Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty

Brandon Carroll

Columbia College

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty

The death penalty has been a subject of debate for many years. Some feel that is a just punishment for violent criminals. Others feel that death is too harsh of a punishment for any crime. In this paper I will be discussing both sides of this argument and providing insight as to why the death penalty seems to be an argument that will always be debated.

Opponents of the death penalty list several reasons why it should be either abolished or used very sparingly. Among these reasons include the fact that many convicted criminals are wrongly convicted. Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions. ("Death Penalty and Innocence," n.d.) While this only represents a small percentage of death row inmates, some feel that this is still far too many. The following chart depicts wrongful convictions in death row cases.

Figure 1

Source: Causes of Wrongful Convictions in 86 Death Row Cases [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2012, from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/causes-wrongful-convictions

Some factors which lead to wrongful convictions include misconduct by the police and the prosecution. This can be as simple as the arresting officer failing to read Miranda rights to the accused. Another factor would be pressure to convict the accused by local community members or political figures. The suspect could have committed a crime so heinous that the community is calling for their death as retribution.

Another argument against the death penalty is the cost of executing a person. While the actual execution may cost less, many inmates on death row tend to stay there for years until their execution is carried out. California has the longest average wait time of 20 years between time of conviction and time of execution. "It's 10 times more...