Death Penalty Argumentative Essay

The death penalty has for a long time engendered considerable debates in relation to its morality and its effect on criminal behavior. The supporters of the death penalty argue that criminals convicted for murder should pay for the offense with their own life. Additionally, supporters of capital punishment argue that issuing the death penalty is a kind of retribution. Those against capital punishment argue that the act of taking someone’s life is against the value for human beings to life, that it's immoral and can lead to injustice in case of errors in the convictions (Banner 28). This paper provides arguments on the reasons why the death penalty should be completely abolished. The justice system is full of flaws and mistakes and wrong convictions can lead to the death of innocent people.

The prosecutors, witnesses and even the jurors can commit errors and when the framework is combined with flaws, it winds up inescapable that innocent individuals are sentenced for offenses they did not commit. When capital punishment is passed and the execution process conducted, such a mistake cannot be corrected compared to when a person is sentenced to life imprisonment, in this case, the mistake can be put right. Therefore, the death penalty should be abolished and instead alternatives like life imprisonment considered (BBC News 10). Ample evidence has been provided that conviction mistakes are very possible. According to the opponents of the death penalty, many people who are convicted and placed on the death row suffer from mental illnesses which means that they are not in control of their own actions.

According to Waszul, capital punishment is a savage, racially one-sided, self-assertive and futile practice that turns out to be seldom and geographically confined each year (06). Therefore, it should be abolished most especially when the convicted person suffers from a mental illness. Based on the report of the Death Penalty Information Center, the death penalty is generally preserved for the most terrible offenses done by the most hopeless guilty people like murder, treason, and rape among others, but it’s wrong altogether. However, despite the report by the Death Penalty Information Center, capital punishment isn't and has never been founded on the seriousness of some random offenses. This is because Mr. Irick experienced a serious psychological illness. As a matter of fact, he had spent many years of his adolescence in an institution for abused and mentally unfit kids (Renki 05).

The debate on capital punishment has also rekindled, but this time focusing mainly on the effectiveness and the cost of the methods used to carry out the executions. In April 2014, Clayton Lockett was executed in Oklahoma by the method of lethal injection. Fundamentally, a large number of instances of capital punishment include long, complicated, and costly legal processes (Bushman 16). The death penalty should be abolished because it enhances racism and targets poor people. According to a study by the American Bar Association, there are many racial disparities when it comes to imposing the death penalty, most especially in relation to the race of the victim. Very little has been done to rectify the problem of racism when imposing the death penalty which makes it questionable on whether it serves social justice or not and thus it should be abolished.

Based on the statistics of the Death Penalty Information Center, black people comprise 12% of the U. It even makes it better for a person to be guilty and rich than to be poor and innocent. This shows the flaws in the judicial system leading to the questioning of the issuing of the death penalty (Bushman 22). The death penalty additionally leads to brutalizing of the society. The main argument of the supporters of the death penalty is that it leads to reduced rates of crimes. However, according to statistics, the death penalty leads to society brutalizing which consequently leads to an increase in murder rates and therefore it should be completely abolished. However, despite the fact that deterrence is the main argument of the supporters of the death penalty, the statistical evidence does not at all confirm that deterrence works or does not work.

What’s more, some of the criminals executed may never have been equipped for being discouraged on the grounds that they suffered from mental illnesses or defects. Additionally, in the case that the execution was wrongly conducted, it might raise emotional thoughts which can lead to the questioning of whether deterrence helps save lives or not (BBC News 18). Therefore, considering the fact that it’s yet to be proven whether the death penalty leads to deterrence or not, the best approach is to get rid of this practice from our society. Another argument by the supporters of the death penalty is retribution in which they contend that all individuals who are proven to be guilty should be punished so they can pay for their crimes.

Therefore, execution may not be an effective practice at all. In conclusion, as demonstrated by the above-discussed arguments, the death penalty is a controversial issue that has for a long period of time been debated based on its morality, practice, its effectiveness and recently the costs associated with it. So far, there is no clear stance in the United States on whether the death penalty should be abolished or not, however, the practice has been put to an end due to the moral issues surrounding it. Despite the fact that the arguments by supporters of the death penalty on deterrence to some extent support the idea that death penalty can help save lives due to reduced cases of murders, its effectiveness is yet to be proven.