Critical Thinking Paper (Capital Punishment)

Congress must abolish the death penalty as a form of criminal punishment due to the low
deterrence rate, high costs of appeals in death penalty cases, and the cruel nature of the process.
Capital punishment is a form of criminal punishment by death where crimes such as murder,
espionage, treason, and drug trafficking in large amounts are punishable by the death penalty
(Death Penalty for Offenses). Methods of execution include lethal injection, electrocution, gas
chamber execution, hanging, and firing squad execution (Facts about the Death). The first
execution in the United States was of Captain George Kendall, a spy for Spain, held in 1608
(Death Penalty Curricula for High). A century later, the Supreme Court declared capital
punishment unconstitutional in 1972. The death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The Court ruled
in 1989 that the mentally disabled could receive capital punishment, but was repealed in 2002,
citing a violation of the eighth amendment. In the same year, the Court ruled that a judge cannot
institute the death penalty. The Court also increased the death penalty age requirement to 18 in
2005 (Infobase Publishing). Currently, 32 states allow the death penalty and 18 states do not
allow the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center). In addition, 1,397 executions have
been administered in the United States since 1976 (National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty). The death penalty is a criminal punishment that has been addressed in the past, but not
adequately enough to eliminate the penalty.
The death penalty bears a low deterrence rate and is not an effective solution in
preventing crime. Offenders, firstly, do not consider the possibility of being caught or being

executed when committing a crime. This is validated by former Texas Attorney General Jim
Mattox who states that experience shows drug and alcohol abuse influenced most murders,
undeterred by the death penalty (Death Penalty Curricula for High). Polls of the nations leading
criminologists additionally support the low deterrence rate. The Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology polled criminologists in the American Society of Criminology (ASC), winners of
the ASC's Sutherland Award, and presidents of the ASC between 1997 and 2008 in a study called
Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists. The study shows
that 88% of criminologists in 2008 and 83% in 1996 believe that the death penalty does not deter
crime (The Death Penalty Information Center). In addition to polls, statistics verify that murder
rates are not lower in states that enforce capital punishment. According to FBI's "Crime in the
United States", the murder rate between 1991 and 2011 in death penalty states is consistently
higher than in non-death penalty states. In 2011, for example, the murder rate in death penalty
states is at 4.89 per 100,000 population, but the murder rate in non-death penalty states is at 4.13
per 100,000 population ("Deterrence: States without the Death"). Southern states, furthermore,
have the most murders nationally, yet administer 80% of the nations executions. Similarly,
Texas has by far the most executions, but its homicide rate is twice that of Wisconsin, the first
state to abolish the death penalty (Carter). All in all, the statistics and polls validate the death
penaltys moderate deterrence rate.
Capital punishment is an expensive method of criminal punishment due to the costs it
takes to provide for the trials and appeals process. According to Richard Dieter, a death penalty
case requires more pre-trial time, more experts, twice as many attorneys, two trials instead of
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one, and appeals (Top 10 Pros and Cons). A study of 37 cases by the Death Penalty Advisory
Committee of the Judicial Council in 2014 demonstrates this by stating that death penalty cases
last 40.13 days, whereas non-death penalty cases last 16.79 days. It takes Supreme Court judges,
additionally, 20 times more hours to write a death penalty appeal than a non-death penalty appeal
(Death Penalty Advisory Committee of the Judicial Council). With regard to high costs, capital
punishment has spent more than $4 billion since 1978 (Banks [A2]). An average death penalty
case costs $3 million in Maryland, $24 million in Florida, $2.16 million in North Carolina, and
$2.3 million in Texas ("Facts about the Death"). California, furthermore, has spent more than $4
billion since 1978 on the death penalty, where $170 million would be saved per year if life
imprisonment replaced the death penalty (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty).
According to a 2015 study, it costs $1 million more to prosecute a death penalty case than a nondeath penalty case in Washington. Similarly, non-death penalty cases cost four times less than
death penalty cases between 2004 and 2011 in Kansas. The total estimated death penalty cost for
one case in Washington is about $1,733,443 with court fees of about $1,028,700, prison fees of
about $606,928, and execution fees of about $97,815 (Yakima). The excessive costs, as
authenticated by statistics, are a detriment to the United States economy therefore
acknowledging that capital punishment must be revoked.
The death penalty is a cruel form of criminal punishment due to the long-lasting effects it
has on every person involved in an execution. The families of executed inmates and prison wards
are deeply affected by death penalty cases. Barbara Allen, whose uncle was executed in 1999,
said, "There is so much collateral damage when someone is executed; for the family members,
there are so many levels of pain, and the experience of processing it is lifelong" (Murder Victim's
Families For Human Rights). Prison guards, additionally, who have participated in executions
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suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and wardens abuse alcohol and drugs to relieve the
trauma of administering executions (Stuart). Ron McAndrew, a former warden at Florida State
Prison, commented, At night I would awaken to visions of executed inmates sitting on the edge
of my bed" (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). Witnesses of capital punishment
prove that the death penalty is cruel and has long lasting effects on every person involved.
In addition to the trauma of a death penalty case, the irrevocable mistakes of innocent
people being criminalized and executed is cruel. There have been five exonerations per year from
2000-2011 and 140 people freed from the death row since 1973 ("Facts about the Death). In
other words, between 1976 and 2012, one out of ten death penalty victims have been set free
(National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). President Jimmy Carter also presents
opposition to capital punishment by citing 138 death sentence reversals after leaving governor's
office. Joe Amrine, for example, was on death row for stabbing someone while in prison. Amrine
was found innocent after 17 years (Equal Justice USA). Some inmates, nevertheless, are
executed before determined innocence. Jerry Givens, a former executioner, tells of the suffering
of an innocent execution, "You sentenced a guy to be executed. You give him a trial, then you
send him to me to be put to death. Then later on you [say] that this guy was innocent. You didnt
put him to death. I did. I performed the execution. So you might suffer a little. Im going to suffer
a lot, because I performed the job" (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). The trauma
that each death penalty case brings to friends, family, jurors, judges, and prison wards must not
be tolerated, resulting in the abolishment of the death penalty.
The low deterrence rate, high costs of cases, and brutality of capital punishment must
bring about the abolishment of the death penalty. Studies, statistics, and polls of the nations

leading criminologists confirm that the death penalty does not prevent or lower the crime rate.
Taxpayers, nonetheless, spend millions of dollars to support a system that does not significantly
improve the safety of the people. The morality of the system is also questionable, due to the
cruelty and pain that the death penalty causes Americans. Congress, therefore, must abolish the
death penalty and search for better options to replace capital punishment. Life imprisonment, for
example, is cheaper and less brutal than the death penalty. This will allow for taxpayer dollars to
be spent less on a government punishment system, and more on issues such as education and
poverty. In conclusion, capital punishment must be abolished because of the low deterrence rate,
high costs of appeals, and inhumanity of the death penalty.