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Jessica Alegria
Government 2
October 20, 2015
The Death Penalty
Since the Death Penalty was reinstated back in 1976, there have been 1,386 executions in the
United States. The Death Penalty has been occurring in the United States since the European
settlers first came to America. The first recorded public execution was documented in 1608. In
1834, many of the states moved executions from the public eye, and began doing them in
correctional facilities. Currently, there are 32 states who allow the death penalty and 19 states
that have banned it. The federal government and the state government spend billions of dollars
every year on inmates who are on death row. In fact it is cheaper to keep an inmate in a prison
for life then it is to execute them. To end capital punishment in the United States, Congress has
to amend the Constitution. Capital punishment is not only costly, but many people have been
falsely accused of a crime and put on death row until they were proven innocent. The most
important detail of all is that the death penalty violates the 8 th amendment of cruel and unusual
punishment.
The death penalty is the most expensive form of punishment in the United States. Since the
death penalty has been reauthorized in 1976, 1386 people have been executed. A case where
the death penalty is sought, the cost is about 1.25 million dollars (Death Penalty Focus). If the
death penalty was to be abolished, then the states could save billions of dollars every year which
could be spent on education, and after school programs. Some estimate that it costs U.S.
taxpayers between $50 and $90 million dollars more per year to prosecute death penalty cases
than life sentences (Which is Cheaper, Execution of Life in Prison without Parole?). U.S.

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taxpayers are paying for the trials of inmates on death row. The money used could be spent on
more important things to benefit the public such as employing more police officers and
expanding highways. There would be many benefits to come to the states that abolish the death
penalty, and prevention of convicting and killing people would be one of them.
The Death Penalty is a very controversial topic in the United States mainly due to the fact that
someones life is put on the line. If one mistake is made in court and someone is executed, it is
irreversible and an innocent life has been put to an end. These cases are always tried multiple
times mainly because, new evidence arises. Many of the times when new evidence is released
there is evidence that proves the person on trials innocence. Since 1975, 123 people in 25 states
have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence (Six Reasons to Oppose
the Death Penalty). 123 people who were put on death row and then proven innocent in 40 years
is too many and to high of a risk to continue taking. The death penalty is also not fair because
many of the people of who are on death row do not have enough money to afford a good lawyer.
The vast majority of those executed were poor. About 90% could not afford a lawyer when they
went to trial. They had to rely upon a court-appointed lawyer (Part 1: Death Penalty Data). It is
unfair for people who are poor to be at a disadvantage due to their economic status. The death
penalty is unfair and it violates the rights stated in the Constitution.
The death penalty violates the 8 th amendment in the constitution that prohibits the government
from imposing cruel and unusual punishments. The death penalty can be considered a cruel and
unusual punishment because prisoners are executed in a variety of ways such as electrocution,
lethal injection, or a firing squad. Sentencing someone to death denies them the right to life
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Amnesty International). Even if a
person does commit a horrible crime and you execute them isnt killing them just as bad as the

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crime that the committed? Like Mahatma Gandhi said, An eye for an eye makes the whole
world blind. If the government kills someone who killed someone else it does do anything such
as teaching a lesson or deter crime. The death penalty does not solve the crime, fix the problems
that were caused by the crime, or teach anyone a lesson. It is just killing for the sake of killing
(Debate.org). The death penalty clearly violates the rights stated in the constitution and it does
not stop or prevent crimes.
Many can argue that if there is enough evidence to prove that a person committed a horrible
crime then why not just execute them? If it were that easy then the state and Federal government
would not be spending billions of dollars on the death penalty every year. An important reason to
continue the death penalty is to keep the amount of prisoners at a low. It contributes to the
problem of overpopulation in the prison system (Balanced Politics). If prisons continue the
executions then it will help with the overcrowding that the prisons in the United States face. If
we execute defendants who are found guilty then it lowers the chance of them to ever having a
chance to leave prison and commit another horrible crime. Prisoner parole or escapes can give
criminals another chance to kill (Balanced Politics). With the death penalty there is a lower
chance of the criminal escaping and doing another bad thing. The death penalty also provides
closure for any victims families, to know that another criminal is off the streets.
The extremely high costs associated with the death penalty are one of the many reasons to
amend the Constitution and abolish the death penalty. Capital punishment is not only costly, but
many people have been falsely accused of a crime and put on death row until they were proven
innocent. The most important detail of all is that the death penalty violates the 8 th amendment of
cruel and unusual punishment. Imagine if we could use the money collected from taxpayers and
use it for something more useful and meaningful such a welfare for the poor and extracurricular

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activities for schools. If the constitution can be amended so that the death penalty is made illegal
then people will not get the easy way out by being executed. Defendants who are given life in
prison instead of a death sentence will be cheaper and it will be more of a punishment then the
death penalty would be.

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Works Cited
"About the Death Penalty." National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Sept. 2015.
"Amnesty International." Death Penalty.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
"Costs of the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Death Penalty Cost. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"Death Penalty Focus: The High Cost of the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Focus: The High
Cost of the Death Penalty. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Did You Know?" ProCon.org Headlines. N.p., 3 May 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
H.G.org. "Which Is Cheaper, Execution or Life in Prison without Parole?" Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
""Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty." Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
"Part 1: Death Penalty Data." Facts about Capital Punishment. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
"Six Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty." Six Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty. N.p., n.d.
Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
"Wasteful and Inefficient." EJUSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.