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Natalie Abrams
Mr. Davis
Gov/Econ Period 4
16th October, 2016

Capital Punishment
In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that Capital Punishment could be an option of
punishment for the most brutal and heinous crimes (Capital Punishment Timeline). Although it is
still used in our society today, it is an extremely controversial issue. The death penalty seems to
question morality and some say that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. On the
opposing side, people perceive the death penalty as a crime deterrent and think that capital
punishment should be kept for necessary retribution. Capital Punishment should be abolished as
a source of punishment in our society. Capital Punishment is not beneficial to our American
Justice System and quite frankly has a negative impact. Capital Punishment has proven to be
extremely costly, it has proven to be arbitrary, and lastly, it questions morality.
There seems to be a constant war between the opposing sides about the costs of capital
punishment. Pro death penalty supporters claim that keeping our prisoners in jail instead of
executing our societys most horrific offenders would be extremely costly. On the other hand, the
people who are pushing to eliminate the death penalty claim that the actual execution itself is far
more expensive. In 2011, Judge Aurther Alarcon and Professor Paula Mitchell conducted
research on the costs of the death penalty in California. They stated, if the Governor commuted
the sentences of those remaining on death row to life without parole, it would result in an
immediate savings of $170 million per year, with a savings of $5 billion over the next 20 years
(Costs Death Penalty). California had little money for innovations like community policing, but

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was managing to spend an extra $90 million per year on capital punishment. Texas, with over
300 people on death row, is spending an estimated $2.3 million per case, but its murder rate
remains one of the highest in the country (Mandery pg.92). This alarming statistic shows that
not only is crime deterrence ineffective but the costs for the death penalty is absolutely
ridiculous. This $90 million could go to bettering our states overall infrastructure and to our
schools.
Time and time again, the death penalty has proven to be arbitrary. Although unfortunate,
it is undeniable that there are sexist and racist attorneys, jurors, and judges in our American court
system. With respect to race, studies have repeatedly shown that a death sentence is far more
likely where a white person is murdered than where a black person is murdered. The death
penalty is racially divisive because it appears to count white lives as more valuable than black
lives. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 202 black defendants have been executed
for the murder of a white victim, while only 12 white defendants have been executed for the
murder of a black victim. Such racial disparities have existed over the history of the death
penalty and appear to be largely intractable (Arbitrariness and Opposition). It is also found that
different geographical locations and political views can affect the verdict of whether someone is
to receive capital punishment or not. Capital punishment is an intolerable denial of civil
liberties and is inconsistent with the fundamental values of our democratic system. The death
penalty is uncivilized in theory and unfair and inequitable in practice (The Case Against). Two
people can commit the same crime but they could get very different sentences. In California, for
example, the prosecutor in San Francisco long opposed the death penalty and refused to seek it in
any case, regardless of the facts of the crime. Less than 200 miles away, in Visalia, California,
prosecutors regularly sought the death penalty in aggravated murder cases. This resulted in a

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geographic disparity that had nothing to do with the culpability of the offender, the facts of the
crime, and the purported penological justifications for the death penalty (deterrence and
retribution), and everything to do with the political whims of the prosecution (Arbitrariness and
Death). This proves to be unfair and not just. If the death sentence were to be in use then it would
need to be in use for everyone not just when convenient, it needs to be used objectively.
Lastly, the death penalty questions morality. The death penalty is considered cruel and
unusual, which can be considered an infringement on our 8th amendment rights (the 8th
amendment bans any form of cruel and unusual punishment, protecting US citizens)
(Amendment VIII Excessive). A big question that comes along with capital punishment is what
punishment deserves the death penalty and what punishment does not? With this punishment
there is no fair way to decide if someone is deserving of the death penalty or not because the
deciding factor is ultimately in the hands of the judge and the jury. Someone who has committed
the same act as someone else could be given life with no parole while the other person could be
given the death penalty. This is unfair and not just and if the death penalty is going to be in use,
then crimes and heinous acts need to be treated with the same level of punishment. Religion is
also a big factor in Capital Punishment. Certain religions such as Christianity and Judaism do not
oppose of the death penalty at all and think that it is a deserving crime for the worst. On the other
hand, Buddhism and Islam prefer more peaceful methods and forgiveness (Religious Tolerence).
Many people strongly believe that those who commit heinous acts should receive capital
punishment but this will only cause more death. If we were to go to the alternative, life without
parole, then it would be ensured that that convict would remain in complete solitude until he/she
dies. There is also the argument of why should we be paying our taxes to house these killers in
jail when we can just execute them and be done with it. Among the 40 states surveyed,

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representing more than 1.2 million inmates (of 1.4 million total people incarcerated in all 50 state
prison systems), the total per-inmate cost averaged $31,286 and ranged from $14,603 in
Kentucky to $60,076 in New York (Henrichson pg. 187). This argument is truly invalid because
you are still spending way more money on lethal injection and for the entire death row process.
Not only that but capital punishment has proven to not be an effective crime deterrent. In some
years, the murder rate in non death penalty states was as much as 46 percent lower than in death
penalty states. In a 2008 survey, police chiefs from across the country ranked the use of the death
penalty at the bottom of a list of effective crime fighting tools. They said more law enforcement
resources were the most needed tool for reducing violent crime (Failure to Deter). 46% is a
significant difference and shows that capital punishment is not only unnecessary and costly, but
ineffective on crime deterrence which is why it was even an option as punishment in the first
place.
The American Judicial System is not as effective as it can be because of the death penalty.
To keep the Justice System working properly, Capital Punishment needs to be abolished and
other measures for heinous and brutal crimes can be taken, such as life without parole. I ask you
to think of the ineffectiveness of crime deterrence, how costly it is, and how it has proven to be
arbitrary. The death penalty does not benefit our nation and should be outlawed and we can go to
other means and methods that wont be as expensive, that wont waste time, that wont wrongly
convict anyone and that wont question morality.

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Works Cited
Arbitrariness and the Death Penalty. Arbitrariness and the Death Penalty,
http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/arbitrariness.cfm.
Robert Dunham. Costs of the Death Penalty. DPIC, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costsdeath-penalty.
State , Michigan. Arbitrariness &Amp; Discrimination (In Opposition to the Death Penalty).
Arbitrariness &Amp; Discrimination (In Opposition to the Death Penalty),
http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/student/c/about/arguments/argument4a.htm.

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By Bryan A. Stevenson and John F. Stinneford. Amendment VIII Excessive Fines, Cruel and
Unusual Punishment. National Constitution Center,
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-viii.
Basic Reasons That People Give to Support or Oppose the Death Penalty. Capital Punishment,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/executb.htm.
Tarrah Callahan. Failure to Deter Crime Archives - NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty. NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, https://nccadp.org/deathpenalty-issue/failure-to-deter-crime/./.latest_citation_text
By 2000, 55 women will be on death row and 4 others executed. Capital Punishment Timeline.
Capital Punishment Timeline, http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/timeline.htm.
@ACLU. The Case Against the Death Penalty. American Civil Liberties Union,
https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty.
Henrichson, Christian, and Ruth Delaney. The Price of Prisons . The Musical Times and
Singing Class Circular, vol. 18, no. 410, 1 Apr. 1877, p. 187.
Mandery, Evan J. Capital Punishment: A Balanced Examination. Google Books, p. 92