Persuasive Essay On Capital Punishment

The capital punishment which is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime has been the most controversial issue in today’s society. According to Amnesty International, every day, prisoners including men, women, and even children face execution. In 1986, 68 countries discontinued the practice of the capital punishment, bringing the amount of non-death penalty countries to 111, far more than the 84 countries which maintained an active death penalty. It is claimed that capital punishment has to be abolished because it does not have the positive effect on deterring crime, restricts exoneration, and leads to racial and socio-economic discrimination. It is obvious that the death penalty

David C. Baldus, a law professor at the University of Iowa found that black defendants were 1.7 times more likely to receive the death penalty than white defendants and that murderers of white victims were 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks. Obviously, blacks and whites are victims of homicide in roughly equal numbers, yet 80 percent of those executed had murdered white people (New York Times, 2011). Alongside racial discrimination found within capital punishment is that of socio-economic discrimination. People with substantial income can afford the best criminal defence team when going to trial, whereas those of lower socio-economic status cannot. It is obvious that death sentence is largely dependent on the quality of one’s defence team, and the price of a good lawyer can equate to that of an entire mortgage. Therefore, death row “is not a place for the rich” (Bob Egelko,

Although supporters of the death penalty often suggest arguments that cite retribution for violent crimes as being instrumental in justice, several studies and research have revealed that taking the life of another human being through capital punishment only perpetuates a cycle of violence. Therefore, it is necessary to abolish the capital