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Capital Punishment Essay: The Death Penalty In The United States

1974 Words8 Pages

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the execution of an offender sentenced to death for violating the law. Ever since the first colonists arrived in America, the death penalty has been used. The first recorded execution was in 1608 and by the revolutionary war, all 13 colonies had a law allowing the death penalty and every state except Rhode Island had over ten crimes punishable by it. When writing the constitution, the founding fathers allowed the death penalty. The constitution clearly states in the Fifth Amendment that the death penalty is allowed. In 1790, the punishable crimes act listed the crimes which could be punishable by death. These crimes included murder, treason, counterfeiting of federal records, and …show more content…

There is no data, statistics, or studies that show states with the death penalty having lower crime or murder rates. Also, states that have abolished the death sentence have not shown increases in crime. There isn’t any reason to have the death penalty for the sake of scaring people away from crime. Richard C. Dieter says that in the past 25 years he has reviewed death penalty cases and all the finances related with them. He can truthfully say that the cost of executing a criminal is clearly more costly than the system of handling a criminal with a lesser punishment. Everything involved in a case with the death penalty is at a greater magnitude. There are more lawyers, more experts, longer trials, two trials instead of one(one for the crime and one for the punishment) and many appeals following the case. These costs come from tax dollars and needless to say could be used for more important issues. Maybe the most one sided aspect of the death penalty is how the poor get the death penalty more often. The way to arguing a case in court and perhaps getting out of a death sentence is through a good attorney and those who can’t afford one have one appointed to them. It’s unfair for a person to be defended by a low level lawyer while the other side of the case may have much better representation. It does not make for a fair trial and does not show

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