Why is the death penalty viewed as a fair punishment in the United States?

Answer 1

Many people do not have the facts about the death penalty and rely on labels like left, right, liberal, conservative or revenge instead of common sense. As for fairness, the death penatlty system is racist but not in the way most people think. It is the race of the victim, not of the defendent, that counts. The death penalty is twice as likely to be sought in cases where the victim was white than where the victim was non white.

Here are some important and verifiable facts.

Re: cost effectiveness
The death penalty costs far more than lifetime incarceration. The extra costs for the death penalty begin even before trial, mount up during the trial (2 phase trials are required, it is much more complicated to select a jury, many more witnesses are needed). The cost of locking someone up is considerably less than killing them. (In my state, New York, the annual cost to lock someone up is estimated at $35,000. Since 1995, when the death penalty became law here, we have, sentenced 7 men to death at a cost of over $200 million. None of the 7 men have had more than one appeal, 3 of them have not had any appeals yet.)

Re: Making sure we don’t execute an innocent person
DNA evidence is available in no more than 20% of all murder cases. It is no guarantee that we will never execute an innocent person. It is human nature to make mistakes.
We do not know for certain whether an innocent person has been executed after the 1970’s. After an execution the case is closed. The death penalty system buries its mistakes.

Re: Deterrence
The death penalty is not a deterrent. Murder rates are actually higher in states with the death penalty than in states without it. Moreover, people who kill or commit other serious crimes do not think they will be caught (if they think at all.)

Re: Alternatives
More and more states have life without parole on the books (including Texas.) Life without parole means what it says and is no picnic.

Re: Who gets the death penalty
The death penalty is not reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Re: Victims families
People should know that the death penalty is very hard on victims’ families. They must relive their ordeal in the courts and the media. Life without parole is sure, swift and rarely appealed. Some victims families who support the death penalty in principal prefer life without parole because of how the death penalty affects families like theirs.

Last of all, opposing the death penalty does not mean a person condones brutal crimes or excuses the people who commit them. Liberals and conservatives oppose it. I believe that the dialogue on the death penalty should be based on verifiable facts. People should make up their minds using common sense not revenge.

Answer 2

Because its the most civilized, effective way of dealing with the social ills of society?

Or perhaps because its a place where some people still think "an eye for a eye" is an acceptable, rational reason to kill someone.

How about these blood-lusters quoting something else from the bible? "He who has not sinned may cast the first stone", for example? Or perhaps "turn the other cheek"?

All the best, most progressive, countries have the death penalty. I mean, if someone is proven innocent afterwards, mistakes happen and its a small price to pay for a crime free society, like the one America enjoys.

Some of the exciting places where you can be executed:

Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North, Korea, Libya, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Syria, United States, Vietnam, Zimbabwe

I believe America only executed 58 people last year, so what exactly is the point of it?

Answer 3

You requested about fairness. The death penalty is actual not honest. to commence with it isn't reserved in case you devote the worst crimes. it really is for those with the worst attorneys. at the same time as is the perfect time someone with funds became sentenced to death? The death penalty also reflects systemic unfairness. The race problem is provided in yet not in the way you may imagine. seems that's the race of the sufferer that concerns. The numbers of white homicide victims is about equivalent to the style of black homicide victims. regardless of the indisputable fact that, 3 circumstances as many executions were for murders of whites. there is an major chance that innocuous human beings will be done. In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham became done in Texas for starting off the fireplace that killed his little ones. present day forensics has shown that the fireplace became unintentional. Willingham became innocuous. There wasn’t even a criminal offense. Over one hundred thirty different wrongfully convicted human beings sentenced to death were exonerated. DNA, obtainable in below 10% of all homicides, can’t assure we received’t execute innocuous human beings. of route, if someone is convicted and later got here upon innocuous you may launch him from penitentiary, yet not from the grave. The death penalty isn't honest to taxpayers. the expenditures of the death penalty are a lot larger than of existence with out parole. that's more desirable typically than not through criminal procedure, and the expenditures commence to mount up the instantaneous a defendant is charged in a homicide case. it isn't truly effective in reducing crime- it isn't a superb deterrent. homicide prices are always in larger in states with the death penalty than in those with out it. the most modern-day FBI information confirms this.

Answer 4

It's not punishment or a deterent. It's the penalty for certain crimes. It's taking out the trash, kicking their genes out of the pool.
Get over the idea it's meant as punishment. That is NOT the purpose of the death penalty.

Answer 5

It's not just viewed as "fair" in the U.S. but in countries all over the world. We have laws in this country with consequences should you break those laws and we all should abide by them. You are given several opportunities (to many if you ask me) to overturn your death sentence. That's what separates us from most in the pack. We should never view the death sentence as a deterrent but as a consequence. Is it fair, hell yes it's fair.

Answer 6

The Death Penalty is not intended to be a fair punishment it is intended to be just a punishment. In our society we value life; therefore, what higher fine one can pay for his or her crime then their life.

Yes I will agree it is a barbaric practice but we are dealing with an individual who acted in a fashion which in it self barbaric. Once the criminal has been executed then he/she is no longer a threat to society and serves as an example to all.

Answer 7

Death penalty is not always meant to be fair, its meant as the last resort in a horrible situation.

Answer 8

If a rabid dog is loose in a neighborhood attacking and biting people, the dog is not tried. He is shot and killed immediately to eliminate the threat and for the good of society. Sometimes, there are rabid people- those who deliberately murder others and choose to act as executioner of the innocent. They get better treatment than the dogs- and than the people whose lives they chose to end- they get a fair trial by a jury of their peers and they are given free defense lawyers to help them. If at the end of that process it is shown beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of being "rabid humans" they are put down for the good of society and for justice to be served for the lives they callously snuffed out. In many cases, their victims were brutalized and tortured prior to their killing. But convicted murderers are put to sleep gently and are given more compassion than they gave to their victims.

Answer 9

I have no idea why we think it's OK to put people (monsters) to death.

Maybe because it's more cost-effective then to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives.

And we're about being cost-effective.

Answer 10

Because have you heard the old proverb, "An eye for an eye, a life for a life"?