...year 1933 to 1969 homicides and executions resulted in eight fewer homicides. On the other hand, there are statistical evidence that murder rates has in fact decreased a total of 80% when executions was abolished until the 1960s. In addition, Donohue and Wolfe reviewed research that was conducted by Dezhbakhsh, Rubin, and Shepherd (DRS) that immediate problem is that the evidence does not support their claim that the executions saves an average of eight lives, however, it is associated with eighteen more executions. (Donohue, Wolfe)....
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...Evidence-based practice is defined as the use of practices that have been scientifically tested and proven effective. In simple terms, doing what works. This has led to drastic changes in various sectors from police operations, probation, sentencing, etc. When examining capital punishment the first question that must be asked is why do we do it? Is it simply a universal response to an atrocious act committed by an offender? If so, then there is no need to look any further. However, thousands of capital offense convictions are handed down annually in the U.S., yet most do not result in death penalty sentences. Therefore the only logical conclusion is that there is much more complexities in play once the state hands down capital punishment. Possible Effects of Capital Punishments at a Glance By and large, capital punishment in the United States is handed down to those offenders that are found guilty of homicide. Although not limited to strictly homicide, the overwhelming majority of those executed and assigned to death row have committed such offenses. Therefore, the focus of this paper is centered around capital punishment, and its effect on homicide. Some will contend that capital punishment serves as a deterrent for those in society that have not committed such offenses, but may be considering. Others believe that...
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...After his execution, the case was investigated, and the truth was uncovered. He was innocent like he had been pleading all along (Grann). Is the death penalty really worth the risk of killing an innocent person? Today, the death penalty remains a method of punishing for murder and other heinous crimes. But is this really the most effective method to stop people from committing a crime? Arguments on whether the death penalty serves as a valid and justifies form of punishment continual to spread on in today’s society. One says it is a form of justice and punishment, when the other side says execution is an act of murder. But since the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, it has a much higher cost than keeping the criminal in prison, and the belief is true because our society is much more highly evolved, therefore, the death penalty should be abolished. The death penalty was supposed to decrease homicides, but there is no evidence that has proved this theory. Most people who commit murders either do not expect to be caught or do not carefully think through the differences between an execution and life in prison before they act. Studies have also find out that states without the death penalty have better record on homicide rates. A new survey by the New York Times found that the murder rate in non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in States with the death penalty. Ten of twelve states without the death penalty have homicide rates below the...
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...unusual form of punishment. The position we recommend to our legislators is opposition to capital punishment because evidence demonstrates that it is biased, unjust, fails to deter crime, is not cost effective, and cruel and unusual government action. The death penalty in America dates back to the colonial period. Its use was fragmented at best throughout the colonies and eventually the states, with each state having its own laws concerning the use of capital punishment. As long as it has existed in the United States, there has been controversy and divided views regarding the death penalty. One of the earliest views from the nation was from Dr. Benjamin Rush, who argued that the death penalty did not deter crime, but actually caused crime rates to rise. This is a view that is held even today, and has been generally substantiated by data. Throughout the nineteenth century, the divided view continued, with Michigan abolishing the...
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...Those who believe that deterrence justifies the execution of certain offenders bear the burden of proving that the death penalty is a deterrent. The overwhelming conclusion from years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty is, at best, no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. The sentiment that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime is widely accepted as false. Citing such a reason like deterrence is not even a part of many pro death penalty supporters’ arguments. The Death penalty causes so much controversy due to the ethical and moral implications. However, due to the inherit volatility of trying to ascertain “what is right” the death penalty along those lines has continued and will continue to be a subject of debate. Personal opinion aside, according to statistical data the death penalty is not a deterrent. According to thedeathpenaltyinfo.org, States in the United States that do not employ the death penalty generally have lower murder rates than states that do. The same is true when the U.S. is compared to countries similar to it. The US homicide rate, which has declined substantially since 1992 from a rate per 100,000 persons of 9.8 to 4.8 in 2010, is still among the highest in the industrialized world. There were 14,748 homicides in the United States in 2010, including non-negligent manslaughter .The U.S., with the death penalty, has a higher murder rate than the countries of Europe or Canada, which do not use the death penalty. More specifically...
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...Death Penalty Since the creation of humans, crime has been prevalent in our history. The most heinous crime a human could commit is and will always be murder. For a long time, the death penalty was the go-to punishment for murder. Recent research and studies have concluded that the death penalty is cruel and ineffective. The death penalty is ineffective in many because ways there have been many cases of wrongful convictions. It does not lower crime, and it is way too costly. The death penalty is morally wrong “an eye for an eye makes the world blind.” The government cannot succumb to the same level of murderers. By killing those that murder, we become the same thing we fear, murderers. Furthermore, there is a chance that someone may be convicted wrongly and executed by the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, “Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions.” There are many factors that can lead to a false conviction, including inadequate legal representation, perjured testimony and mistaken eyewitness testimony, suppression and/or misinterpretation of mitigating evidence, and political pressure to solve a case (Amnesty International). One such case where there was a false conviction was that of Daniel Wade Moore in Alabama. Moore was originally found guilty for murder and sexual assault of Karen Tipton in 2002, and he was sentenced to death by the judge. However, he was acquitted...
