Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, and the debate about its abolition is the largest point of the essay written by Steve Earle, titled "A Death in Texas”. This form of punishment should be abolished for 3 reasons; First, It does not seem to have a direct effect on deterring murder rates, It has negative effects on society, and is inconsistent with American ideals. To begin, the death penalty is unnecessary since it is ineffective at deterring rates of murder. In fact, 88% of the country's top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In opposition, supporters may argue that it may indeed help to deter murder rates as they have …show more content…
Obviously, the death penalty always ends in the loss of life, but these lives are sometimes innocent and sometimes have the potential for rehabilitation. The jury system rarely convicts people wrongly, so it is said. But, it happens often that criminals claim innocence; how many are telling the truth? The number of discovered false executions does not necessarily mean those are the only ones. Supporters may argue it is worth it, but isn't the loss of innocent life what we are all against? Some victims of violent crimes were in the hands of mentally ill or handicapped people. These mentally ill people that kill, do not usually kill out of a lack of moral grounding or "evil". These people typically either do not understand right from wrong or are unable to comprehend the possible outcomes the murder may have on themselves or others around them. Although most mentally ill people do not end up on death row, receiving instead long sentencing or treatment, the number of people who have been executed that were unknowingly mentally ill or had similar faulty thinking, and a potential for rehabilitation cannot be known. Also, capital punishment may normalize or rationalize murder. The death penalty sends a message to citizens; a message that says murder is not outrageous, unless the state is doing it as a sanction. This message helps to justify civilian killings of people believed to be deserving of death and may possibly even cause an uprise in vigilante style murders. This message also leaves an almost open air on what is wrong and provides no consistent moral ground for society to base their beliefs on. This does not mean that people will suddenly think murder is a favorable deed, but it may cause some to not realize how terrible it is. Joseph Summer wrote this in an article titled “Some Adverse Effects of the Death Penalty in History”: “…people learned 3 lessons from the government’s violent example: to use
Does Rehabilitation Exist in Prison? People that go to prison live life in a very different world than the people outside of the walls of the prison. Most of the time they have nothing to do and all they think about is the way to get out. In an Essay by Steve Earle called "A Death in Texas," he writes about a man he believes may be rehabilitated. Earle was a drug user himself and prison reformer, so he probably wanted the best for everyone because he had been in that same place.
In Steve Earle’s essay, “A Death in Texas”, Earle gives descriptions of his and Nobles interactions and how he behaved during the days that lead up to his execution on October 7th, 1998. The essay gives a glimpse of Nobles through Earle’s eyes, depicting him as a sorrowful man who confessed to his murders and was working to atone for his sins. Earle’s wrote about how he changed his behavior by getting clean and finding God, as well as earning the respect of the inmates and guards along the way. Reading Earle’s descriptions of Nobles could lead one to believe he was rehabilitated and could have possibly been fit for society, however, some evidence points towards the direction that Nobles may not have been completely rehabilitated after all.
For the victim's families, it may not feel good enough to just be living a life in prison or in some cases even being let back into society. And the death sentence
Every one in twenty-five people on death row are actually innocent. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 143 people have been exonerated. Sadly this is less than half the number of the people who may have actually been innocent. The death row inmate stated earlier, Jesse Tafero, who had a botched execution was later found to have been innocent (Time). An innocent man experienced an extremely painful death orchestrated by the government.
Some see the death penalty as the only means to extract justice for victims. Others see it as a morally reprehensible act where a second wrong is committed in order to make something right. With recent issues surrounding the death penalty in which execution hasn 't gone as planned sparking a nationwide debate, this is my outlook on why I 'm for the death penalty not only being abolished in the state of Texas but in addition to the entirety of the US..
Although Texas is the state with the greatest number of death row sentences and executions, it has one of the highest crime rates in the entire nation. Therefore, the death penalty is ineffective because it does not diminish the incidence of crimes, take the life of innocent people, is racially unequal, costly, and alternative measure can be implemented
Although the death penalty in Texas costs about three times more than life in prison without parole, it is reserved as the punishment of robbing another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety (Deathpenaltyinfo). It is a valid question to wonder why we should spare the life of one, opting to provide for all of their basics needs when they without question robbed another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety through murder or another cruel action. The case of Andre Thomas raised questions of whether or not the mentally incompetent should be eligible for the death penalty. Thomas murdered two children and the wife he was separated from, maintaining that the act was dictated by God. Statements by Thomas conveyed that he knew that what he had done was wrong after he had after committing the crime.
Should America continue to allow the death penalty? This essay will tell you why America should not be continue the death penalty. For starters, the death penalty is punishment by death; usually resulting after a crime that America calls capital crimes or capital offences. There are many of reasons why the death penalty should not be carried out in America or anywhere “Application of the death penalty tends to be arbitrary and capricious; for similar crimes, some are sentenced to death while others are not.”
Ever since the outset of the American Constitution, capital punishment has existed as a crime sentence in the United States. However, in recent decades, this topic has become highly controversial, as many states have dictated against the death penalty. Although states with this position on capital punishment are increasing, some states, such as Texas, have continued to edict this practice in their provinces. In the State of Texas, the sentence to death upon a person should not be permitted due to the fact it can wrongly convict a person, its court trial is highly expensive, and it brings forth an unjust treatment.
Muhlhausen, David B. "The Death Penalty Deters Murder." The Ethics of Capital Punishment,edited by Christine Watkins, Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints inContext, Microsoft Academic. Spangenberg, Robert L., and Elizabeth R. Walsh.
If the cold-blooded killing of thousands does not lower premeditated murder, there is really no point (because let 's face it, the saying “eye for an eye” is childish and socially unacceptable). This same conclusion was agreed upon in a recent poll by almost 90% of the world’s criminological societies (Facts About the Death Penalty). However in all honesty, the argument against the death penalty doesn’t just stop at its redundancy, but also its
In conclusion the idea that the death penalty should be abolished can be supported by many reasons that include extensive evidence. With the death penalty still established we are putting innocent people's lives at risk, spending millions, and continue with racial segregation. The idea that someone's opinion in court can decide the fate of another person is
Each year in many countries around the world people are murdered in the name of “justice”. But can justice really include a sanitised form of revenge? Many people are for the death penalty regardless of what it actually is. A major way that the death penalty is flawed is shown in the amount of innocent people who are sentenced to death.
This may not be an overwhelming amount, but we don‘t really know how many innocent lives have really been taken. Now with that being said even if the amount of innocent lives taken is very small that‘s still an awful thing to happen. Is the death pentaly worth the risk of any innocent lives? Or it might be very unlikely that it‘ll happen because according to this same article death penalty cases are taken with extreme caution, and if there is any doubt most of the time the defendent will be senteced to life imprisonment or exonerated „Advocates for a defendant are much more likely to pursue any plausible postconviction claim of innocence if the defendant is under sentence of death. “ "NCIB PMC Barbara O 'Brian, Chen Hu, Edward H.Kennedy, Samuel R. Gross,“ Another concern to think about is, is there really any humane way to perform the death penalty?
It doesn’t decrease the amount of killings, rapes, or burglaries. Another argument against capital punishment is the appearance of mentally unstable inmates on death row. This argument has also been supported by the Supreme Court in 2002; it has abolished “the executions of persons with mental retardation” from prop 34 in the case of Atkins vs. Virginia. At this time, only Georgia and Maryland prohibited these executions; after the case settled, sixteen more states joined in enacting laws to follow this ruling. The court held this case because it was a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment to execute death row inmates with mental