FREE ESSAY ON THE DEATH PENALTY

THE DEATH PENALTY

When committing a rape, murder, or treason does it occur to you that, if Caught, you could
be, electrocuted, gassed, or lethally injected? I highly doubt it. So what is it that is
running through your mind? Do you honestly think you can murder or rape some innocent
person and get away with it? I don't think so. I feel the death penalty is a great
concept. My philosophy is, why should someone that murdered an innocent human being still
be able to breathe, while his or her victim cannot? Life without parole is a good idea,
but that person is still getting the chance to breathe, eat, sleep, smell, hear, and see
while his or her victim cannot.
Many people see capital punishment as cruel and wrong, but is not what that person did
cruel and wrong? How are we as a society going to teach them that it is wrong? Life
without parole is not the answer, capital punishment might be. Some of our jails today
could be mistaken for a Holiday Inn. The convicted are treated entirely too well. This is
not what I want my taxes to be paying for. I would rather hear of their death then to
know that they are, some nights, eating meals just as good as what I am having, you need
to remember what these people did. I do not feel comfortable with the idea that some
person that killed or raped or robbed some innocent person could be released out of jail
for "good behavior". As said in the Bible, "Whomever sheds a man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6). This has been taken to signify "Let the punishment, fit
the crime."
The Risk of Executing the Innocent.
I really do feel that this should be taken very serious. We need to be able to trust our
government judicial system, to ensure that no one who was wrongfully accused is sentenced
to the death penalty. And with the way our court systems work, I'm afraid were unable to
trust them 100 %. Look at Oj for instance, he was guilty, and should have been executed,
but he's walking the streets today sewing phone companies. But hey, there's nothing we
can do about the court system. The decisions they make is going to be the decision that
is final. We need to eliminate all the appealing process. Fact, inmates are six times
more likely to get off death row by appeals than by execution. Not to mention, the cost
of court and lawyer fee's. It's just too much money to waste on a guy who could have
rapped a little girl. The death penalty shouldn't be held back just because of this, but
it should be watched closely. What the court system decides is what we'll have to live
with. I think anyone who admits to doing anything bad enough for the death penalty should
be executed immediately. 
Here's a recent case that came up in NY State. Ken Williams beat a two-year-old to death.
Williams admitted in a signed confession that he smacked his girlfriend's 2-year-old son
with a belt seven or eight times and rapped him about eight hours before the defenseless
2 year old stopped breathing. This entire thing started because the boy, Lavonty Johnson,
threw up on his bed. Williams got upset and grabbed a belt and beat him with it then
rapped him. The weird thing is after he did this they played video games, then Johnson's
started breathing funny. He stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Williams
tried giving him CPR, the boy died that night with a shattered kidney, no blood flow to
his liver or spleen, and there was blood in his abdomen. Williams admitted to doing it he
should be put to death if you ask me. 
The Effects of the Death Penalty.
The death penalty saves lives, by executing murderers you prevent them from murdering
again. The fear of execution will also keep criminals from murdering innocent people.
There is statistical proof that executions produce fewer murders however, there's a
strong side against that as well. You have to remember though, what's there to be scared
about when only 0.08% of the murderers have been executed since 1973, I find that
absolutely ludicrous. Deep down inside many criminals you can bet are indeed thinking
about the death penalty, especially if you live in Texas. Here's a funny little fact to
go along with the 0.08%, 6% of young adults purroled for murder, murdered again with in 6
years of there release. Why should we let people who have been convicted of murder to be
let back on to the streets. Guess what if you execute someone, there's no chance of him
or her doing it again. In 1984, 810 of the 52,000 people serving time for murder were 2nd
offenders, they had killed 821 people total the 2nd time. We could have saved 820 lives
by eliminating these animals. I read that since 1971 they figure someone who was a
convicted murderer has murdered 1,026 people. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates
that convicted criminals free on parole and probation have committed at least 84,800
violent crimes every year, including 13,200 murders, 12,900 rapes, and 49,500 robberies.
I don't understand why people think these people should still be alive.
The only time we really see that these murders are really scared of the death penalty is
on court day. 99.9% of convicted murderers and their lawyers plead for life instead of
the death penalty. They were tough enough to rape a little kid they should be tough
enough to take the punishment.
I was reading a thing I got from a newspaper that said; "The death penalty reflects the
middle class' desire to strike out at the poor and racial minorities." I'm not racist,
but look at the jails, it's full of minorities because they're causing a lot of the
problem. It has nothing to do with race of status, no one forced Kenneth Williams to beat
and rape a kid simply because the kid through up. Bringing a person's race into this is
just excuse. Using race, as a defense is just an easy way out, I think half the time race
is used in a case is only because they have no real evidence, and It's hard to argue
because you don't want it to get racial. 
Comment's like those are not only ridiculous and not backed up with any evidence, but
it's so degrading to minorities. They so busy crying that it's a racial to even notice
that since 1929 white murderers have been more likely to have been executed then black
murderers. White murders are more likely to get the death penalty than blacks by 11.1% to
7.3%. Which just goes to show you blacks and minorities have nothing to be complaining
about. Here's some more facts to prove it even more, 82% of the murder victims in death
penalty cases are white, 13 % are black, a 6:1 ratio. Of all executions 56% have been
whites and only 38% were blacks. 
Cost of Life without Parole:
$34,000/year for 50 years at
2% annual cost increase = $3.01 million.
Cost of Death Penalty
$60,000/year for 6 years at
2% annual cost increase = $1.88 million.
There is no doubt that the initial cost of the death penalty is significantly higher than
the life with out Parole (LWOP). Look at the numbers though, over time we'll save $1.2 to
$3.6 million if we just execute them. Mind you the $34,000/ year cost are an average. The
maximum-security prisons run over $75,000/year. And where do we put the murderers? In the
maximum-security prisons. So actually $75,000/year for 50 years at 2% increase is well, I
can't figure it out but I'll bet it's a lot of money. 
So what it boils down to is, we have these thousands of people on death row that have
murdered and rapped people, and where paying on average $34,000/year to hold them. Why
are we spending money on people that have done such horrible things. Do unto others, as
you want them to do unto you. A person knows if they kill someone they are risking the
death penalty, I figure if they take that risk they should take the penalty. I'm 110% for
the death penalty.