Argumentative Essay
Argumentative Essay
Argumentative Essay
Peyton Evans
Mrs. Knox
English 11
10 December 2018
Argumentative Essay
Around 50% of people of all races are opposed to capital punishment or known as the
“death penalty”. In my opinion, I strongly believe that the death penalty is not an effective way
for crime. First, over $9 million is used per year just to spend money on someone who we
taxpayers don’t even know. This causes more people to pay for the taxes due to how pricey this
procedure may be. Secondly, as you progress to see how the criminal justice system works, you
see that using this tactic as a deterrent does nothing, but fails for the system. The murder rates for
these actions increase almost half. Finally, if you are mentally unstable then you don’t really
have any sort of say when it comes to being found guilty, then being sent to be executed. Many
people see these people almost an incompetent to understand what would be going on around
them.
The capital punishment or “death penalty” has caused millions of dollars to be wasted.
For example, trials for three Washington County murder cases cost more than $1.5 million. One
was sentenced to death. The two others, one of whom was found guilty of four murders, are not
on death row. We are paying around $9 million per year for the death penalty due to all the
prosecution and defense costs. Although, some people believe many prisoners deserve the death
sentence, the costs are much more higher than before. On average, each prisoner who is on death
row can range from $31,000-60,000 in costs. These are so expensive due to the complexity of the
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trials and the number of defenses that are needed. There are only two main trials the state will
pay for; one is the verdict and one is for the sentencing, neither of these include the appeals to
The capital punishment gives people the punishment for the crime people may have
committed. For example, 49% of people believe that if someone had committed a crime so
heinous and disturbing that people believe they deserve the punishment of it. If someone has a
severe criminal case, people who pay taxes pay for these criminals to live for free. Secondly, this
allows the victims family to get the justice they wished to have. When there is someone in a
family who has passed from a murder, most of the families want the killer to feel like same pain
as the other person had felt. Finally, many people believe that race is not an issue when it comes
to this subject. Whatever crime the person has committed, their race would not be an issue for
Secondly, scientific studies have failed to show that executions deter people from
committing crimes. The word deter creates a meaning of trying to scare off the idea of someone
committing the crime to try to prevent it. Many states without the death penalty have lower
murder rates such as Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, etc. Each of the smaller states that has this
law becomes proportionate with a few of the larger states to make the statistics even out. 75% of
crime rates have gone down since 1990. The states with the death penalty have much higher
crime rates in neighborhoods. A study shows that 88% of criminologists believe that this is not a
deterrent that would be effective to homicide. Although, some crimes are so heinous and
completely wrong where they deserve capital punishment, the likelihood of it happening is very
rare because people can wait up to 15 years on death row. Those statistics show that about 1 in
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120 people would end up getting death row, which is almost just one percent. This process is
extremely lengthy when awaiting a trial due to all the anxiety that could possibly build up from
Finally, people who may be mentally unstable would get the capital punishment with no
hesitation. Since 1977, one out of ten people have been mentally ill according to Amnesty
International. Many of the defendants are unable to participate in their trial in any meaningful
way and appear to be unfeeling, cold, or unengaged. There have been multiple cases where
people have been forced to take any certain medication to prove that they are competent to be
executed. For example, the Supreme Court has created a law that states that no proven person
who is clinically mentally ill shall be executed, even though Oregon has still not passed a law
that follows this which makes it legal to execute the mentally ill. In trial, they could prove to a
judge that they are mentally unstable that would cause them to be not found guilty by reason of
insanity. For example, if they were a schizophrenic and their mind was altered during the crime
they should go to a facility rather than death penalty. Even on the controversy, if the person had
the intent to harm while they knew what they did was wrong then they would await trial for a
In conclusion, the death penalty is not anywhere close to effective when it comes to
trying to put an end to crime. The expenses of just trying to end one person's life is extremely
expensive. They may have done something so horrific, but there could still be a much more
simple and humane way to handle this kind of crime. Secondly, the deterrence of showing the
public this terrible act does not affect anything about crime rates decreasing. Criminals differ
from this act and tend to stay away from hearing this. Finally, people who are mentally ill have
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no say in what happens to their own lives. They are forced into choices that they didn’t make and