In 1999 state governments carried out ninety-eight executions, the highest number since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty. In its last six months, the United States government has put 13 prisoners to death. Mic Network Inc., 23 June 2013. The decision to seek the death penalty against Mr. Lee was made by Attorney General Janet Reno (who said she personally opposed the death penalty but was bound by the law) and reaffirmed by Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. When she's not working, she's constantly trying to expand her creativity through music, writing, art, and animation. Although they note that some members of Mr. Lees victims families opposed his execution, others did not. The Innocence Project, founded in 1992, focuses on providing legal services and DNA testing with the purpose of winning exoneration for wrongfully convicted prisoners. Virginia became the first state in South to abolish the death penalty, leading some to believe others could follow. 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. 14 Jan. 2015. Yet on the day of the rescheduled execution, after family members of his victims had traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., to witness the execution, a District Court granted Mr. Lees request for further review. Black adults are evenly divided: 49% favor the death penalty, while an identical share oppose it. 1. Please support our research with a financial contribution. The decision required states to develop consistent legal standards for capital punishment to ensure that sentences matched the severity of offenses and did not cause undue pain and suffering. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. By Liz Mineo. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward. 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. The article is very straightforward with little to no emotional appeal. What its about: Jacobys article tells of then-governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romneys plan to create a fool-proof, error-free death penalty. It also means using articles from both points of view. What its about: Gillespies article takes a very emotional approach, saying that state governments should protect the lives of all citizens, even convicted murderers. DPIC is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. For federal offenses, the government uses the methods of execution authorized by the state in which the court imposes the punishment. In 2006, Dr. Paul Rubin professor of economics at Emory University testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the death penalty's "strong deterrent effect." As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The cost of capital punishment is extraordinary. Republicans are consistently more likely than Democrats to favor the death penalty, though there are divisions within each party by age as well as by race and ethnicity. 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. In the July Opinion essay The Death Penalty Can Ensure Justice Is Being Done, Jeffrey A. Rosen, then acting deputy attorney general, makes a legal case for capital punishment: The death penalty is a difficult issue for many Americans on moral, religious and policy grounds. WASHINGTON (AP) Conservative justices holding the Supreme Court's majority seem likely to sink President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions of Americans . What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. The court's ruling is believed to have made proving racial discrimination more difficult. It is a good source for pulling direct quotes instead of just giving statistics. Also, the death penalty is a problem which costs money for the country. The death penalty is far more expensive than a system in which life imprisonment without parole is the maximum sentence. It gives a link to a document from the US Department of Justice and provides numbers on the amount of violence that occurs at the hands of prison gangs. Jacoby then goes on to give evidence of studies correlating lower homicide rates in states with the death penalty. He had set out his arguments in a major dissent in 2015, one that must have been on Justice Scalias mind when he made his comments a few months later. Robbery Turned Murder: Robert Trease Case . For death penalty supporters, one major pro is its effectiveness as a crime deterrent. It also goes into some detail about the numbers of death penalty sentences and executions lowering in Texas and California, where historically they have been very high. 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). This award-winning online reference resource features a highly-respected, diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos. Pro death penalty for this essay pdf automatic . What its about: This article, like the one above, is more concerned with problems within the structure of the death penalty than with whether or not there should be a death penalty. In addition to state laws, the federal government identifies over forty crimes to which the death penalty could be applied. By inflicting death on those who deliberately inflict death on others, the death penalty ensures justice for all. Explain your answer. Why its a good source: Although it is primarily based on an emotional appeal, this is a good article to get background and historical information about the death penalty. Over four ATP surveys conducted since September 2019, there have been relatively modest shifts in these views from a low of 60% seen in the most recent survey to a high of 65% seen in September 2019 and August 2020. Adults ages 50 to 64 are most supportive of the death penalty, with 69% in favor. More Americans favor than oppose the death penalty: 60% of U.S. adults favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, including 27% who strongly favor it. Puzzled, all of his main dormitory. A 58% majority of 50- to 64-year-old Democrats favor the death penalty, compared with 47% of those ages 35 to 49 and about four-in-ten Democrats who are 18 to 34 or 65 and older. For example, the average cost of this case is almost $2.5 million (Goodman). 14 Jan. 2015. CON Opponents who argue that the death penalty is not a deterrent to capital crimes state that there is no evidence to support the claim that the penalty is a deterrent. This article is for those who are willing to know why death penalty is justifiable. