Capital Punishment Should Not Be Practiced as a Form of Legal Discipline

As far as it concerns the formidability of my opponent, his ELO ranking speaks for itself; needless to say, I am very excited to be debating someone of Logical-Master's reputation. Therefore, with that, allow me to dive right into my contentions. Capital Punishment Presents Unwarranted Risks:One of the most detrimental consequences of capital punishment is the unintentional murder of innocent human beings. Besides the fact that literally hundreds of people have been found innocent after being sentenced to death row [1], the justice system has exhibited a consistent tendency to discriminate against racial minorities and impoverished citizens [2]. As can be clearly seen from the graph below, when the victim of a homicide crime is white, the offender is more likely to receive the death penalty:Figure 1.0 Provided by . http://www.amnestyusa.org... As if such information wasn't sufficient on its own, Amnesty International has reported that:"In a 1990 report, the non-partisan U. S. General Accounting Office found 'a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty. ' The study concluded that a defendant was several times more likely to be sentenced to death if the murder victim was white. This has been confirmed by the findings of many other studies that, holding all other factors constant, the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim [3]. "Furthermore, Amnesty International has also reported the following facts:1) "A report sponsored by the American Bar Association in 2007 concluded that one-third of African-American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentences of life imprisonment if they had not been African-American [4]. "2) "A January 2003 study released by the University of Maryland concluded that race and geography are major factors in death penalty decisions. Specifically, prosecutors are more likely to seek a death sentence when the race of the victim is white and are less likely to seek a death sentence when the victim is African-American [5]. "3) "A 2007 study of death sentences in Connecticut conducted by Yale University School of Law revealed that African-American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white. In addition, killers of white victims are treated more severely than people who kill minorities, when it comes to deciding what charges to bring [6]. "4) "Almost all death row inmates could not afford their own attorney at trial. Court-appointed attorneys often lack the experience necessary for capital trials and are overworked and underpaid. In the most extreme cases, some [court-appointed attorneys] have slept through parts of trials or have arrived under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol [7]. "Considering the above mentioned facts, I submit that human bias, prejudice, and fallibility present an unsurpassable obstacle in eliminating the possibility of sentencing an innocent human being to death, as well as instituting a socioeconomically fair form of capital punishment. Capital Punishment Fails as a Deterrent:Many people who favor the utilization of capital punishment commonly claim that such a form of legal discipline aids in deterring would-be capital offenders; however, despite this bold assertion, the evidence actually reveals a very different reality; in fact, States which have abandoned the practice of capital punishment consistently exhibit lower crime rates as a whole [8]. Individual States have also observed personal decreases in capital offenses when they choose to cease employing the death penalty. For example, as can be seen from the graph below, the State of California enjoyed a significantly lower rate of homicides in the years when capital punishment was not utilized (the same has also been observed in Oklahoma):Figure 1.2 Provided by . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...As the above graph states, evidence is highly indicative of the fact that when capital punishment is utilized, the so-called "brutalization effect" is triggered among society, ultimately resulting in more crime, particularly capital offenses. Moreover, States which refuse to employ the death penalty are not the only entities which enjoy lower crime rates; rather, entire nations as a whole evidently benefit from the abandonment of the practice. For example, as can be seen from the following graph, the United States possesses significantly higher crime rates compared to nations which do not employ capital punishment:Figure 1.2 Provided by . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...In fact, Amnesty International has reported that Canadian crime rates have decreased 27% since the nation abandoned capital punishment in 1976 [9]. To date, the United States is the only modernized nation which has not done away with the death penalty. Considering all of this information, it's not surprising to learn that the experts tend to overwhelmingly support my position; for example, a research study conducted by Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock in 2009 revealed that out of all the nation's most prominent criminologists, 88% concluded that capital punishment is not successful as a deterrent [10]. Capital Punishment Is Overly Expensive: Contrary to popular belief, the death penalty is not more cost effective than other non-death alternatives, including life in prison without parole. For example, in Maryland, death penalty cases cost 3 times the amount of non-death penalty cases [11]. Furthermore, California spends $137 million dollars every year with their current death penalty system; however, if they were to utilize a system which did not employ the death penalty, the State would only spend $11.5 million dollars a year [12]. In fact, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the United States as a whole would have saved a significant $1.6 billion dollars between the years of 1982 and 1997 if the death penalty had been abandoned [13]. Amnesty International has reported that due to its excessively expensive nature, the death penalty ultimately results in "reducing the resources available for crime prevention, mental health treatment, education and rehabilitation, meaningful victims' services, and drug treatment programs. [The death penalty also ends up diverting spending from] existing components of the criminal justice system, such as prosecutions of drug crimes, domestic violence, and child abuse [14]. "Therefore, considering all of the above information, I submit that the death penalty should not be utilized as a form of legal discipline. ________________________________________________________________________________________________[1] . http://www.guardian.co.uk...[2] . http://www.amnestyusa.org...[3] . http://www.amnestyusa.org...[4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] . http://www.amnestyusa.org...[8] . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...[9] . http://www.unhcr.org...[10] . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...[11] . http://www.amnestyusa.org...[12] Ibid. [13] . http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...[14] . http://www.amnestyusa.org...