The death penalty is a highly questionable use of punishment in our criminal justice system in the United States of America. Certain states view this harsh punishment for criminals as deplorable, while on the other hand certain states are not for the death penalty. The death penalty is the harshest punishment any criminal can receive in our criminal justice system. Plenty of criminals have their “death day” delayed due to new evidence being released in their case. Lawyers work their hardest during these rough times for their subjects so they will not be killed. Studies have shown that on multiple occasions, innocents have been put to death, while on the other hand, the harshest criminals in the world have been put to death for their unimaginable crimes to this great country of ours. Should all states get rid of the death penalty or keep it? Why get rid of it if civilians are still committing unimaginable crimes and terrorist attacks?
The United States of America is always trying to protect its borders and most importantly the soil that we call home as civilians. We have criminals every day that commit unspeakable crimes that either get away with it, or go on trial and get sentenced to death. Is that the right thing to do in The United States of America? Some states do not even accept the death penalty and that is not one of the punishments of their state judicial system.
The death penalty, also known as capital punishment was only first established in the Eighteenth-Century B.C. in the Code of Hammaurabi. (Death Penalty Information Center, 2017). Even though the death penalty was established in the Eighteenth- Century, some experts believe it was also used in the Fourteenth Century for the Hittite Code (Death Penalty Information Center, 2017). There is nothing unusual from the history point of view of the death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the Death Penalty in The United States of America was influenced by the country of Great Britain (2017). Like earlier stated, the use of the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, varies from state to state. According to Criminal Justice Mainstream and Crosscurrents, by the end of the year 2010, nearly 40 states and the Federal Government held almost 3,200 inmates on death row (Fuller, 2014). All of these states that participate in capital punishment view death as the most common use of punishment. Some experts have now been stating due to the excessive number of inmates on death row, that it is a violation of the Constitution of The United States of America in the Eighth Amendment. Others respond to the view with their own other view. They say that the criminal should be punished just as hard as the criminal dehumanized the victim of the crime. When all of this is discussed, people tend to view and so do I that it is not the death penalty that we are opposing, it is the state’s that are having the inability to execute it in a rational way. There are only seventeen states that do not even have a capital punishment (Fuller, 2014). This means they are not allowed to put someone to death in a criminal trial case. We would not even have to try these criminals in The United States of America if we did not have individuals commit these horrendous crimes that are punishable by death. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are five different ways a criminal or prisoner can chose to die (DPIC, 2017). These methods include the firing squad, hanging, gas chamber, electrocution, and finally lethal injection. When someone is sentenced to death, are they really guilty as the suspected criminal or could they possibly be innocent? That is the real question everyone is trying to answer in The United States of America today and trying to put this all to a rest at all cost. Capital punishment cases are very difficult and a very sensitive case to handle. Some true innocent individuals have been sentenced to death and that sparks so much controversy. Another main issue with capital punishment is dealing with the issue of terrorism and how to punish the individuals that commit these acts of terrorism on the very soil we live on in The United States of America.
The death penalty in The United States of America has its pros and cons that is a very heated and sensitive subject to talk about. Most executions do not occur within the weeks following the execution verdict which is a good thing for the convicted criminals. They have a chance to collect their own thoughts and to say final goodbyes to family members. According to Fuller, the main pro of the death penalty is just deserts, which basically means the individual that commits the crime should be killed because that is the way society can completely express their feelings and morals. The main problem with the death penalty in my opinion is how long the process takes to get carried out. Although in my personal opinion this is a pro, some see it as a con due to this meaning some individuals will take their own life and their own way of justice in their own hands. An example of this could be say a young son that got murdered right on the front lawn of the parents’ house and no evidence was left and no witnesses were involved. The suspected murderer gets away and no charges or arrests are made. The dad gets extremely upset so he decides to take justice into his own hands and murders the killer who murdered his son. Should that be allowed? There are a lot of revolving parts in the death penalty. A major con of capital punishment is even though the justice system has tried to make it as painless as possible, some citizens view it as a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (Stevenson, Stinneford, n.d.) Due to this being taken into consideration, I think the death penalty should only be used only in certain horrendous crimes that are committed in The United States of America. These crimes personally I think should only include murder and rape. Some innocent individuals have actually been executed and late evidence has been released that proved their innocence. What is our justice department supposed to do then, the suspected criminal is dead? We can do nothing to bring him back to life to let him live his life again. An example of this appalling act is in 1984, in Kirk Noble Bloodsworth case in the state of Maryland. Kirk Noble Bloodsworth was accused of raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl in his neighborhood. (Fuller, 2017). Bloodsworth had no previous criminal record and the only reason he was taken into custody was due to him being turned in by a neighbor who thought he looked like a police sketch on national television (Fuller, 2017). Kirk Noble Bloodsworth case went immediately to trial and he was found guilty in only a matter of two hours of deliberation (Fuller, 2017). Due to him being convicted in such a small period of time, he was sentenced to the death penalty immediately. Like I said earlier, it is such an emotional and mental duress being stuck in a prison cell for so long when you are supposed to be executed. Kirk Noble Bloodsworth sat on death row for a total of nine years before he was able to try and prove his innocence once more (Fuller, 2017). He managed to get a DNA test that proved he was not the rapist and murderer that he was accused of. After all of this information that was released and taking all the pros and cons into place, I personally think the death penalty should be used only in the two circumstances like I stated earlier, rape and murder. On the terrorism side of capital punishment, it should be used without a doubt. Personally, if you try to commit an act of terrorism on the soil of The Land of the Free, you should be sentenced to death immediately. That is an act that is not only affecting a small amount of people, it is affecting potentially the whole country of The United States of America.
I am absolutely for the death penalty but certain cases should only be considered for it in my personal opinion. Even though some innocents are killed for no good reason, it is the safest and greatest way to eliminate these horrendous individuals that have terrifying minds to commit these crimes. Terrorism should automatically be a death sentence as well. Capital punishment is a harsh crime to some but in my opinion, it is the best way to eliminate these criminals. Some states view that and some states view it as a blocking of the Eighth Amendment. Is this true? My opinion is one of very many, but the only people that can decide if the death penalty is Constitutional is The Supreme Court of The United States of America.