Charles Johnson

Teacher Ms.Carrillo

AP LANG

3/08/2024

      Should the death penalty be abolished in the U.S.?

When the subject of the death penalty comes up many people have different opinions and feelings. Twenty seven U.S. states currently use the death penalty as a method of sentencing for people convicted of crimes. The death penalty has been around for centuries and has been used numerous times. But should we still be using this old and outdated method for sentencing people today? No we shouldn't, which is why the death penalty should be abolished.

The death penalty has been around since 1608. The death penalty in America was influenced by European countries, but mostly Great Britain. It has a tyrannic background, as it was used as a punishment for even minor offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians  (Death Penalty Info Center). Currently there are issues about the death penalty violating human rights, wrongful sentencing/executions, and the cost of it. Research shows evidence of wrongful executions, violation of human rights, and the costliness of the death penalty.

  The death penalty is unconstitutional. The 8th amendment states, “nor cruel and unusual punishments”(Constitution). This amendment was written by the fathers of America who when writing the constitution were trying to prevent tyranny and unjust laws/systems in our government. So if they were trying to prevent tyranny and injustice, why does the death penalty fit the description of torture? Amnesty International explicitly says, “Torture is when somebody in an official capacity inflicts severe mental or physical pain or suffering on somebody else for a specific purpose” (Amnesty International, 2014). Torture is an inhumane act that fits the description of a cruel punishment. The death penalty qualifies as torture because someone administers the execution and inflicts physical pain upon them for the purpose of killing them. Therefore the death penalty is unconstitutional because it is torture which goes hand in hand with cruel punishment, which violates our Bill of Rights/Constitution. 

The United States justice system is infamous for its higher convictions and harsher sentences for people of color. The United States has a history of its justice system being corrupt. From the policing all the way to the sentencing, the justice system has always been corrupt and oppressive towards people of color. For instance, the origins of modern day policing go back to the early 1700s and it was originally called “Slave Patrol” for tracking down and using brute force on runaway slaves (NAACP, 2024). Not only that but in our justice system the death penalty has been used on innocent people of color disproportionately more than their white peers. “Between 1973 and February 6, 2017, 157 men and women who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death have been exonerated…Taken together, 61.1% of U.S. death-row exonerees are people of color”(Death Penalty Info Center). How can we trust a system that has the death penalty when the system was oppressive towards people of color for hundreds of years? For example, “87% of Black adults say the U.S. criminal justice system is more unjust towards Black people; 61% of white adults agree”(NAACP). In an unjust system the death penalty shouldn’t be used in a system that has higher and harsher conviction rates of minorities. 

The death penalty is not the best punishment for those convicted of crimes because of the costliness of executions. As Death Penalty Info states, “The death penalty imposes a net cost on the taxpayers compared to life without parole. Studies consistently find that the death penalty is more expensive than alternative punishments”. If the death penalty costs so much why should we use a practice that is funded by our tax dollars? There are more effective ways to convict criminals and the death penalty isn’t one of them when it costs so much. For example, “The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000”  (Nevada Legislature). It is almost 1.8 times cheaper to imprison someone forever than to execute them. If it’s cheaper why should we use a practice that’s ineffective?

Many people might say, “Well the death penalty stops crime”. That is false. The death penalty isn’t a deterrent for crime and doesn’t stop crimes. American Civil Liberties Union states, “There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long terms of imprisonment. States that have death penalty laws do not have lower crime rates or murder rates than states without such laws”. Executions have no effect on lowering the crime rates and the practice is ineffective so why keep using it? There are many studies that show lower crime rates in states without the death penalty vs states with the death penalty.

(Death Penalty Info Center).

The death penalty should be abolished because of its ineffectiveness on crime, human rights violations, costs, and executions of innocent people. As a country we need to take steps to ensure the abolishment of the death penalty. We need to put more pressure on state and federal governments to outlaw the practice of the death penalty because more work is accomplished when we come together as a people. There are many prominent cases to argue against the death penalty like George Stinney Jr, Carlos DeLuna, and Domenique Ray. The Supreme Court already ruled the practice of the death unconstitutional in the 70s but they revised the law 4 years later. Today they still face questions about the constitutionality and practicality of the death penalty and we can put enough pressure on the government to end this practice.