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Kalista Head

Ms. Ghastin

English 4

18 April, 2017

Stressay

A man was put onto death row in 2004 for the death of his two daughters. Later on it was

proven that he wasnt the murderer or the one who started the fire. It was his wife and she

blamed him so she wouldnt be convicted of the murder or the abuse the she gave to her two

daughters. That is why the death penalty should be illegal.

The first claim to support why the death penalty should be illegal is because of money.

More money goes to the death penalty than locking someone in prison. A normal sentence only

costs $700,000 meanwhile the death penalty can cost three times as much. Two professors

estimated that with the death penalty in action for one year that could fund an additional 250

police officers and prisons for 600 inmates. Its known that someone could be on death row for

fifteen to twenty years and that is not unusual so all the money that would go to judges, lawyers,

etc. could be saved or put to a better use if the death penalty was illegal. The next claim is that

innocent lives are taken from the death penalty. More than hundred innocent people have been

sentenced to death row and there are many stories from the families point of view on the

situation before and after the defendant's death. The third claim is that it goes against the

constitution. In the 8th amendment it states that the government cant give cruel and unusual

punishments which the death penalty does do. Fourth point is that there are alternatives if people

would take the time and try to make something else work rather than settling for the death

penalty. For example they could have the defendant spend life in prison without parole. The last
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claim is that the death penalty is racist. A higher percentage of black defendants who kill a white

victim are more likely to go on death row than a white defendant who kills a black victim. In

New Jersey the state released a statement that says that the death penalty is more for colored

defendants who commit a crime against a white victim.

Most people refer to the the death penalty as fast and painless, but that is very far from

the truth. Two types of drugs are used in lethal injections. One speeds up the heart, causing heart

explosion or a heart attack which can last up to several minutes. The other drug slows down all

the human muscles and paralyzes them causing the defendant to be executed by suffocation.

Other people say that the defendants/criminals are getting what they deserve which is not true.

People with mental illnesses are put onto death row and executed without understanding what

they did wrong. The death penalty also shows society that the statement eye for an eye is real and

that whatever you do to someone will be done to you. Accident or not.

My five claims about the death penalty are money. Innocent lives, goes against

constitution, other solutions and that it is racist. I believe that the death penalty should be illegal

so no innocent life has to be involved with killing. There shouldnt be another accident like the

one that happened in 2004.