First of all, the death penalty goes against what the government believes which is that we
shouldnt kill each other, even though it is okay that we kill people that do bad things. We don't
like people who kill other people, so to show everyone how much we don't like people who kill
people, we are going to kill people who kill other people. It seems like capital punishment pretty
much goes against everything it claims to be for (Bushman). We cannot solve violence with
violence it just doesnt work like that. The death penalty models the exact same behavior the
government is trying to stop. Which people do not think of, they just want them to be killed
because of what they did. There's no greater authority than the power to take life, and our
government currently reserves the authority to kill the citizens it's supposed to serve (Hyden).

People believe that it is good to execute one another but dont have the full knowledge of what
really goes on.
In addition, the death penalty costs more to accomplish than life without parole. Which is
what we the tax payers pay for. Why would we spend our money on people that dont deserve it
than to needy organizations or programs? In fact, it is two times more expensive to sentence
someone to death than life without parole. The death penalty alone in California cost more than
110 million dollars a year, more than 200 million per execution, and more than 10 million each
year defending the inmates that are on the death sentence. Many death penalty cases involve a
long, drawn out, complex, and expensive judicial process (Bushman). So why would anyone
what to waist our tax money on something like killing one another than to waist it on more useful
things. when life without parole is just a fraction but some people dont understand that and want
to keep the death penalty. Than those people are complaining that he government waists the tax
payers money on stupid things, while the death penalty is one or those stupid things.
Another reason to abolish the death penalty is it is killing many innocent people. once
one is died there is no way back. through mistakes or abuse of power, innocent people routinely
get sent to death row (Hyden). One needs to put themselves in the others shoes to understand
how wrong this is. It would be horrible to find out that a loved one got sent to death row and not
till after his or her death they find out that he or she was innocent. There is nothing anyone can
do to bring that loved one back which is already hard enough but then to find out they were
killed for no reason is just heart breaking. Death sentences represent less than one-tenth of 1%
of prison sentences in the United States, but they accounted for about 12% of known
exonerations of innocent defendants from 1989 through early 2012, a disproportion of more than
130 to 1 (Gross) Yes, a success rate of around 99 percent are killed that are found innocent but

around a 1 percent are found to be innocent afterwards, and if you ask me one innocent person is
one to many. People that say its only one percent that die innocent cannot comprehend how hard
it is to lose a loved one in this type of situation.
Which then comes to my next reason on how the death penalty uses curl and unusual
punishment. The people that go through the death penalty are tortured though the process. Some
of inmate have even suffered a few hours until die. Many states can no longer obtain the
previously used and approved death penalty drugs (Hyden). Which mean that states must
experiment and make their own. Not all of the lethal drugs that they use work correctly like they
should. So the drug doesnt kill them instantly like it should instead they suffer through the entire
process. It's not just California that has faced problems with its lethal injection protocol,
essentially experimental drugs from unknown sources, resulting in a number of legal challenges
over the constitutionality of these drugs and protocols (Galik). There have been some reported
cases with this exact same issue. Some lasting a few hours and to make it worse many loved ones
attend the execution and watch their loved ones suffer.
Last but not least the death penalty targets certain people. The majority of the death
penalty inmates are people of color. Research has found that only 1 percent of all murders get
sentenced to death which are mostly the poor because they are not well represented. One who is
also sentenced is more likely to be of color which make up more than 50% of all sentenced but
more than 45% of the total being black; Even though whites are also involved in 50% of cases.
The odds of receiving the death penalty increase by 38% when the accused is Black. Although
50% of murders involve white victims, 80% of death penalty cases involve white victims
(Bushman). In addition, many of the death row mates are people of a lower class or in other
words poor. Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "People who are well represented at trial

do not get the death penalty." Ginsburg also criticized the "meager" amount of money spent to
defend poor people. OJ Simpson's lawyerwho received $5 million for defending himsaid,
"In the U.S., you're better off, if you're in the system being guilty and rich than being innocent
and poor." There are no billionaires or millionaires on death row (Bushman). Thus, the death
penalty only effects the poor and the people of color.
Therefore, the death penalty should be abolished. However, there are still many people
out there that are not aware of these things or just try to ignore them. People that agree that death
penalty should be allowed do not see the flaws it contains. It goes against what the government
tells us and many have our morals to, which is to not kill one another. Although we kill people
that kill people to show people not to kill people. in addition, a sentence to death penalty doesnt
only cost the government but the tax payers millions at year which we are all the tax payers. That
money can go to much more useful things. It is also killing innocent people which one is already
one to many. It also goes against the 8th amendment which is against cruel and unusual
punishments. Last but not least it targets people of color and the poor. All this is why we should
eliminate the death penalty before it is too late.

Work Cited
Hyden, Marc. "The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished." Death Penalty, edited by Nol Merino,
Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
Accessed 21 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "The Cost of Capital Punishment:
Reconsidering the Death Penalty Is a Matter of Conscience and Constitutionality,"
Freeman, 12 May 2014.
Bushman, Brad. "The Death Penalty Is a Flawed Form of Punishment." Death Penalty, edited by
Nol Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context, Accessed 21 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "It's Time to Kill the
Death

Penalty," Psychology Today, 19 Jan. 2014.

Kennedy, Edward H., et al. "Innocent People Are Given Death Sentences." Death Penalty, edited
by Nol Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints
in Context, Accessed 21 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "Rate of False Conviction of
Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced to Death," vol. 1, 28 Apr. 2014.
Galik, Lauren. "The Death Penalty Should Be Replaced by Life Without Parole." Death Penalty,
edited by Nol Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context, Accessed 21 Nov. 2016. Originally published as "Time to Ditch
the Death Penalty," Orange County Register, 9 May 2014.