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Capital Punishment Rough Draft
Capital Punishment Rough Draft
Jessica Brown
Professor Thomas
English 1201
20 March 2019
In the United States, thousands of people have been sentenced to death for crimes they
have committed. Currently, 30 states have deemed the death penalty legal, while the other 20
states have decided that capital punishment should be illegal. Capital punishment is a long and
drawn-out process. First, crimes are taken to court, where the jury decides if the crime is
punishable by the death penalty. Then, the inmate, or person who committed the crime, will be
taken to jail, and await their execution day. Common types of execution involve lethal injection,
electrocution, and firing squads. In this essay, I will be explaining the pros and cons of the death
penalty, and help convey the reader as to why I support the legal use of the death penalty. The
death penalty should be legalized in all fifty states because it deters other crimes, is suitable for
criminals who commit crimes against humanity and it appeases the public.
The death penalty came back to use in 1976, when it was banned in 1972, after the results
of the Furman v. Georgia court case. Since then, the death penalty has been useful in 30 out of
the 50 states. Out of those 30 states, 6 states still adopt the right to use the electric chair, if an
inmate is sentenced to death. Those 6 states include Alabama, Florida, South Carolina,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The latest use of the electric chair was in Tennessee during
December of 2018, when a man named David Miller murdered a 23-year-old, and has been on
In Texas, capital punishment is taken very seriously. Texas is pushing for an “express
lane” for the death penalty. “The provision, part of the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act, shortens the time inmates can start an appeal from one year to six months.
Additionally, it would limit how long federal courts can take to resolve cases, limit the number
of claims that prisoners can raise, and restrict judges' abilities to grant stays of execution.”, says
William Patrick, a reporter for the Palestine Herald-Press. With this being said, crime rates
would decrease, because more people are now realising the consequences of committing capital
crimes. Texas tends to be more strict with their rulings, as in less days on death row, but this
truly makes an impact on crime rates. These so-called “express lanes”, will deter future crimes
“Texas Tribune” reporter Jolie McCullough states that “at the same time, the death row
population in Texas — and the nation at large — reached historic lows this year, according to the
Death Penalty Information Center report, which noted that the total number of people with active
death sentences nationwide is at a 25-year low. The number of inmates living with a death
sentence in Texas has dropped consistently since 2003. There are currently 224 inmates
awaiting execution, according to the state's prison system.” This emphasizes that the death
penalty laws in Texas have decreased the amount of capital crimes being committed.
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Fig.1 The picture above explains the decrease in death sentences in Texas. In 1999, there
were 48 people sentenced to death. 12 years later, that number had dropped only 8 executions,
nearly 6 times less the amount in the earlier years. The death penalty deters future crimes from
happening because more people are becoming aware with the risks and consequences that follow
The death penalty would also be a suitable punishment for people who commit crimes
against humanity. Genocide is a type of crime against humanity. According to The History
Channel, “Genocide is a term used to describe violence against members of a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group with the intent to destroy the entire group.” An example of this would be
the Holocaust, during the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s, when Adolf Hitler took the lives of about 6
million Jewish people in Europe. Given that genocide is not the only example of a crime against
In mid-March, a gunman in New Zealand killed 49 people, while injuring 50 others in the
city of ChristChurch. His target was Muslim worshippers. The gunman, later identified as an
Australian resident Brenton Tarrant, was charged with murder. Since this crime is recent, the full
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legal proceedings have yet to happen. New Zealand has abolished the death penalty, but this
crime is definitely qualified for the gunman to be sent to death row. New Zealand’s prime
minister, Jacinda Ardern, insists that gun laws will change. “New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern said the alleged shooter had five guns: two semi-automatic weapons and two
shotguns. Ardern said the suspect legally obtained the weapons and acquired a gun license in
November 2017. A lever-action firearm was also found. While work has been done as to the
chain of events that led to both the holding of this gun license and the possession of these
weapons, I can tell you one thing right now: Our gun laws will change," Ardern said in a news
The gunman who killed 49 people at the mosque shooting deserves the death penalty.
This crime would be suit for the death penalty, if New Zealand considers revoking the death
penalty. There was no reason to commit this crime. Brenton Tarrant’s cousin, Donna Cox, even
tells news sources that he should receive the death penalty. According to Alex Chapman from
DailyMail, “just what he's putting his family through. That he is from... a very respected family,
his mum, his dad, were pretty high in the community here, she said. He wasn't raised like that,
but I'm not here to defend him. If I could ask him - I'd ask him why. How could you do that?
