Death Penalty

I believe your argument was that families of victims feel safer when the cause of their pain is sentenced to death. While this may be true, some families prefer that defendants be sentenced to life in prison where they would be able to reflect upon their wrong doings and at the same time be away from society. Death is not the only method of achieving justice, in fact, it is an inefficient way of achieving justice. In my opponents previous argument, she states "In California alone, according to my source, the prisons are crowded with sick and old inmates and the number of inmates over 40 are increasing at an alarming rate." This data is towards the general prison population and not just inmates sentenced to death. It seems as if you're saying that the death penalty should be applied to a greater number of people in order to reduce the prison population. This is a quote from the source you provided, "They're looking at moving toward privatization as the governor announced in his State address. In other states, where they have privatized medical care for aging and dying inmates such as Tennessee and New York, there have been reports of problems with accountability to the public and some questions raised over the methods used to save money." Clearly they are looking for alternatives to the extent of the cost of incarceration, they are not looking to execute these inmates. Also, the cost if incarcerating someone on death row increases because the inmate is assigned to a single cell in a maximum security area. The Judicial process involved when the death penalty is imposed, is lengthy and costly. From the initial investigation to having a Defendants appeal reach the highest court is costly. There is no guarantee that there will be no ineffective assistance of counsel from defense attorneys. There is also no guarantee that their will be no prosecutorial misconduct. The risk of executing even one innocent person should be enough to outlaw the death penalty. The Government is not depriving someone of their life when they send them to prison. They are depriving someone of their liberty, which is just after a fair trial. It is your preference to die then be in an institution, but you can not say that life and liberty are the same. Many of those inmates on death row prefer to live and fight their cases. Imagine if the 87 people, on Death Row, who were freed after being found innocent would have been executed. It would have been a tragic and irreversible mistake, and it would have caused guilt upon the victims family and pain among the defendants family. Some juries choose not to impose the death penalty. "In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court agreed that the discovery issues did not warrant a new trial, affirming Jacobs' conviction. However, the court commuted her sentence to life in prison, holding that Futch had lacked sufficient basis to override the jury's recommendation of a life sentence. Jacobs v. State, 396 So. 2d 713 (1981)." In this case, it is clear that the Judge chose to sentence the defendant to death, even though the Jury voted to sentence her to life in prison. Some people don't commit murders "because they want to", their are psychological factors that go into play. The Court system is part of the government; therefore, as previously stated, the government(which included the Judicial branch) should not have the authority to execute anyone. Furthermore, although the Death Penalty has been declared Constitutional, it is unjust. A distinguishing aspect of Mr. Tafero's death was that "officials interrupted the execution three times because flames and smoke shot out of his head" (The source is provided below, at the request of my opponent). It was overly unjust for Mr. Tafero to be executed upon these circumstances with his appeals process still pending in Federal Court. It is even more troubling because Mr. Tafero was later found to be in fact innocent of the charges against him, but he was already buried six feet below ground after his execution. For clarification, my opponent has conceded to one of my main arguments in this debate, "After the research I have done it is pretty clear that it is more costly to sentence people to death so I concede that point. " Thank you. Sources http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org... http://www.law.northwestern.edu... https://digital.lib.washington.edu...