Death Penalty

The death penalty is perhaps the most controversial punishment that society can apply to those
citizens who break the law. Since the early penal systems, this penalty remains a practice of
"revenge" in response to an insult. Despite the violations of human rights causes, it is a
punishment that is drastic and in very special cases it may be the most effective, but not correct.
There are crimes that justify their application, people whose death is reflected as a benefit to
society. The death penalty is a way to dissuade crimes, but is also a discrimination to the
minorities and it violates the human rights.

Death penalty is good and serves a definite purpose of reducing crime as well as bringing justice
to the accused and the victims. The death penalty accomplished this goal better than any other
form of punishment, as it ultimately ensures that a criminal can never harm another person again.
Morally, justice must always be preferred to equality. As Irwin Isenberg said, "I favor the death
penalty as a matter of justice and human dignity even apart from deterrence. The penalty must be
appropriate to the seriousness of the crime." In other words, what Irwin Isenberg is tried to
express, is that the death penalty is not given to any individual, it is given to those who have met
the extreme of the crime.

The death penalty cases are much more expensive than other criminal cases and cost more than
imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole. A study in Kansas indicated that a death
penalty trial costs $116,700 more than an ordinary murder trial? Complex trial motions, lengthy
jury selections, and expenses for expert witnesses are all likely to add to the costs in death
penalty cases. The irreversibility of the death sentence requires courts to follow heightened due
process in the preparation and course of the trial. After conviction, there are constitutionally
mandated appeals which involve both prosecution and defense costs.

If the foreknowledge of any punishment is meant to dissuade the criminal from committing the
crime, why do people still murder others? The US had a 2012 murder rate of 4.8 victims per
100,000; meaning that nearly 15,000 people were victims of homicide that year. Death penalty
does not appear to be doing its job; it does not seem to be changing every criminal's mind about
killing innocent people. If it does not dissuade, then it serves no purpose. The warning of life in
prison without parole must equally dissuade criminals.

I can certify that I do believe death penalty is moral and just. We must never forget that no one
has to be executed, if the people do not murder a person, they would not be executed. Murderers
are not to be considered as innocent people who are fighting for their own lives. That statement
should be for the victims that they have murdered. Let us remember that the rights of the victims
are much more important than those of the perpetrator.