Death Penalty

DOES NOT DETEROne of the main arguments for keeping the Death Penalty is that it deters crime. However, there has been no evidence found to support this. "Our results provide no empirical support for the argument that the existence or application of the death penalty deters prospective offenders from committing homicide... Although policymakers and the public can continue to base support for use of the death penalty on retribution, religion, or other justifications, defending its use based solely on its deterrent effect is contrary to the evidence presented here. At a minimum, policymakers should refrain from justifying its use by claiming that it is a deterrent to homicide and should consider less costly, more effective ways of addressing crime."--Tomislav Kovandzic, PhD, Associate Professor of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas[1]Not only is there a lack of evidence to support Death Penalty's deterrence, there is actually correlative evidence that shows Death Penalty states as having more crime[2]. click="document.location='/MyDinosaurHands/photos/album/3417/22416/'" src="../../../photos/albums/1/4/3417/118348-3417-hs96b-a.jpg" alt="For debate 'Death Penalty' Shows lack of deterrence for the Death Penalty." /> EXECUTION OF INNOCENTSAs we are human, and thus imperfect, we are bound to make mistakes with sentencing people to death. According to an extremely recent study, 1 in 25 inmates on death row are innocent, and this is the study's conservative estimate[3]. Many proponents of the Death Penalty like to say that our criminal investigations become more and more accurate with the better technologies we have today, but as we can see with this study, the advancement of our criminal investigation technology doesn't matter.Not only are the innocent at risk, but so too are the mentally handicapped. It is conservatively estimated that between 5-10% of those on death row are mentally handicapped[4], and thus not actually responsible for their crimes. Not only does it violate logic to sentence someone who has no control over their actions, it also violates the UN's international laws[5]. COSTGiven that in America courts are constitutionally bound to go through extremely lengthy legal proceedings in a Death Penalty, it ends up costing a lot more to put a person to death than it would to just hold them the rest of their life. It turns out that per year, it is 134 million dollars more expensive to have a Death Penalty case[6]. This is money that could be going back to your state in a helpful manner, providing better roads or education, for example. For a sentence that shows no ability to make society safer, this is a waste of money.Going back to the deterrence section of my argument, I would speculate that this is why states with the death penalty have a higher crime rate. Focusing 134 million dollars a year at one person in your state has to reduce funding for things like your police force. A poorly funded police force leads to higher crime. Perhaps if we stopped funding Death Penalty cases, there'd be less instances in which we would have had one. THEY 'DESERVE' ITEven after all the information presented, there may be some who still say the criminals in question deserve death, because their crimes are so heinous. I realize that this is a mentality that comes from opinion. It is the kind of opinion that I cannot change with a fact, it is just something that some people believe, and others don't. All I can do is argue against it with its own logic. If you say those on death row deserve death, you are the kind of person who believes people 'deserve' things. You believe that you are capable and worthy of passing judgments on what people deserve. So when we talk about people deserving things, ask yourself this: do students all around my state deserve to have money taken away from them every year just for one person? Do the facilities in my state for the mentally ill deserve to have funding taken away for one person? Do the mentally ill on death row deserve to be wrongfully executed for one man?You can believe that certain people deserve death, but I suggest you realize that with that brings a lot more negative to a lot of people who don't deserve it.MY MENTALITYNow I shall describe my personal moral code in regards to this issue. You don't have to subscribe to what I say to be on the same side as me however, I have presented plenty of factual reasons for you to oppose the Death Penalty.My thoughts on killing: One should not kill unless it prevents further death or harm. Simply killing someone because you think they deserve it is something we should avoid, for a couple reasons.First, look at the parallels here. If you're putting someone to death for killing someone, that does make you a bit of a hypocrite. You're killing someone... for killing someone. What? The criminal killed whoever they killed because they believed that person deserved it. We then kill that criminal because we believe they deserve it. How are we any better? Second, it is just the height of arrogance to assume that you are capable of passing judgment on what someone 'deserves' for their crimes. I believe there is nothing wrong with acting to prevent further harm from occurring, but simply acting to hurt someone for hurting others, when it doesn't actually save anyone from harm, is just arrogant. What about you is so great that you know when someone deserves death?Thanks for reading.Sources: [1] http://deathpenalty.procon.org...[2] http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org...[3] http://www.procon.org...[4] http://www.deathpenalty.org...[5] http://www.amnestyusa.org...[6] http://reason.com...