Ronnie Warren

April 25, 2021

Carole Kpota Middleton

University Seminar

Critical Essay

The argument of the death penalty is an issue that has always caused the justice system

conflict. Many people believe in the death penalty, while others feel it should not be used

anymore. This form of punishment has been used for years to punish criminals for their extreme

crimes. Over the years the corporal punishment has priced our Justice system millions. Besides

the price, it violates our Human Rights Bill and punishes innocent folks. Corporal discipline isn't

effective at reducing crime. Our society isn't any safer and doesn't stop people from breaking the

law. Eventhough there are arguments that the death penalty is a strong deterrent to violent crime,

the death penalty should be abolished because it costs taxpayers more money. It is a cruel

questionable punishment, and can punish the innocent irreversibly.

The article “Wasteful & Inefficient” by the Equal Justice USA states, “More than a dozen

states have found that death penalty cases are up to 10 times more expensive than comparable

non-death penalty cases.” This means that the justice system spends way more money on the

death penalty than the average incarcerated prisoner. In the text “Death penalty Cost” by Amenia

University, they state, “In California, the current system costs $137 million per year; it would

cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.” This shows that using the death

penalty to punish criminals has an outrageous cost, and the government would save loads

amounts of money if the death penalty were abolished. Alongside it when using death penalty the

justice system must hire not only lawyers but also more guards, doctors, and specialist who
simply know how to use the machinery. Rather than just hiring guards to work in a prison for

normal incarcerated prisoners.

The dealth penalty should be abolished because the death penalty cannot be reversed in

the case of human error. When sent to trial people are constantly being put on the death penalty

wrongfully. After new evidence of their case is brought to light there isn’t much to do because

they were sentenced to the death penalty and the justice system can’t go back and change things.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center “ Over 130 people have been released from

death row with evidence of their innocence. From 2000-2007, there have been an average of 5

exonerations per year”. This shows that people who are innocent are being sentenced to the death

penalty. The Death Penalty Informafion Center also stated “The most obvious reason for the

increase in the number of innocent cases being discovered among those on death row is the

overall expansion of the death penalty.” The more cases who are sentenced to the death penalty

the more innocent people will be “accidently” killed.

On the other hand, the death penalty could be used to get murders off the street and

prevent future murders. Many extreme crimes should indeed be felt robustly—for example,

school shooters. Taking a gun into a school full of helpless children with the intent of causing

harm is sick. This is one crime I feel the death penalty could come into play. When attacking a

school building like this, there is no forgiveness or coming back from it. People know school

buildings aren't equipped to handle situations like this, so intruders enter it's easy to cause harm.

Getting school shooters off our streets would be a good use of the death penalty.

In conclusion, many may people believe in the death penalty, but it should be abolished.

This kind of punishment is causing our justice system to waste millions of dollars spent on more

relevant social issues. The death penalty also causes innocent people to die only by the fault of
the courts. The justice system can’t bring innocent people back, and by using this kind of

punishment, countless numbers of innocent people are still being taken.