Death Penalty Is A Misguided Perception

Running head: DEATH PENALTY IS A MISGUIDED PERCEPTION 1

Death Penalty is a Misguided Perception

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DEATH PENALTY IS A MISGUIDED PERCEPTION 2

Death Penalty is a Misguided Perception

There is no credible evidence that exists to confirm death penalty deters crimes.

However, there is much evidence to ascertain that death penalty fails to curb crimes, thus

generating no positive impact. Sources indicate that States that have death penalty as law do not

have reduced crime rates. More so, countries that have abolished this law have not had any

significant change in the rate of crimes committed. Conversely, no research indicates that death

penalty deters the number of murders in a given area (Bedau & Cassell, 2004). Therefore, death

penalty legislation is an ill-advised perception since based on various researches conducted; it

does not curb murder and other grave crimes.

Courts of laws purport to make judgments over capital cases. The prosecution sometimes

presents insufficient evidence. Hence, there has been overwhelming misconduct by the

prosecution and the police. The defenses in the courts of law sometimes argue in an

incompetence manner due to little experience in such capital cases. Sources indicate that several

death penalty guilty verdicts successfully are appealed and overturned. Where is the sense then

that justice in capital cases through death penalties is healthy? The death penalties are unfair and

promote a broken system of providing justice to the lawbreakers (Stuntz, 2011).

The cost of the death penalty is as demanding as that of life imprisonment. Besides, the

net expense of the death penalty is a State and taxpayer’s money. However, there are other

cheaper forms of punishment. A death penalty case will require more as compared to systems

dealing with similar cases of lesser punishments. Death penalty will combine all costs of other

similar cases. These include long time before judgment, as well as pre-trial time and requirement

for more experts to deal with the case who include the defense, judges and prosecution

(American Civil Liberties Union, 2013).

DEATH PENALTY IS A MISGUIDED PERCEPTION 3

Murdering a prisoner is not cheap in comparison with lifetime imprisonment. Death

penalty is never a punishment for criminals, but an escape from punishment. There is no

punishment of death to an already dead person. Investing in death punishments by governments

is a waste of resources. These resources and funds if transited to other sectors like education,

health, and security can be utilized in a better way. Besides, killing does not in any way prevent

crimes or solve any problem for both murder victims and murderers. Instead, better ways to

prevent crimes ought to be sought or otherwise people will continue killing others yet only the

giver of life should be left to take away life (American Civil Liberties Union, 2013).

In a summary, the expression of violence does not curb crime. Instead, it reinforces the

desire to express the same violence. More so, by expressing, one’s anger does not drain it away,

but it makes one angry. Consequently, when a murderer is punished by death penalty, a

continuous cycle of killing is created in a bid to avenge the killing. Death penalty is just a cycle

of violence, and in the end, it ultimately destroys the offender and the avenger. Thus, a

contamination of the good will of human beings to progress in understanding and love.

DEATH PENALTY IS A MISGUIDED PERCEPTION 4

References

American Civil Liberties Union. (2013). The policy guide of the American Civil Liberties Union.

New York.

Bedau, H. A., & Cassell, P. G. (2004). Debating the death penalty: Should America have capital

punishment? : the experts on both sides make their best case. New York: Oxford

University Press.

Stuntz, W. J. (2011). The collapse of American criminal justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press

of Harvard University Press.

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