The death penalty has been a debated topic for many years. Some people argue that it is an essential tool for justice, while others disagree and say it is brutal and heartless. The United States is one of the very few countries that still use the death penalty to this day.
The death penalty is often used as the most severe form of punishment for heinous crimes. It is often used to serve as a disincentive, compensation, or in some cases both. Many studies have shown that race status plays a powerful role when it comes to who is receiving the death penalty, this can sometimes raise questions about any bias that is in our criminal justice system.
I believe that we should no longer use the death penalty here in the United States because of the potential for wrongful convictions. There have been numerous cases reported in the United States of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes and have received the death penalty for the outcome of their case. If someone who has been wrongfully convicted of a crime is placed on death row then it creates an irreversible mistake, which means that there is no room for any errors or inaccuracy and an innocent person’s life could be lost as a result.
Despite advances in forensic science, there can still be errors in the criminal justice system. DNA evidence is one of the important factors when it comes to determining if a person is truly guilty. DNA evidence has found many of the individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit innocent, including people who are on death row.
I believe that the death penalty should be abolished because it strips away human rights, especially the Eighth Amendment which states “The right to live free from torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment”.
From an economic view, the death penalty often costs more compared to sentencing someone to life in prison. Many of the death penalty cases can last multiple years costing millions of dollars. In the majority of the death penalty cases, the cost of the execution often outweighs the cost of someone sitting in a prison cell for the rest of their life, due to the complexity, length of the trials, and the amount of lawyer fees they have to pay.
The United States should stop using the death penalty because it violates the human rights of individuals and goes against justice. As a whole, we should attempt to discover more sympathetic ways to address crimes that occur in the country, so that no more innocent people get murdered due to false accusations towards them.