'That's a twisted mind right there. You'd have to be to be able to do something like that. I know
what he deserves. He deserves the death penalty for what he's done. That hurts because he is
family,” Ms Cox said. By the gunman being sent to death row, this would deter other crimes
because more criminals would know the risks and consequences of committing genocide.
Along with the death penalty deterring possible crimes, it also appeases the public and
lets them know that they are safe with the criminal being off the streets. In Maine of 2018, a
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criminal escaped from jail three times, because of his long sentence in prison. The death penalty
Arnold Nash escaped from a jail in Maine in the fall of 2018. Nash was convicted of
burglary and two counts of murder, and was serving a 45-year prison sentence. His first attempt
of escaping prison was in the summer of 1981. “In 1981, he fled the Maine State Prison, where
he was serving time for burglary. Local media outlets reported that Nash and another prison
walked away from farm work detail in mid-July 1981.”, says reporter Min Yvonne Burke, a
journalist for DailyMail. Nash’s second time escaping was when he was sent to Maine’s
correctional center. Burke later adds, “Nash also escaped prison in 1973 when he was 19 while
serving time for larceny in the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. It wasn't clear how he
fled or how long it took for him to be captured.” After both of his escapes, Nash could of killed
anyone, or begin to plot his next attack. Now, it can be countered that Nash wasn’t in a high
security building during the times of his escapes, but there are multiple guards at the prison who
could of spotted his escape. Arnold Nash’s most recent escape was around 8:20 pm on Thursday,
If Arnold Nash were to receive the death penalty, these escapes would of never happened.
He could of killed more people during his escapes, and were to be “just” put back in jail, for the
same thing to happen over and over again. Instead, more people have to live in fear of what
could happen next, if he were to murder someone else. It is always nerve wracking knowing that
there has been a criminal that escaped from a prison, because it puts another dangerous person
out there. The death penalty would put an end to this madness, and ensure future safety among
civilians.
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There are more good things about the death penalty other than the ones mentioned above.
The death penalty would be better than life in prison without parole. Being sent to death row is
far more effective than a criminal being in prison for life. “On the one hand, life in prison may
not incapacitate truly dangerous prisoners. On the other hand, if it does incapacitate them, that is
most likely because it entails the same kinds of isolation and restraint that make solitary
confinement so inhumane. For threatening, capital offenders, this non-lethal alternative still
leaves us with agonizing future choices of either dangerous inadequacy or torturous restraint.”,
says Marah McLeod, writer of The Death Penalty as Incapacitation. McLeod also points out
that “studies reveal that unless (and perhaps even if) life without parole is coupled with severe
restrictions and isolation, it may not suffice to protect others from very dangerous capital
offenders.” This quote explains that being incarcerated for life does not make it safer, there is
still a possibility for an attack in the jail by a criminal. It happens all the time, prisoners often
will beat each other up, which makes the prison a lot less safer. There has been many instances
of where a prisoner murders another prisoner. It even makes a criminal more dangerous if they
have previously committed a capital crime, and are more skilled than other prisoners.
A Florida Man, who was sentenced to jail for a robbery, in which turned into a murder,
murdered his cellmate. Larry Mark, a 57-year-old, then severed his cellmates body. Michael
Harriot, a reporter from theroot.com, explains what happened. “On Thursday morning, an
unnamed inmate took the opportunity to kill 58-year-old Larry Mark, who was serving time for a
1981 robbery-turned-murder that netted Mark and his accomplice $35, a wedding ring and a life
sentence. Sources say that Mark’s roommate, who is yet to be named by prison officials, was
angry at Mark for “pestering him.”” The detail to follow are pretty gory, in which I will refrain
If Mark was given the death penalty and put on death row, this murder would of never
happened. Since Mark was given years in prison, he then decided to take the life of his cellmate,
and now he is receiving more jail time for a burglary and two murders. The death penalty is more
Besides the benefits to the death penalty, there are some negative effects that follow with
it. The death penalty is a lot more expensive than being incarcerated for life. Just the execution
alone, it is more expensive than having a prisoner live and eat in jail for the rest of his or her life.
The costs for the execution, such as lethal injection, firing squads, and electrocution, are
high. Lifeontherow.com says “The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution
and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were
counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000.”
The Huffington Post also talks about how the price of lethal injection has skyrocketed in the past
years. “A year ago, it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice approximately $83 to
execute an inmate by lethal injection, the American-Statesman reported last month. That price
has risen to nearly $1,300.”, says Khadeeja Safdar, journalist for The Huffington Post. This is
nearly 15 times more than what the cost of lethal injection was 8 years ago. Electrocution is the
same way. It costs millions of dollars to send an electric current into the brain of a prisoner.
The financial aspects of the death penalty is a downfall for this argument. The cost of
legally executing someone on death row is very expensive, costing anywhere from thousands to
Another counter argument for the death penalty is that innocent people have been
accused of a capital crime and have been executed because of it. Carlos DeLuna was wrongfully
executed in 1989.
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Journalist Michael McLaughlin from The Huffington Post says “Carlos DeLuna was
executed in 1989 for stabbing to death a gas station clerk in Corpus Christi six years earlier. It
was a ghastly crime. The trial attracted local attention, but not from concern that a guiltless man
would be punished while the killer went free. DeLuna, then 20, was found hiding under a pickup
truck a few blocks from the gory crime scene. A wad of rolled-up bills totaling $149 was in his
pocket.” McLaughlin later goes on to say how the evidence contradicted each other, and how a
man named Carlos Hernandez was to blame for the murder of a gas station clerk. Although
DeLuna fled the scene to avoid trouble, he was not to blame for the murder, but still paid the
Although there has been some incidents where wrongly accused people had their lives
taken away from them, only 5% of defendants are innocently accused of a capital crime.
Fig. 2 This chart from deathpenaltyinfo.org talks about how the increasing number of
people being wrongly executed for crimes they did not commit. Each bar represents 8 years, in
Overall, the United States should legalize the death penalty in all fifty states. There are
more benefits to having the death penalty, versus putting someone in prison for life. First, it
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deters possible crimes committed by the next criminal. If someone knows the possible risks and
consequences of a capital crime, chances are, they won’t follow through with it. Second, the
death penalty is suitable and appropriate for people who commit crimes against humanity. A
prime example of this would be the most common type, genocide. Genocide is a crime
committed against a certain group of people. The most recent case of this was when an
Australian gunman killed 49 people and injured 50 in a New Zealand mosque shooting in the city
of Christ Church. And lastly, the death penalty also appeases the public. If a dangerous person
were to kill lots of people and be sentenced to death, everyone would ease up and acknowledge
the fact that they are going to be safer. If that same person were to be locked up in jail for life,
there is a possibility he can kill other people in the jail, or escape from the jail and kill more
innocent people. All in all, the death penalty should be legalized in all fifty states because it
deters future crimes, is a suitable punishment for crimes against humanity, and makes the world
a safer place.
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Works Cited
Burke, Minyvonne. “Convicted Murderer Escapes a Prison in Maine for the Third Time.” Daily
6171079/Man-convicted-beating-disabled-neighbor-death-escapes-Maine-prison-time.html.
Chapman, Alex. “Brenton Tarrant's Cousin Says He Deserves the Death Sentence in Wake of
Christchurch Terror Attacks.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 18 Mar. 2019,
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6819175/Brenton-Tarrants-cousin-says-deserves-
death-sentence-wake-Christchurch-terror-attacks.html.
www.history.com/topics/holocaust/what-is-genocide.
Harriot, Michael. “Stop Eating Before Reading: Florida Prisoner Kills Cellmate, Uses Ears for
reading-florida-prisoner-kills-cell-1829093195.
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McCullough, Jolie. “Texas Sees Uptick in Executions, Death Sentences in 2018.” The Texas
executed-more-people-any-other-state-2018/.
McLaughlin, Michael. “Texas Executed An Innocent Man, Columbia University Team Says.”
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/carlos-de-luna-execution-_n_1507003.html.
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=3b4602ba-8189-4fcc-
9e92-3b9272d45f83%40sessionmgr4010.
legal-fast-lane-to-executions/article_def9ab94-3860-11e8-8fd4-971c1a2dcd1d.html.
Safdar, Khadeeja. “Legally Killing People Has Gotten A Lot More Expensive.” The Huffington
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/lethal-injection_n_1391408.html.
Staff, CBS News. “New Zealand Shooting: 49 Dead, Australian Man Charged over Mosque
news/new-zealand-mosque-shooting-christchurch-video-livestream-latest-updates-2019-
03-15/.
Staff, DPI. “Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty.” Innocence and the Crisis
deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-crisis-american-death-penalty.
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Staff, LOTR. “Cost of the Death Penalty VS Life without Parole.” Life on the Row,
lifeontherow.proboards.com/thread/299.
Staff, TDPF. “Texas Death Penalty Facts.” Texas Defender Services, texasdefender.org/news-
information/.