Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishment: Against More money is spent executing humans than keeping them in a penitentiary for life. Compared to capital punishment, life in prison is far worse. Mistakes may be made and no one can bring another human back to life. Juries are often white and this may lead to racial decisions. Of the 144 executions since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S., not one white person has been executed for killing a black. Of the 16,000 executions in U.S. history, only 30 cases involved a white sentenced for killing a black. Therefore, no one, including the government, should have the power to tell another human that they must be put to death, no matter what they commit. Today's government and justice system is not as efficient as it should be. If a mistake is made in an execution sentence and an innocent person dies, no one can bring their life back. Now, if the death penalty did not exist, the person would still have their life. Juries also have to think about the families, both of the victim and the suspect. What if the suspect did not commit the murder and was executed? How would the suspect's family feel? A close relative had just died due to the fact that another mistake was made in our justice system. This in fact would send a rush of anger through my body. The justice system killed somebody's family member. The death penalty should not even exist, due to the fact that many mistakes can be made, and a life can never be brought back. Juries have been and still are mostly consisted of the white majority. Racism and money is a big part of our everyday lives. With the majority of people in the jury consisted of whites, racism might in fact be involved. Now, if a black family is poor and does not have much money, the suspect may then be issued a racist attorney. Many cases have been recorded of this happening, both of innocent and guilty men. Innocent men again were put to death, this time due to their skin color. This is just another reason leading to how poor our justice system is, and why it should not be in effect. There are few oppositions to not having the death penalty in effect. The main concern with not having the death penalty in effect is that people would not care as much when they committed a crime. Now, if the death penalty was in effect, people would think twice about their mistake before committing it.