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AntiDeath Penalty

AntiDeath Penalty The death penalty is not a new idea in our world. Its origins date back 3,700 years to the Babylonian civilization, where it was prescribed for a variety of crimes (Kronenwetter p.10). It was also greatly used in the Greek and Roman empires. In ancient Roman and Mosaic Law they believed in the rule of “eye for and eye.” The most famous executions of the past included Socrates and Jesus (Wilson p.13). It continued into England during the Middle Ages and then to the American colonies where it exist still today. In the colonies, death was a punishment for crimes of murder, arson, and perjury. Although today the death penalty is used for murder. Common ways of execution in the past where stoning, crucifixion, burning, breaking of the wheel, draw and quartering, beheading, garroting, shooting, and hanging (Wilson p.89). Today these styles of execution are thought to be cruel and unusual. Today in the United States, the death penalty is used in five different ways. These five ways are the firing squad, hanging, gas chamber, electric chair, and lethal injection. The United States applies these styles of execution because they are thought to be not torturous for execution. The death penalty has been accepted in the United States, but was not always approved by the people. In the late eighteen hundreds there was enough attention gathered to the death penalty to lead to restrictions. Many northern states abolished the practice all together like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island (Wilson p.45). Pennsylvania in 1794 decided to revises its laws on the death penalty. The state decided to use the penalty mainly for first-degree murder. Around this time many states where deciding to offer life imprisonment instead of the use of the death penalty. This still didn’t stop the use of the death penalty until January 17, 1972 with the case of Furman Vs. Georgia, (408 U.S. 238). This case was the first time the Supreme Court ruled against the death penalty (http://www.time.com/time/magagzine/archive/1994/940523.crime.html). The rule was a vote of 5 to 4 by the jury. “The dissenting Justices argued that the courts had no right to challenge legislative judgment on the effectiveness and justice of punishments. The majority however held that it was not the actual death penalty that was cruel and unusual punishment, but rather the judicial process, which determined who would receive the death penalty sentence. This process violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment. They decided some factors should be considered before giving a criminal this sentences such as a separate trial for sentencing, the viciousness of the crime, and environment factors like the criminal's background” (http://www.time.com/time/magagzine/archive/1994/940523.crime.html). Due to the way this case was done it created three options for the use of the death penalty. The three options where, mandatory death sentences for certain crimes, development of standardized guidelines for juries and outright abolition (http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…/pageitems=[body]). This was a stop to the death penalty until the case of Gregg Vs. Georgia, (428 U.S. 153). In this case the Georgia Supreme Court reviewed the rights of constitution and how the effected the death penalty. The defendant Gregg was convicted on two counts of armed robbery and two counts or murder in this case. “Justice Byron stated in his opinion that Gregg had failed in his burden of showing that the Georgia Supreme court had not done all it could to prevent discriminatory practices in the forming of his sentence. This decision became the first time the Court stated, “punishment of death does not invariably violate the constitution.” So once again the death penalty was brought back into society. Although the death penalty was brought back into the nation is still needed to be fine-tuned. In the case of Thompson Vs. Oklahoma (487 U.S. 815), on June 29th, 1998 the death penalty was once again brought up for violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. In this case the defendant William Thompson, who was 15 at the time, brutally murdered his bother-in-law (http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…/pageitems=[body]). Due to how cruel the crime was the prosecutor asked that he be tried as an adult. “It was granted due to the boy’s violent nature, past offensives, and psychiatric. The boy was sentenced to with first-degree murder and was to be sentenced to death”(http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…/pageitems=[body]). The ruling was appealed by the Supreme Court due to he was going to be sentenced to death. This is where the courts ruled that anyone under the age of 16 at the time of their crime is prohibited to be executed by the death penalty. The courts decided this due to it was said to violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment clause (http://mtsd.k12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/gregg.htm). How could killing, as a form of punishment be morally accepted in our nation when it can be issued to some, while letting others avoid it? If we are terminating someone’s life for killing, how are we any more morally right for killing him or her? It is acceptable to our criminal justice system for it seems to be an everyday overlooked standard operating procedure. Many believe the death penalty is based on the “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” concept. The death penalty is incorrect due to the price and time of executing someone, and that it isn’t a deterrent against violent crime, of how cruel and unusual it is, and the chance of incarcerating an innocent person. One misunderstood concept concerning the death penalty is that it is less expensive to execute someone instead of life imprisonment. What many people don’t understand is how our courts work. “Contrary to popular belief, death penalty cases are three to four times more expensive than life imprisonment cases” (http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm). There are usually many appeals in cases that involve the death penalty, which makes the case become drawn out and very expensive. “The average time between sentencing and execution for the 31 prisoners put on death row in 1992 was 114 months, or nine and a half years”(Stewart p.50). “Criminal justice process expenses, trial court cost, appellate and post-convictions costs and prison cost perhaps including years served on death row awaiting executing…all told, the extra cost per death penalty imposed in over a quarter million dollars, and per execution exceeds $2 million dollars”(Cavanaugh p.33). If you compare this to a twenty-year prison term for first-degree murder, it is around $330,000 (Cavanaugh p.23). “Another study done in Florida cost 3.1 million dollars to execute a person, where as it only cost 1 million for a life sentencing” (Becker p.23). The figures show that our tax money could be saved to provide to other areas of our nation rather than killing prisoners inhumanly. One argument in today’s society is that capital punishment is a form of deterrence. Does the death penalty truly deter crime and murder? It is thought that if a person knows that he commits a certain crime that will end up loosing his life, therefore he