Reference no: EM131158401

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In today's society, crime is in every state, every city and neighborhood. People's opinions on how to punish criminals vary by each person. These opinions vary due to moral belief's, religion, and the type of crime that was committed. Punishment from probation to the death penalty is and always will be a highly debated topic. In the United States, there are 31 states that practice the death penalty. My home state of Alabama, is one of those states. Alabama is ranked 6th for their execution rate, on the list of states, with the death penalty. The number one slot goes to Oklahoma. There are two main ways that the death penalty is performed on a convicted inmate. The most commonly used is lethal injection and the second is electrocution. Although there are reported botched episodes in both, it is uncommon. "It is estimated that 3% of U.S. executions in the period from 1890 to 2010 were botched." (Schneier, 2003). Out of those botched executions, "75 were lethal injection and 84 were electrocution." (Schneier, 2003).

When we think of the death penalty, one question we ask ourselves should be is this a deterrent for violent crime? Many criminals during their act of violence are not thinking of the consequences. But, should the death penalty be used as a deterrent or just for punishment. Studies have shown that using the death penalty as a deterrent does not work. The South has the highest murder rates and accounts for 80% of executions. (Keating, 2014). According to studies, 88% of people do not believe that the death penalty lowers homicide rates.

With advances in DNA the wrongful conviction rate will hopefully decline. But, in the meantime there are numerous cases on death row that inmates claim should not be there and want an appeal based on DNA. These cases are very expensive and time consuming. Even though "support has fallen in the U.S. for the death penalty, studies have found 56% favor the death penalty for people who have been convicted of murder." (Keating, 2014). I believe this is due to the trend of violent crime being on the rise and people fear that a murderer will roam the streets if not sentenced to the death penalty.

The death penalty will be in our criminal justice as long as there are people who commit the violent act of murder. When a person is involved in a crime the outcome of that action is not what they are thinking of, it is usually, an act of passion, an unintended consequence of a robbery, kidnapping, rape, or other violent assault and unfortunately ends in murder. Now, there are intentional acts of murder by criminals that knew exactly what they were doing and what the outcome would be of their crime. Because of these types of criminals, the death penalty is an option.

RESOURCES:

Keating, J. (2014). Is the death penalty making a global comeback? The World. 4 (4)

Roth, M.P. (2011). Crime and punishment: A history of the criminal justice system. 2nd ed., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Publishing.

Schneier, B. (2003) Beyond Fear: Thinking sensibly about security in an uncertain world. NY, NY: Copernicus Books.