About half of those with four-year undergraduate degrees but no postgraduate experience (49%) support the death penalty. Yet support for the death penalty is strongly associated with a belief that when someone commits murder, the death penalty is morally justified. Or are you universally opposed to capital punishment? by. . For federal offenses, the government uses the methods of execution authorized by the state in which the court imposes the punishment. Web. In 2020, following seventeen years without carrying out the penalty, the federal government executed ten people. In the 1980s, the court ruled that the death penalty could not be applied to offenders under the age of sixteen or those deemed mentally incompetent. This means checking out sources from different states and different sides of the political spectrum. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it deters crime and provides ultimate justice for crime victims, particularly murder victims. More than eight-in-ten Democrats (83%) instead say that Black people are more likely than White people to be sentenced to the death penalty for committing similar crimes. Why its a good source: This article also gives important points to work from, similar to the previous article, and it works to detract from the arguments of death penalty supporters. Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, has long been a feature of human society and has been used in the United States since the colonial era. DC and Puerto Rico Statehood. It lists issues such as lethal drug shortages and legal expenses as reasons why the death penalty is losing popularity. It is estimated that up to 4% of the people on death row right now are actually innocent of the crime they were convicted of committing. The Eighth Amendment, however, prohibits the government from enforcing "cruel and unusual punishment," which several lawsuits have used successfully to challenge certain applications of capital punishment. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. However, the nationwide execution rate began a slow but steady rise. Along with her BS in marketing from Florida State University and MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, she has spent the past 7 years learning how best to reach and teach people using the power of words. However, White Democrats are less likely to favor the death penalty than Black, Hispanic or Asian Democrats. As of March 2021, the death penalty had been abolished in twenty-three US states and the District of Columbia. Since 1976, 1,336 death row inmates have been executed by lethal injection. Mr. Lees lawyers and other death penalty opponents are entitled to disagree with that sentiment. After an appellate court rejected their claim as without merit, the Justice Department rescheduled Mr. Lees execution, providing an additional four weeks of notice. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. From 2000 to the most recent poll in . It can also be used as an important negotiating tool for the police and the justice system, as where the possible sentence is death, the prisoner . In addition to state laws, the federal government identifies over forty crimes to which the death penalty could be applied. Pro- Death Penalty Mikaela Stiner Christians spend a significant amount of time persuading the secular culture of the inherent value and dignity of human life and seeking to protect and. During the 1990s, the Supreme Court issued several decisions that upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment and limited defendants' opportunities to have their cases reviewed. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty, as it was implemented, violated the Constitution. However, a worldwide poll conducted in 2006 indicates that 52% of the world's population supports the death penalty. If you near the end of your essay and dont feel confident that you have enough support, or are just unsure about your grammar, send it to one of the Kibin editors. Do you think the death penalty serves a necessary purpose, like deterring crime, providing relief for victims families or imparting justice? Explore elections plans geared toward the 2020 presidential election but adaptable for many other elections and presidential history lessons. For this analysis, we surveyed 5,109 U.S. adults from April 5 to 11, 2021. The divide in support for the death penalty between those with and without college degrees is seen across racial and ethnic groups, though the size of this gap varies. The number of executions performed annually began a steady rise during this decade. It gives direct quotes from Gallup poll findings about public opinion. (Retribution) 3.05: 1.28: 2.88: 1.31: 0.78 The death penalty is a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment. Among Republicans and Republican leaners who favor the death penalty, 94% say it is morally justified; 86% of Democrats and Democratic leaners who favor the death penalty also say this. Republicans ages 18 to 34 are less likely than other Republicans to say they favor the death penalty. The death penalty is permanent, meaning if someone is wrongfully convicted, the effects are irreversible. A top Justice Department official says for many Americans the death penalty is a difficult issue on moral, religious and policy grounds. The move provoked immediate debate, as public support for capital punishment had reached historic lows in many states and regions of the country. 14 Jan. 2015. Among Republicans, a narrow majority of conservative Republicans (56%) say the death penalty does deter serious crimes, while a similar share of moderate and liberal Republicans (57%) say it does not. There are states that have secondary methods of execution such as electrocution, gas chamber, hanging as well as firing squad, however these methods aren't used nearly as often as injection is. If you use statistics, make sure you know where the numbers are coming from. This doesnt always mean that you have to get an article from a well-known news website or national newspaper, but that the article should be backed up with cited facts. California, Texas and Florida hold nearly half of the country's death row prisoners, according to a new Bureau of Justice Statistics report. One year after the announcement federal executions resumed, and ten prisoners were executed by the federal government in the last six months of 2020. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. The death penalty ensures that the individual involved will no longer be able to create havoc for the general population because they are no longer around. The Mennonite Central Committee in the U.S. has an essay on "state killing. At sentencing hearings, the prosecution and the defense present information about the defendant's character and background; they also submit arguments for either stern or merciful treatment. The death penalty provides immeasurable public benefit by discouraging people from committing capital offenses. This view is particularly widespread among Black adults: 85% of Black adults say Black people are more likely than Whites to receive the death penalty for being convicted of similar crimes (61% of Hispanic adults and 49% of White adults say this). What its about: Although this article does not explicitly state an anti-death penalty point of view, it does have those undertones. Anyone can read what you share. This requirement that justice be served is not weakened by charges that only the black and the poor receive the death penalty. Among other factors, scholars determined that the races of both the victim and the defendant often influenced sentencing. (February 8, 2001) Pro-Death Penalty article by UCLA Political Science student, Aanand N. Patel for student newspapaer. Pros and Cons of Abolishing the Death Penalty, The death penalty should be abolished because it violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against ". Let's do a break down on ALL races that received a death sentence since 1977. During the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, lawyers for federal death-row inmates Dustin Higgs and Corey Johnson argued that their clients, both of whom tested positive for COVID-19, should not be subject to lethal injection. There are some crimes that are, frankly, so terrible that there is no other suitable form of punishment. As of January 2021, Black defendants accounted for 34.1 percent of all people executed in the United States since 1976 and over 40 percent of the country's death row population despite making up just over 13 percent of the general US population. U.S. News and World Report LP, 29 Sept. 2014. