Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishments Capital punishment is one of the most discussed and argued issue around the world, probably because of it is crucial diversity. The main reason why people have different point of views is based on the cultural, economic, political and social diversity in today’s societies. For example; how is your status in society? Rich people tend to favor the capital punishment, compared to the minorities with poor economic background. Same as Republicans vs. Liberals, Republicans’ tend to have a more positive attitude towards these kind of disciplinary actions compared to the Liberals. The reason why this issue never been solved is because there is no right answer to the question. It’s up to every person to decide what ever they believe is the right or most appropriate penalty for murder. Even the States disagree on this issue. There is an obvious characteristic between the States that favor and disfavor the death penalty. The Southern States tend to favor the penalty compared to the Northern States. There are 37 States that have Capital punishment and 82 % of all executions since 1976 have occurred in Southern States. In New England, only Connecticut still enforces capital punishment. Does it really affect the criminals of the society? Does it really work as a deterrence to commit crimes? Unfortunately the answer is NO. The States who implemented capital punishments have shown no trends of decreased crime rate. In Florida, the murder rates have increased the last three years even though an increases number of people have been executed over the same time period. So, if it not deters crime, why continue to follow the same path. An answer to that is that it still makes people feel more relaxed and secured when they know their State gives the criminals death penalty. The difference between the costs of executing a person compared to give him/her a life time sentence is incredible. The State of Kansas made a survey comparing the costs in 2004, which demonstrated that capital punishment is many times more expensive. For example, the investigation costs are 3 times greater, the trial cost is 16 times greater, the appeal cost is 21 times greater and finally it takes an average of 34 days in a capital punishment trial compared to 9 days in a non-death trial (according to DPIC). As we can see the main factor that brings up the costs for capital punishment is not the execution itself, it is the trial process.