The Death Penalty

In the final unit of argument we learned about the Civil Rights Movement and how people had to come together and synthesis a new  way of living. We were then asked to find an issue in society where the two opposing sides needed to come to a synthesis. We were told to take one side and interview someone who supported the other side. Then we were asked to form a synthesis, which was not that hard in my case because I agreed with one of the points my friend made. The most challenging part was the research because researching conviction statistics proves very challenging due to the lack of information.

Thesis:

The death penalty should be enforced nationwide for first degree murder (A planned murder). Criminals who commit first degree murder are normally sentenced to life in prison and sometimes are sentenced to only 20 years (legaldefenderspc). Criminals who commit such a heinous act against another human being and against our society should not be allowed to ever see the outside world again because they claimed someone else’s life and have proven that they cannot function according to societies rules. The sentence for first degree murder should be the death penalty for adults. This will ensure that no murders are allowed to claim a life again and that they receive proper punishment for committing a crime against humanity. The proper punishment for murder is the death penalty because you killed someone who did not choose to be killed but you chose to kill so your punishment should be the same as theirs or worse. If we give murderers 20 years they can be free again while the person they killed will never be free.

CNN,2014

The other issue of not enforcing the death penalty is how much money it costs law abiding citizens to keep these murders alive. According to Vera.org, it costs $38,268 to house a criminal, which with the minimum sentence being 20 years is over $750,000 for someone who murdered another person and is not contributing to society at all. According to RebootIllinois, there are almost 9,000 convicted murderers which if they all are given the minimum sentence of 20 years that is 6.75 billion dollars just to keep murderers alive. All of this money comes from taxpayers. Why should society support someone who cannot abide by the simple rules of society? We shouldn't; they decided to take their own path and kill someone and break the rules of society so society should not have to support them.

Anti-thesis:

The death penalty is a barbaric way of inciting fear in the masses and controlling the population through fear of death, which is how dictators and tyrants control their countries. The United States fights against oppression and crimes against humanity across the world.

Use of the death penalty is hypocritical because it strips the rights away from people who are convicted by a flawed judicial system.

According to Ohio State University, nearly 10,000 people are wrongfully convicted for violent crimes including homicide, rape, and armed robbery. How can the populous allow the government to kill people when there are so many innocent people in prison? They can’t. The reason that people are sentenced for 20+ years and not death is because the government understands that their system is flawed and they cannot kill innocent people.

Paul Kieran Jeffrey, 2010

To claim that the costs of keeping someone alive is too much to pay and that they should be killed is cruel. There are people in society who are so below the poverty line that they cannot afford food or shelter and use the government's aid to stay afloat; should these people be killed just because they are costing the country money? No that would be a blatant crime against humanity. The same as killing criminals just because society does not feel like supporting them.

Synthesis:

The judicial system that is currently in place does have many flaws, which would need to be addressed. To counter wrongful convictions and to make sure that a criminal is deserving of the death penalty there will be a panel of judges who review every first degree murder case after the defendant has been found guilty and determine if there is overwhelming evidence that the defendant committed the crime. If there is then the defendant will be sentenced to death. If there isn’t and the judges feel that the person got an unfair trial they can also decide on a retrial. The issue that most trials have is that the jury is all civilians who have little to no experience in courts and cannot judge the evidence as well as the judges.

xymonau,2013

While it may seem cruel to claim that a person costs too much money to keep alive it is true. When they aren't doing any work and are getting a free ride they are an even bigger detriment to society. With this new system, where every case that could result in the death penalty is reviewed by judges, there should be no need for appeals and the death penalty should be enforced soon after the trial so that society does not need to support someone who is going to die. Too many people on death row are in prison for extended periods of time because they keep appealing and this just drains the limited resources that the government has to spend.





Works Cited "First Degree Murder, Second Degree Murder, Manslaughter, Homicide - Illinois Lawyers." Criminal Legal Defense Attorneys at The Legal Defenders, P.C. Legal Defenders PC. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. Spring, Tom. "10,000 INNOCENT PEOPLE CONVICTED EACH YEAR, STUDY ESTIMATES." Researchnews.osu. Ohio State University. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. "The Price of Prisons." Vera. Vera, 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. Wilson, Caitlin. "Illinois Prisoners by Crime." RebootIllinoiscom. Reboot Illinois, 5 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.