Can the Death Penalty be Effective?
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For a long time, different stakeholders have argued for and against the use of the death penalty. In many jurisdictions, the death penalty has been replaced with lifetime imprisonment following years of legal debates (CIP, 2021). Whilst such caporal punishment serves as a severe deterrent measure, it has been outlived by other correctional strategies that respect human dignity (CIP, 2021). Therefore, this paper argues that the death penalty cannot be effective.
No credible data links the death penalty to crime prevention or deterrence (CIP, 2021). Other strategies such as long-term imprisonment are highly effective in deterring crime. Besides, states that still employ the death penalty have high murder or crime rates just like states without the death penalty (ACLU, 2020). Similarly, states that have rescinded the death penalty still have record-high rates of crime. In the past, when the death penalty was used by correctional facilities, the public was made to believe that the government was taking serious measures to curb crime (ACLU, 2020). Besides, it was believed that potential offenders would shy off in fear of being handed upon conviction.
In addition, human activists have warned against the use of the death penalty. It takes away the sanctity of life, and in the presence of an unjust government, many who are not offenders are likely to be sacrificed. For example, in the USA, the execution of the death penalty is done unfairly. Money power, the ability to hire top-notch lawyers, and race play a critical role in determining the direction of a death penalty case[jm1] . Historically people of color have been subjected to the death penalty unfairly when compared to their white compatriots (ACLU, 2021). Moreover, 156 people are innocent [jm2] since 1973 even after being convicted, and were to face the death penalty (ACLU, 2021).
In conclusion, this paper has found that the use of the death penalty has outlived its purpose. There are other effective strategies of deterring crime such as long/life term imprisonment. Besides, the death penalty is inhuman and is misused by authorities. It is not an effective way of deterring crime.
References
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (2021). The Death Penalty: Questions and Answers.
Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/other/death-penalty-questions-and-answers
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (2020). The Case Against the Death Penalty. Retrieved
from https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
California Innocence Project. (CIP). (2021). Death Penalty Issues. Retrieved from
https://californiainnocenceproject.org/issues-we-face/death-penalty/
[jm1]Poor sentence structure. You could say. Some of the derterminants of winning a case include money, power……
[jm2]You do not clearly convey the message you are communicating.