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...Global Crime “A more complicated problem in comparing crime rates across nations is that of nonstandardized definitions of crime.” (Dammer, 2010) Each country rates their crime a certain and different way. According to the Table 2.3 on page 27 in the book the three highest homicide rate countries are Venezuela, El Salvador and Jamaica. The three lowest homicide rates are Hong Kung, Japan, and Singapore. Venezuela, El Salvador, and Jamaica have similar economic, social, educational and government that contribute to their high homicide rates. All three countries have high poverty, organized crime, slow economic growth, overcrowded prisons, and poor police. People in these countries usually do not continue their education due to the lack of money. Due to prisons being overcrowded people usually get away with their crimes. “Critics often say the reasons are plain to see but are not tackled. They include poorly paid and often corrupt police (responsible, even by official admission, for 1 in 5 crimes);a corrupt inefficient and politicized judiciary; possibly the most violent and overcrowded prison system in Latin America; and over worked prosecutors, who are often enlisted to persecute the political opposition instead of putting criminals behind bars. (P.G., 2010) Organized crime such as illegal weapons, class warfare, and drugs also contribute to citizens feeling unsafe. “Most Central American Governments are ill-equipped to tackle the mayhem. (Organised crime in Central...
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...Kandis Clark CJAD 101 F Dr. J Dropbox Assignment Capital Punishment Two wrongs do not make a right. That is what I believe when it comes to capital punishment.Though it is not right for a human to kill another human, it doesn't make it any better if the governmental system goes around killing criminals as well. I don't agree with capital punishment, and that a criminal would suffer more by being kept alive; serving a life sentence in prison. Capital punishment has it's flaws and doesn't do anything better for the society. The government system can make mistakes while investigating a criminal, in turn, the inmate would be convicted to death row by error. In 1995, the state of Missouri executed Larry Griffin for allegedly murdering a man in a drive-by shooting. ("Executed") Griffin maintained his innocence until his death, and in 2007 the St. Louis Circuit Attorney found that Griffin was guilty, due to a false witness testimony. It goes to show that many people sit on death row waiting to get executed are in all actuality guilty of their crime. You can keep a killer off the streets without executing them, by giving them life without parole. It won't be easy for the criminal, for he will be thinking about how he will spend the rest of his life locked up, knowing he will never get out. According to an issue in the ACLU of Northern California, letting a person die while serving a sentence of life without parole, is 3x cheaper and also protects any mistakes of sentencing...
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...Death Penalty Imagine yourself as a mother sitting by the window, looking at the swing set in your backyard, remembering memories of your son, an accused murdered now facing the death penalty. You know there must be some mistake. You cannot understand how your son could ever do something so terrible. Imagine yourself next as a father whose daughter was brutally murdered, and whose killer has been sentenced to the death penalty. You desire to push the button that sends the lethal drugs flowing through his veins. The death penalty has been the cause of many emotional, political and ethical debates since its inception. At what point do we as human beings agree or disagree with the Death Penalty if the victim or the offender is a family member? Should the Death Penalty still exist or should we keep offenders on Death Row for life to rehabilitate them? With the Death Penalty in America dating back to Jamestown Virginia in 1608 with the first recorded execution of Captain George Kendall, the question that remains today is, should the Death Penalty be legal? With the Death Penalty still in effect in 34 states, this raises the question, if violent crimes are down in the states that don’t have the Death Penalty why is it still in existence? When an offender commits a violent crime, it is the responsibility of our government to punish the offender, and keep the rest of us safe. There are many factors the government has to consider when sentencing a...
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...to punish those who have committed evil crimes. Nor does it achieve justice for the victims and their families. Think of yourself and your loved ones, what if someone you loved was brutally murdered or tortured and then killed, would you want to get your justification by knowing the person who not only took your loved one before their time but took them in such as heinous way was going to not only have a chance to say goodbye to those they love but get put to death easily and pain free? That in no way sounds like justice but more like imaginary slaps in the face or kick in the guts. Your loved one didn’t deserve to be treated in such an evil manner, they were an innocent victim so why should the assailant be treated like the innocent one? Do not let the gratification of instantaneous relief of the death penalty drive you away from what real justification can feel like. Watching the person who destroyed the lives of innocent people rot in jail for the remainder of their life will be more gratification in the long run than feeling better for only those three minutes you are watching them become another celebrity by having their death shown on television, much like the death of Timothy McVeigh, this not only glorified the assailant but demeaned the victims and their families by making the action of his death look more important than the reason why he was sentenced in the first place. The death of Timothy McVeigh took over all television channels and consumed most of the television...