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Among Democrats, adults ages 50 to 64 are much more likely than adults in other age groups to favor the death penalty. Before I get to the good stuff, Ill let you know the secrets to choosing the right kinds of death penalty articles for your essay. Several nonprofit organizations work to end the use of capital punishment. The United States Constitution expressly contemplates capital crimes, and Congress has authorized the death penalty for serious federal offenses since President George Washington signed the Crimes Act of 1790. It then discusses the problems that the United States has had in procuring the drugs needed for lethal injectionsthe drugs supplied from Europe have been sold under the condition that they not be used for lethal injection. This relationship holds among members of each party. The court determined that the unequal and arbitrary application of the death penalty to African American defendants violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. After the execution of Louis Jones Jr. in March 2003, no federal executions were scheduled until July 2019, when William Barr, the US Attorney General under President Donald Trump, announced that federal executions would resume. It says that capital punishment serves as retribution for victims and their families, as well as a deterrence for other murders. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 30 Oct. 2013. The Daily Beast, 31 July 2014. It also gives four reasons as to why the death penalty is becoming less favorable: its not actually proven to deter murders, wrongly convicted people have been executed, it has become more expensive to carry out a death sentence than to impose a life sentence, and the shortage of lethal injection drugs has caused some states to turn to some shadier methods of acquiring drugs. Web. The article goes on to explain that Justice Stephen G. Breyer issued a dissent on Friday as the Supreme Court cleared the way for the last execution of the Trump era, complaining that it had not sufficiently resolved legal questions that inmates had asked. U.S. News and World Report LP, 29 Sept. 2014. Executions in the United States peaked during the 1930s at an average rate of 167 per year. What its about: This article is the first of two parts and uses emotion more than straight facts. Look at the information thats presented and think about what information may be missing that would make it more balanced. A post accompanying this report provides further detail and analysis of the mode differences seen on this question. Two months after these executions, on March 24, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill passed by the Democratic-majority state legislature that abolished the death penalty in the state. ABOLITIONIST ARGUMENTS concerning the death penalty always seem a bit unsatisfying. Across educational and racial or ethnic groups, majorities say that the death penalty does not deter serious crimes, although there are differences in how widely this view is held. It also gives statistics on the racial disparity of capital punishment. Capital punishment has been a part of American society since before the constitution, however in todays' climate it has become a much more contentious topic. There are substantial demographic differences in views of whether death sentencing is applied fairly across racial groups. The 54 ruling held that challenges to a state's method of execution due to claims of excessive pain must demonstrate that alternative methods exist that would cause less pain than the state-determined one. Recreational Marijuana Legalization. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the Court invalidated existing death penalty laws because they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Amnesty International holds that the death penalty breaches human rights, in particular the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. If you're writing a paper about the death penalty, you can start with this list of sources, which provide arguments for all sides of the topic. And Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who held the decisive vote in many closely divided cases until his retirement in 2018, had written the majority opinions in several 5-to-4 decisions that imposed limits on the death penalty, including ones barring the execution of juvenile offenders and people convicted of crimes other than murder. While public support for the death penalty has changed only modestly in recent years, support for the death penalty declined substantially between the late 1990s and the 2010s. It was delayed when his lawyers obtained six more months of review by unsuccessfully challenging the procedures used to carry out his lethal injection. The shift is more pragmatic than moral, as Americans realize that our. Eric Risberg/AP. On July 14, Daniel Lewis Lee was executed for the 1996 murder of a family, including an 8-year-old girl, by suffocating and drowning them in the Illinois Bayou after robbing them to fund a white-supremacist organization. Capital punishment has long engendered considerable debate about both its morality and its effect on criminal behaviour. Is it morally wrong? It eliminates sympathetic reactions to someone charged with a capital crime. As in the past, support for the death penalty differs across racial and ethnic groups. John Duncan the father of the victim Lori Duncan and grandfather of her slain daughters, Kandace (age 10) and Amber (age 6) had urged Mr. Honkens execution for years. This requirement that justice be served is not weakened by charges that only the black and the poor receive the death penalty. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. When researching a topic for an argumentative essay, accuracy is important, which means the quality of your sources is important. Mr. Lees lawyers also disregarded the cost to victims families of continued delay. Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. After America's Most Wanted aired a pro-gram about him, McDuff was arrested in 1992, convicted, and given two death sentences. