Death Penalty Essay

The death penalty is an issue that affects many families around the world today. There are many reasons that the death penalty should be abolished from society, one such reason is that the death penalty has resulted in wrongful convictions, such as the conviction of Ronald Ryan. I believe the following reasons could be used to justify the abolishment of the death penalty. The financial costs associated, religious and moral reasons. All these reasons have influenced my decision to argue for the case of abolishing the death penalty.
US studies have shown that the financial costs associated in convicting someone with the death penalty is very expensive and is the main reason why I am against the use of this punishment. The financial burden in following due process is placed on the taxpayer and with the increased cost of basic living expenses, this will be just another cost. Through my own research I’ve unearthed that the financial cost for a single conviction could be as high as $1.94 billion. Pre-Trial and Trial costs $925 million, Automatic Appeals State and Federal Habeas Corpus Petitions $775 million and Cost of Incarceration $1 billion. The use of this money creates an emotional state, making me believe how it could be possible for a victim to feel that the money spent, is worth a death conviction. Studies have shown that defendants with less than $320,000 worth of representation costs had a 44% chance of receiving a death sentence at trial. Defendants with more than this figure only had a 19% chance of being sentenced to death. I believe that the expenditure associated in achieving a death conviction could be better spent by putting the money into preventive measures in making criminals think twice before committing a crime. Such as having more police on the street giving a more overt presence in trouble spots, supported by more video surveillance systems.
There are many different forms of religion around the world today, this being due to the many cultural beliefs and values. Each religion has its own individual set of beliefs, even when most religions believe in the same “god”. Rather than focussing on all religions I will focus on Islam. The Islamic religion states “Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law”. Islamic scholars state that whilst the Qur'an professes the basic principle that everyone has the right to live, this principle allows for an exception when a court of law demands it. Islamic law has used the Qur’an to its advantage and made it easy to convict someone to death. Link this back to the argument that the death penalty should be abolished.
Morally, as a society, do we think that the death penalty is a humane way of serving justice? And what gives society the right to basically take “an eye for an eye”? In society choosing to take the life of a criminal, is society any better than the individuals who are being sentenced to death? In the past many different methods were used to provide punishment to criminals. One of the

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