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...Capital Punishment or as some people refer to it, the death penalty, is the legal process in which an accused is sentenced to death for their crimes. There is a wide range opinions regarding the death penalty and whether it is a cruel and unusual punishment or if justice is better served by means of execution. Currently the total population of state and federal death row is at 3,170 inmates. It has been greatly debated for years whether the death penalty should be enforced. In this paper I will discuss my reasoning as to why I feel the death penalty should be eliminated. Some have argued that capital punishment is a form of cruel and unusual treatment which makes it unacceptable due to the pain and suffering that it causes the condemned individual. An execution is a violent spectacle of official homicide which endorses killing to solve social problems. Governments worldwide have often attempted to justify their lethal fury by insisting that the benefits that these executions would bring to the rest of societies safety. People would argue that a person accused of taking another person’s life should suffer the same pain that they caused not only the deceased but also their family. I would say that it would be reasonable for a person to feel that way but not only does the deceased’s individual’s family have to suffer for the loss but, the accused’s family members must watch their loved one be executed. Just because we sentence someone to death it does not mean that it will bring...
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...According to Radelet & Lacock (2009), the use of the death penalty to punish criminals had no effect on the crime levels across the states. Ninety-one percent of the respondents during the study indicated that there are misconceptions on the reason for supporting the death penalty. Politicians support this form of punishment to appear tough on crime while an overwhelming seventy-five percent of the respondent believe it is a diversion from the real solution to social issues. The respondents were positive that adding the number of executions carried out annually or speeding the process would have little or no effect on crime levels in society. The rate of homicides in abolition states is lower than in death penalty states. Research shows that out of the 20 states that have the highest murder cases, 17 of those states are death penalty states (Freedman, 1997). It is an indication that the implementation of the capital punishment has no effect on the crime rate in those states. In addition, it shows that the states that implement other forms of punishment have a better effect on the deterrence of crime than the states using the death...
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...With the death sentence, the United States has higher rates of murder than the European nations or Canada, since they do not apply the death penalty. On the other hand, the death penalty cannot deter crime since the majority of the people who commit such crimes do not anticipate being arrested or fail to weigh the difference between life in prison and a possible death sentence before they act. Murderers do not commit their crimes willingly but in a moment of anger, passion or impulsively (Kroll, 462-4). The literature above has delved into whether the society should stop the death penalty. Indeed, capital punishment is not a restriction to crime. The states practicing the death sentence do not help decrease the number of crimes, and the states without the death punishment do not increase crimes. The fact that more murderers are being arrested is reason enough to abolish the death sentence since it is ineffective in deterring crime. The justice system is not effective in determining innocence and...
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...back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. Death sentences were done by crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement (DPIC). The Death Penalty Information Center states that “Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country. When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain.” In the 1930’s death penalty statistics began to be collected on a regular basis. By the end of the 1960’s, all but ten states had laws allowing capital punishment. Due to strong pressure by people against the death penalty there was a suspension on executions that began in 1972 and ended in 1976. Before the suspension there was an average of 130 executions per year (Green). As of April 2012, there have been 1, 290 executions since 1977. Today there are 34 death penalty states and 16 non-death penalty states, with Texas being in lead having the most executions per year (DPIC). The risk of falsely accusing a man or woman for a crime they did not commit, after they have already received the death penalty is one of many reasons that the death...
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...which appears in Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints, Eric Freedman argues that the death penalty not only does not deter violent crime but also works against reducing the crime rate. Freedman says, “The death penalty not only is useless in itself, but counterproductive . . . ” (140). This paper will analyze Freedman’s article from the viewpoints of a middle-age working man, a poor person, and a politician. Summary Freedman argues that the death penalty does not deter crime. In his article, he argues that states that use the death penalty have crime rates nearly indistinguishable from those states that do not have the death penalty. He also adds that criminal cases in which the death penalty is sought are much more expensive to investigate and try, thus denying much-needed funds to programs that have been proven to reduce crime. A Middle-Age Working Man A middle-age working man would probably agree with Freedman’s point of view with relation to the financial aspect of capital punishment because Freedman talks about how much more the death penalty costs than life imprisonment. He says, “In Florida, each execution costs $3,200,000, six times the expense of life imprisonment” (141). The workingman would probably be amazed at how much the execution actually costs compared to how much life imprisonment costs. The workingman would probably wonder why the death penalty is even sought when life imprisonment seems to accomplish the...
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