Bad Opinions Death Penalty Justice or Death?

¶ … Bad Opinions Death Penalty

Justice or Death?

There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding the issue of the death penalty, particularly as it applies to the United States criminal justice system. Those in favor of utilizing this punitive measure as an ultimate deterrent and as a means of providing a sense of closure for family members and friends of both actual and potential victims may very well have possibly overlooked two very salient points about this issue. The first is related to the fiscal responsibilities that tax payers incur at the state and municipal level -- put simply, it costs a significant amount of money to execute a criminal (if he or she actually even is guilty). Furthermore, the savage act of killing someone for the fact that he or she may have killed someone else largely constitutes a violation of the "cruel and unusual clause" in the Bill of Rights, and in all likelihood is just as unjust as whatever crime the perpetrator is alleged to have committed. Due to these two principle reasons, the death penalty should be abrogated, ideally in favor of life in prison.

A number of sources indicate that the pecuniary responsibilities to hard-working tax payers is up to five times as more expensive for executing an alleged criminal than it is to keep him or her imprisoned for the duration of his or life. There is a significant amount of litigation that must be passed, (and is typically contested and appealed and so forth) before from a legal perspective, a criminal may be allowed to be executed. An excellent example of this point can be found in the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who is alleged to have been involved in the founding of the California street gang The Crips and who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979 and subsequently given the death penalty (Krikorian, 2005). Williams was not actually killed by lethal injection until December 13 of 2005, which means that for 26 years tax payers had to shoulder the financial burden of the ongoing litigation and legal appeals Williams defense efforts put together to postpone his impending demise. The salaries of several important 'cogs' in the legal system -- such as state-issued attorney, court reporters, judges, bailiffs, etc. -- are being paid by common tax-payers, and add up to a significant cost, particularly when compared to a life of imprisonment which frequently requires a significant amount of less money. The financial burden of implementing capital punishment does not justify this particular punitive measure.