won’t commit that crime. Individuals, who commit any types of crime ranging from auto theft to 1st-degree murder, never take into account the consequences of their actions. Deterrence to crime is rooted in the individuals themselves. Every human has a person set of conduct and rules that they live by. The personal set of conduct can be made or broken by friend, influences, family, home, and life. A person who is never taught right from wrong will probably never understand any limits to what they can do until they have learnt it themselves. In the past 60 years there have been three ways test to try and prove that capital punishment is a form of deterrence. The first way is, immediate impact studies, which calculate the effect a well-publicized execution has on the short-term murder rate. Second, time series analysis, which compares long-term trends in murder and capital punishments rates. Finally, contiguous state analysis, which compares murder rates in states that have the death penalty with the states that has abolished capital punishment (Senna p.362). “Using these three methods over a 60-year period, most researchers have failed to show any deterrent effect of capital punishment”(Senna p362). Although, “All the evidence taken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters more than long term prison terms do”(Cavanaugh p33). To take this even one step farther, the executive director of the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson said, “People are increasingly realizing that the more we resort to killing as a legitimate response to our frustration and anger with violence, the more violent our society becomes… We could execute all three thousand people on death row, and most people would not feel any safer tomorrow” (Frame p51). There the are twelve states that don’t have the death penalty which are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington DC. In 1997 these states murder rates were no higher then the other 38 states in the United States (Whittier p.78). While the death penalty prevent convicted murders from committing others crimes, the death penalty does not stop other from doing so. Executions merely reinforce the idea of a brutality society where moral vengeance is an accepted for of behavior. In the past we did away with many types of capital punishment for the fact of them being cruel and unusual. We accepted 5 different styles of execution like hanging, fire squads, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection for being non-suffering executions, or at least that is what we thought. There are three cases, which have a description of how cruel and unusual the death penalty is. These three cases are of John Wayne Gacy, Jimmy Lee Gray, and Joseph Tafero. In 1970 John Wayne Gacy was to be executed by lethal injection. The way the execution was suppose to take place was first introducing a chemical into him to put him to sleep, then the second one would suppress his breathing, and finally the third would stop his heart (http://mtsd.k.12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/thompson.htm). Although things where going like they should, a mistake happened. One of the tubes clogged in delivering a chemical that would knock out Gacy. “Gacy snorted just before death-chambers attendants pulled a curtain around him as they struggled to clear the tube”(http://mtsd.k.12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/thompson.htm). It took Gacy 18 minutes to die, when the normal procedure only takes 5 minutes (Http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…pageitems=[body]). “In the end the monster was dead, but was the killing itself monstrous?” (Http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…pageitems=[body]). The second case took place on September 2nd, 1983 in Parchman, Mississippi; Jimmy Lee Gray was sentenced to die for the rape slaying of three-year-old girls (Http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…pageitems=[body]). Gray was to be put to death by the gas chamber. After a grousing 8 minutes into the execution witnesses in the viewing area jolted out of the viewing area, repelled by what they had saw (http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm). Gray was suffocating and turning purple faced, and died while slamming his head off of a steal pole. The third and final case involved Joseph Tafero on May 4th, 1990. He was sentenced to death by electrocution. “When the switch was turned flipped, 6in. flames and smoke spewed of Tafero’s head. The power was stopped and witnesses saw Tafero inhale deeply several times” (http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm). It ended up that the switch had to be turned on and off two more times before Tafero was finally put to death. Killing a person is irreversible, and that person can never be brought back. Sometimes capital punishment has taken the lives of innocent people. For example, in Britain an innocent man was hung for the murder of three women. After he was hung, another man came forth and admitted to the murder of the women (Tabak 80). The man that was hung can never be brought back and died a disrespectable way. “A 1993 congressional study revealed 48 cases in the past 20 years where a convicted person has been released from death row due to significant evidence of their innocence” (http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…/pageitems=[body]). Therefore, we are taking the chance of killing innocent people by using the death penalty as a form of punishment. The death penalty doesn’t work as a punishment due to the above information. The death penalty costs much more than simply imprisoning someone and isn’t a deterrent against violent crime. The death penalty is immoral and contradicting because we are encouraging violence. The death penalty is not proper or the right way to help stop violent crimes from happening. Bibliography: Work Cited Page: Becker, David L. “The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints”. London: Greenwood Press. 1991 Cavanaugh, Suzanne, and David Teasley. “Capital Punishment A Brief Overview.” Boston University Law Reviews. 1995 Frame, Randy j. “A Matter of Life and Death.” Christianity Today August 14, 1995 Kronenwetter, Michael, “Capital Punishment.” New York: Greenwood Press. 1993 Senna Josheph J. “Essentials of Criminal Justice”. London: Wadsworth Publishing Company. 1998 Stewart, David O, “Dealing with Death.” American Bar Association Journal, Vol. 74.4 1994 Tabak, Ronald J. “Reports: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Lack of Due Process in Death Penalty Cases.” Human Rights Winter 1995. Whittier, Charles H. “Moral Arguments For and Against Capital Punishment.” CRS Report For Congress 1996 Wilson, Josh, M. “Death Penalty History”. New York: Fletcher Press. 1998 http://www.time.com/time/magagzine/archive/1994/940523.crime.html http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/us/nybish.death http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…/pageitems=[body] http://mtsd.k12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/gregg.htm http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm http://mtsd.k.12.wi.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/thompson.htm Http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/historic/query=[group+…pageitems=[body]

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