Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Death or Life
After further research, the death penalty may still be abolished. It won't be abolished because of the debate of whether or not it is ethical, but due to the United States' budget. According to Associated Press, life imprisonment is "tens of millions of dollars cheaper" than executing a criminal on death row. Associated Press also reveals that criminals wait "an average of 20 years from conviction to death row." Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center claims that "everything needed for an ordinary trial is needed for a death penalty case, only more so." This includes more "pre trial, more attorneys, jurors will have to be quizzed about their knowledge of the death penalty, and the case will take longer." Even though surveys have shown how life imprisonment will be more cost efficient, others like Dudley Sharp, Death Penalty Resources Director of Justice For All, still disagree. Personally, I believe the system of the death penalty needs to be refined. There are no reasons that a criminal should wait for their time of being punished. A revision in the way criminals are executed would cost less than life imprisonment. Why don't we use such approaches as Chris Clem, Attorney at Samples, Jennings, Ray & Clem, PLLC says? "Executions do not have to cost that much. We could hang them and re-use the rope. No cost! Or we could use firing squads and ask for volunteer firing squad members who would provide their own guns and ammunition. Again, no cost."
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The argument about Life or Death shouldnt be based off of the price. Someone's life is priceless. Its all about keeping the public safe and trying to help someone with a problem at the same time. When some people can't deal with the way their life is going some might commit suicide so why would you give someone the death penalty instead of letting them sit in jail and deal with what they did for life. This decision seems not to be based off of whether or not this issue is ethical or not but whether or not it fits the U.S. budget. The U.S. spends trillions of dollars a day on the war and other unnessary issues so why not us some of that money to keep their citizens safe. Is the U.S. values and morals now based off of money? It seems to me as if you are taking the issue of ending someone's life or not as a joke and not a serious matter. Money should not be an issue. Focus on the real issue and that is whether or not someone should be able to take another persons life just because they are someone of authority
ReplyDelete@Demetress Cornegay: This is my second entry to this blog. The first one talks about more than money
ReplyDeleteThe title of this blog caught my attention because it was short and to the point. I think the title could have been better, but it did connect with you argument. There was also grammatical errors. There was not a picture to make a visual of this argument. Without the picture, I still was able to understand the argument and flow from one point to another. As I read your blog, I could not stop wondering why it cost so much more to put someone to death. According to http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42, The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because the Constitution requires a long and complex judicial process for capital cases. This process is needed in order to ensure that innocent men and woman are not executed for crimes they did not commit. I think a person should not sit for 20 years before they are punished. If they were convicted of the crime, why give them so long to appeal? Like you said, "There are no reasons that a criminal should wait for their time of being punished."
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