Death Punishment
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- Category: Politics: Crime and Drugs
- Date Submitted: 11/20/2011 02:24 PM
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Christopher Hylton
Sociology 2
Professor Ramos
November 6, 2011
The Negative Attributes of the Death Penalty
The death penalty has been enforced for as long as recorded history, but is it morally acceptable? Capital punishment may deter crime, but at the same time, it may also be considered a cruel and unusual punishment. Questions of the death penalty have reduced executions, but have crowded the death row with inmates. Many people support the death penalty, although it is an extremely controversial. Capital punishment creates debate over racial biases, and does not stop crime; it kills many innocent people. Capital punishment has been around for more than three hundred years in the United States. It has been a notorious matter for as long as it has been established.
Capital punishment has caused issues of discrimination. I feel that non-whites are discriminated against in capital cases. Capital punishment has been an instrument of racism; black people are 41% of the death row population. Defendants without a lot of money cannot defend themselves. The poor and middle class must rely on public defenders or court appointed lawyers who are poorly paid and inexperienced. Those people who have financial resources or who are members of a racial or ethnic minority will be more likely to die, while those who are well off can avail themselves of the legal talent to present their cases in as convincing a light as possible.
In my opinion the death penalty should be abolished because it is an immoral form of punishment, which should not be allowed in the United States. The death penalty would not obtain its goal even if it remained legal in the U.S. Capital Punishment is brutal and immoral and should not be considered part of our criminal justice system. Who pays the ultimate penalty for crimes? The poor. Who gets the death penalty? The poor. After all the rhetoric that goes on in legislative assemblies, in the end, when the net is cast out, it is the poor who...
Sociology 2
Professor Ramos
November 6, 2011
The Negative Attributes of the Death Penalty
The death penalty has been enforced for as long as recorded history, but is it morally acceptable? Capital punishment may deter crime, but at the same time, it may also be considered a cruel and unusual punishment. Questions of the death penalty have reduced executions, but have crowded the death row with inmates. Many people support the death penalty, although it is an extremely controversial. Capital punishment creates debate over racial biases, and does not stop crime; it kills many innocent people. Capital punishment has been around for more than three hundred years in the United States. It has been a notorious matter for as long as it has been established.
Capital punishment has caused issues of discrimination. I feel that non-whites are discriminated against in capital cases. Capital punishment has been an instrument of racism; black people are 41% of the death row population. Defendants without a lot of money cannot defend themselves. The poor and middle class must rely on public defenders or court appointed lawyers who are poorly paid and inexperienced. Those people who have financial resources or who are members of a racial or ethnic minority will be more likely to die, while those who are well off can avail themselves of the legal talent to present their cases in as convincing a light as possible.
In my opinion the death penalty should be abolished because it is an immoral form of punishment, which should not be allowed in the United States. The death penalty would not obtain its goal even if it remained legal in the U.S. Capital Punishment is brutal and immoral and should not be considered part of our criminal justice system. Who pays the ultimate penalty for crimes? The poor. Who gets the death penalty? The poor. After all the rhetoric that goes on in legislative assemblies, in the end, when the net is cast out, it is the poor who...