im doing a project for english, and i wanted to see other peoples aspects on this peice of text.
There are serious economic consequences. Various state governments estimate that a single death penalty case, from the point of arrest to execution, ranges from $1 million to $3 million per case. Other studies have estimated the cost to be as high as $7 million. The millions of dollars spent on capital punishment cuts into resources for other community interests, such as schools, hospitals, public safety, and jobs. For example, Taxpayers in Florida are spending an average of $2.3 million on each execution which is over six times what it would cost for life without parole. In addition, New York brought back the death penalty in 1995, even though the department of corrections estimated that it would cost over $2 million per case and approximately $118 million annually. That same year, state leaders complained that there was a budget shortfall and made dramatic cuts in funding for public higher education and health care. Similarly, New Jersey spent $16 million to impose the death penalty. The next year, the state laid off 500 police officers because they could not afford to pay them.
The death penalty should be abolished because it involves a heightened risk or error. The risks of inaccurate judgment have been elevated because the death penalty has become a politicized issue that is commonly used in campaigns for judges and district attorneys who are elected to their positions. Those judges and prosecutors are motivated to sentence as many defendants to death as they possibly can to maintain a record of being “tough on crime.” Also, due to the high emotions surrounding murder cases, there is great pressure on law enforcement officials to solve homicides quickly. Such pressure may lead to misconduct by the investigators and prosecutors. In addition, murders frequently lack eyewitnesses, forcing the prosecutors to use less reliable sources for evidence, such as jailhouse snitches, accomplices looking for reduced sentences and coerced confessions from defendants. Because of these high risks there have been recent cases of mistaken execution or conviction. Leo Jones was convicted of murdering a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida on March 28, 1998. Jones signed a confession after several hours of police interrogation, but he later claimed the confession was coerced. In the mid-1980s, the policeman who arrested Jones and the detective who took his confession were forced out of uniform for ethical violations. The policeman was later identified by a fellow officer as an "enforcer" who had used torture. Furthermore, Texas executed Jesse Jacobs on January 4, 1995 despite the prosecution’s admission that arguments they made at Jacobs’ trial were false. Jacobs was convicted after the state introduced evidence that he, rather than his co-defendant, pulled the trigger on the day of the murder. At the following trial of the co-defendant, the state reversed its story and said it was the co-defendant, not Jacobs, who pulled the trigger. The prosecution vouched for the credibility of Jacobs’ testimony that he did not commit the shooting and did not even know that his co-defendant had a gun. Jacobs’ co-defendant was also convicted, but not sentenced to death.
The death penalty should not be allowed in this country. We have the resources to keep society safe from criminals, so, it is unnecessary to have such an inhuman and degrading punishment. This punishment does not deter crime. Giving in to it wastes essential money that destroys our economy. And, there also might be some reasonable doubt to someone’s guilt. The death penalty should be abolished.
In brief, the reading is someone’s opinion, against capital punishment, i.e., where states can administer the death penalty to convicted felons. (ie, murderers).
It says that the state should not have the power to do, what it will punish a criminal for doing. It also says that states will pay MORE for the "justice system", i.e, court costs to convict such a felon, more than would be paid, if the court system ONLY went to give "life" imprisonment.
That is, those who get the death penalty have more "overhead costs", paper work, more investigation and documentation required, than someone that is only going to be sent to prison say for 20-40 yrs, or a simple "life imprisonment" sentence.
These facts are computed from thousands of such cases. Jury trials are expensive, and there are more hours of lawyer costs in capital punishment cases.
Do you know what lawyers charge? Know how much money "expert" witnesses charge the state?
Taxpayers foot the bill (pay) for every murder case. But with a "capital case" conviction there are many more appeals and reviews. Likewise these cases get more publicity, and that means that prosecutors have to be more careful, not to mess up too.
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