The Death Penalty and Why.

The death penalty is a very large controversial top in the United States. The

reason for this is due to its moral dilemmas. People believe it is immoral to to end
someone's life due to the crimes they committed in prison. They would rather them sit in

a cell for the rest of their lives. The death penalty is the utmost punishment for criminals

in the United states. These prisoners are referred to as “death row”. They have a choice

between lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, electrocution, and lethal gas. I believe it

should be permitted in every state in the U.S.

The death penalty in the U.S. is currently only used in 36 of the current 50 (1).

These states that do not allow the death penalty are: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware,

District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,

Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island,

Puerto Rico, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin (2). I do think that the

capital offense as it is referred to as well, is a punishment that should be used for the

worst of the worst as it is now. Each of the people on death row to receive the capital

offense very much deserved it. The last man to of have received this in the state of Utah

was Robert Lee Gardner. He murder several people and was then convicted for capital

punishment.

There are many instances where the capital punishment has not worked well do

to a lethal injection failing or other. These issues could be resolved with more care

taken into the issues due to lack of knowledge on the procedures and the prisoners

background. These executions that have gone poorly or been “botched”. The worst of

these cases have come from lethal injection. This is due to the poor amount of care put

into these executions I feel. They are done differently every time and they vary from

how the patient reacts.

 Each of these factors lead me to believe that lethal injection is not the most

human or the most consistent. Lethal injection has the highest “botching” rate of 7.12%

(3). This leads me to say, that I still do believe that lethal injection may be an option for

people who chose it, but it should be looked into more and more perfected before

further use. They are criminals but in the end they are still people too. However, firing

squad has never had a “botched” execution (3). The chances of this failing is very

minimal to no chance of failing at all. I also do believe that this is the most morally

acceptable of all the capital punishment methods. It is quick, painless, and does not

cost as much as the others.

Speaking of cost of the capital punishment, it is very high. The amount of which

however is very expensive. This is due to the high risk court cases and how long it takes

to sentence and work them through the system. The reason for them being high risk

cases is due to weather or no the person has been falsely accused or not. Out of all the

executions since 1973 though, there have only been 160 people released from death

row with proof of innocence (4). If the court cases that had the much needed evidence

to prove them guilty and sentence them to death row went much quicker, they would be

much less expensive. This would make the cost of the penalties go down much much

lower as the majority of the cost is from the court cases rather then the execution.

I very much am still fond of the death penalty even with the high cost. The people

that are sentenced to death row have done very terrible things. Things that happened to

people living normals lives and going about their days. These people that have had

these horrible things done to them deserve the most justice they can get, and for some
people, watching the person that ruined their life or took the life of a loved one from

them simply rot in a cell is not good enough.

The main argument against the death penalty other than being expensive is how

moral it is. People think it is wrong to take a life no matter how evil a person it belongs

too. I however think it is less moral to let them rot in the cell they are put in for

committing these crimes, rather then just give them the punishment they earned and be

done with it. This way it is quick, easy, and justice is served for those lost or wronged.

Over all I think the death penalty as is has its issues. The system takes too much

time to the point where it becomes immensely expensive. The available options varies

to much for each state, and some of the options available have been known to fail, but it

does have its upsides. In summary I think the death penalty is a good way to serve

justice to the criminals that earned it title as it is no small ordeal to have been granted

this punishment. It is a way to provide closure for most, and to clear the minds of other. I

feel it is the most humane way to deal with its evil recipients rather then letting them rot

and die of old age in a cell where they rarely see the light of day.

Sources

(1)
 “Methods Of Execution.” Ronald Gene Simmons #131, Office of the Clark

County Prosecuting Attorney, www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/methods.htm.

(2)

“Methods Of Execution.” Ronald Gene Simmons #131, Office of the Clark

County Prosecuting Attorney, www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/methods.htm.

(3)

“Botched Executions.” Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About

the High Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/some-examples-post-furman-botched-executions.\

(4)

“DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER Facts about the Death

Penalty.” Https://Deathpenaltyinfo.org/Costs-Death-Penalty, DEATH PENALTY

INFORMATION CENTER, 4 Mar. 2019, deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf.