OUTLINE-- final paper

By: Capital Punishment
Brittany Plate
1. If you kill someone does that mean its ok for a judge to make the decision that your life is also going to be taken by legal injections? Or should you be able to sit in prison for the rest of your life? Do you think that the person in crime should get the choice if he wants the death penalty or to stay alive in a cell. This is a big debate that we the United states struggle with. Capital punishment has been around for many decades even before is was legal. All around the world people were killed from doing something wrong. But does this make it ok? Capital Punishment, should it or shouldn’t it be allowed?
2. Background about Capital Punishment
A. There are 37 states that include the Death Penalty
1. 13 states without
A. these include Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin
B. Each year there are about 250 people added to death row
1. 35 executed. (according to deathpenalty.org)
2. According to the Death Penalty Info Center 3, 350 people are currently on death row
3. California has the largest number with 660 people
C. Harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today
D. Once a jury has convicted a criminal they go to the second part of the trial,
1. the punishment phase.
E. Once a jury has convicted a criminal offense they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase
1. lethal injection is the most common form used today
F. There was a period from 1972 to 1976 that capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
1. Their reason: cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment.
2. The decision was reversed when new methods of execution were introduced.
3. From sentencing to execution there is about a seven to eight year wait
II. Safety guards for Capital Punishment
A. Some people feel that innocent people will be wrongfully executed all in the name of justice
1. Persons below eighteen years of a age, pregnant women , new mothers or persons who have become insane shall not be sentenced to death.
2. Capital punishment may be imposed only when guilt is determined by clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts
3. Also capital punishment shall be carried out so as to inflict the minimum possible suffering
III. The strongest argument against using capital punishment is the argument that capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, condemning cruel and unusual punishment, is used to protest capital punishment. ( as cited in Carrington, 1978. p. 87).
A. The argument is that it appears to be a red herring argument, one that takes attention away from the facts of the case.
B. Other problems that can occur in the death penalty is
1. Wrong person
2. Suffering and slow dieing by giving not enough median
IV. Pros
A. By legalizing the death penalty in your state could lower the crime rate.
1. There would be no more over crowding in jails and prisons so we can place people with minor crimes in them.
2. We are not giving our tax dollars to put murders and sex offenders in
jail.
A. on average it cost 22,000 of our tax money per prisoner each
year
B. for example The 883,593 prisoners are costing the American taxpayers approximately $19.4 billion plus another $61.7 million for the construction of the 1,143 spaces needed. Even if the prisoner spent 20 years in prison the cost would be approx. $1,520,000.
(according to Abel Martinez)
In conclusion I would pick to have the death penalty in every state. If we would pick up the paste and not have it wait so long from the time they are sentence on death row to the time they are put down then it would make a lot of since. It doesn’t make any since for them to sit in jail all there lives. Its causing back up which is meaning that more and more people that is suppose to be sitting in jail for maybe a DWI are getting the easy way out because there is no room to lock them up. I seriously believe that maybe if everyone knew that the death penalty is real and you are going to get it with in a year then it would slow down crime rates. I think that a lot of murders think that going to jail is the easy way out, most of them want to go to jail because it’s a home. But if they knew that no matter what they were going to get the death penalty maybe some would realize that its not a good idea.