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. The issue has elicited divisive opinion among the citizens with one faction opposing it while another advocates for it as a deterrent for crime. Justice Ginsburg, who died in September, had joined the dissent. Concepts of retribu-tion, deterrence, and just punishment are discussed in the most . Anti-death penalty campaigners have been hoping the Biden administration would end the federal death penalty and commute sentences of the remaining 45 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment. 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. Capital Punishment in America: Race and the Death Penalty over Time by Martin G. Urbina. Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand Americans views about the death penalty. Capital punishment should be distinguished from extrajudicial executions carried out without due process of law. 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. (Retribution) 3.05: 1.28: 2.88: 1.31: 0.78 The death penalty is a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment. Be aware of biases. Mr. Lees lawyers and other death penalty opponents are entitled to disagree with that sentiment. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Among other factors, scholars determined that the races of both the victim and the defendant often influenced sentencing. However, the nationwide execution rate began a slow but steady rise. The recent executions reflect that consensus, as the Justice Department has an obligation to carry out the law. Mr. Lees lawyers seem to endorse a system of endless delays that prevent a death sentence from ever becoming real. In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. The author ends by calling executions grotesque and, as the title suggests, cruel and unusual, no matter the method. How do we continue to track changes in public opinion when theres a shift in survey mode?. These days, after President Trumps appointment of three justices, liberal members of the court have lost all hope of abolishing capital punishment. Among Democrats, a 55% majority of conservatives and moderates favor the death penalty, a position held by just 36% of liberal Democrats (64% of liberal Democrats oppose the death penalty). 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. Seven state executions took place in 2020, the lowest annual number of the twenty-first century. Let's do a break down on ALL races that received a death sentence since 1977. He was finally executed in 1998.2 And if death sentences are going to be imposed, they cannot just be hypothetical; they eventually have to be carried out, or the punishment will lose its deterrent and retributive effects. Both men were executed in Virginia in January 2021. Cruel and Unusual. New Yorker. Covering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content. Pro death penalty speech essay. Facing increasing pressure to rule on the constitutionality of capital punishment law, an unofficial nationwide moratorium on, or suspension of, executions began in 1968. What historical factors have spurred capital punishment reform in the United States? These decisions allowed the reinstatement of state death penalty laws. Hearst Newspapers LLC, 20 June 2014. The Justice Department decided to pause the execution for several hours while the appellate court considered and promptly rejected Mr. Lees request. It uses Gallup poll data to explain national attitudes toward the death penalty and whether the death penalty is carried out justly and with the right frequency. 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. Crimes punishable by death are called capital offenses. Those who favor the death penalty consistently express more favorable attitudes regarding specific aspects of the death penalty than those who oppose it. Vast racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty have been found. Capital punishment enables the state to assert its authority over the people and serve in its role as the administrator of justice. I feel the death penalty should only be used for the crime of murder and no other crime, such as rape. 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. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans who favor the death penalty most often cite "an eye for an eye" as the reason they hold their position, with 35% mentioning it. One year after the announcement federal executions resumed, and ten prisoners were executed by the federal government in the last six months of 2020. Yet support for the death penalty is strongly associated with a belief that when someone commits murder, the death penalty is morally justified. Toobin, Jeffrey. A solid majority of Americans (63%) still . The death penalty helps ease overpopulation in prisons and it ensures that less tax payers' money is spent for the maintenance of individuals that have acted against society in the most violent way. A top Justice Department official says for many Americans the death penalty is a difficult issue on moral, religious and policy grounds. In Death Penaltys Steady Decline, Some Experts See a Societal Shift. The New York Times. There are differences in attitudes by education, as well. Until July, there had been no federal executions in 17 years. It then covers the popular opinions of death penalty sentences, and goes on to state and give statistics indicating that state executions deter anywhere from 2 to 20 murders within Texas annually. 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Just 25% of those who oppose the death penalty say it is morally justified. 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. However, White Democrats are less likely to favor the death penalty than Black, Hispanic or Asian Democrats. some members of Mr. Lees victims families opposed his execution. The data in the most recent survey, collected from Pew Research Centers online American Trends Panel (ATP), finds that 60% of Americans favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder. This books brings together original work by prominent scholars in an effort to better understand the growth of life without parole and its social, cultural, political, and legal meanings. As inhumane and morbid as it may sound, the death penalty is something that should remain in the United States. Empirical social science research policy grounds likely than adults in other age groups to favor the death penalty could applied! 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