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. By the 1800s, federal law not only permitted capital punishment but required it in cases involving certain crimes. One of the most popular topics for an argument essay is the death penalty. Though their use is rare, secondary execution methods permitted by individual state laws include electrocution, gas inhalation, hanging, and firing squad. It was delayed when his lawyers obtained six more months of review by unsuccessfully challenging the procedures used to carry out his lethal injection. Caplan-Bricker, Nora. In the face of an extraordinary run of federal executions over the past six months, they have been left to wonder whether the court is prepared to play any role in capital cases beyond hastening executions. In Hall v. Florida (2014), the Supreme Court opined that Florida's system of using a defendant's intelligence quotient (IQ) as a strict cutoff in determining the presence or absence of intellectual disability was unconstitutional. This article is for those who are willing to know why death penalty is justifiable. Toobin, Jeffrey. Bryan Stevenson. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Lower Drinking Age. These offenses involve murder, treason, or committing another crime that results in death, such as kidnapping or aircraft piracy. It also carries the risk of carrying out a wrongful execution. But let's stop for a minute here. What other ideas do you have? 14 Jan. 2015. Death Penalty. National Journal. In the final minutes before the execution was to occur, Mr. Lees lawyers claimed the execution could not proceed because Mr. Lee still had time to seek further review of an appellate court decision six weeks earlier lifting a prior stay of execution. What role do you think disability or trauma history should play in how someone is punished, or rehabilitated, after committing a crime? Contemporary arguments for and against capital punishment fall under three general headings: moral, utilitarian, and practical. Do you believe governments should be allowed to execute people who have been convicted of crimes? Nearly seven-in-ten adults (68%) who have not attended college favor the death penalty, as do 63% of those who have some college experience but no degree. Among Democrats, adults ages 50 to 64 are much more likely than adults in other age groups to favor the death penalty. For example, in his 25 September 1788 prodeath penalty essay in the. Both the mean and median age of the nation's death row population was 51. 14 Jan. 2015. To begin with, the Death Penalty is mainly known as Capital Punishment. Furman's death sentence was found to be "cruel and unusual punishment" that contravened the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. Four of the eight inmates were ultimately executed, while four received stays of execution. A majority of Americans (56%) say Black people are more likely than White people to be sentenced to the death penalty for being convicted of serious crimes. Half of those who favor the death penalty say this, compared with 13% of those who oppose it. The death penalty remains a controversial political and legal issue in the United States. According to data from Amnesty International, there were 579 executions in 2021, which represents a 20% increase from 2020. In fact, being pro-death penalty is a pro-life position. In 2020 the rulings of the Florida Supreme Court in several cases reversed existing protections afforded to inmates sentenced to death. Tell us about it. Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning. The shift is more pragmatic than moral, as Americans realize that our. Just 25% of those who oppose the death penalty say it is morally justified. Cruel and Unusual. New Yorker. Only 30% of death penalty supporters and just 6% of opponents say adequate safeguards exist to prevent innocent people from being executed. Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column. Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward. A large majority of White adults without college degrees (72%) favor the death penalty, compared with about half (47%) of White adults who have degrees. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Why? On the question of whether Black people and White people are equally likely to be sentenced to death for committing similar crimes, partisanship is more strongly associated with these views than ones overall support for the death penalty: Republicans who oppose the death penalty are more likely than Democrats who favor it to say White people and Black people are equally likely to be sentenced to death. If there is even a small possibility of putting an innocent person to death, we should abstain from the . By comparison, just 35% of Republicans and 21% of Democrats who oppose the death penalty say it is morally justified. In the US, that number is 65%. 108 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while 144 countries have abolished it in law or practice. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public. Justice Breyer wrote in that 46-page dissent that he considered it highly likely that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishments. For example, Black people are overrepresented on death row, and a recent study found that defendants convicted of killing white victims were executed at a rate 17 times greater than those convicted of killing Black victims. Does this information change or reinforce your opinion of capital punishment? SIRS Issues Researcher In a New York Times Op-Ed essay published on July 17, two of Mr. Lees lawyers criticized the execution of their client, which they contend was carried out in a shameful rush. That objection overlooks that Mr. Lee was sentenced more than 20 years ago, and his appeals and other permissible challenges failed, up to and including the day of his execution. If you've looked for capital punishment essay topics, you're in luck! As John Duncan was dying of cancer in 2018, he asked family members to promise they would witness the execution on his behalf. The Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) that executing people with intellectual disabilities violated the Eighth Amendment but left the definition of intellectual disabilities up to individual states. However, he backs up his emotional statements with statistics and links to studies that indicate that the death penalty is costly, doesnt necessarily deter murders, and is imposed on people who are innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. Capital punishment has long engendered considerable debate about both its morality and its effect on criminal behaviour. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Eric Risberg/AP. 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