The Death Penalty Is Justified - 1367 Words

The death penalty is often thought of to be a deterrence to murder. The idea is that criminals are supposed to think what their consequences could be before committing the crime which in this case would be the death penalty. However, what are the chances that a criminal is actually going to stop and think about whether or not the death penalty could be a consequence. If criminals want to engage in violence, they are going to. Consequences are not going to alter that state of mind. According to Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, police officers all over the country â€Å"do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder† (Dieter). In fact, states in which the death penalty is legal are the states with†¦show more content†¦It is highly likely that some of these people will die of natural causes before they are ready to be executed. On average, only twelve percent of people who face death penalty sentences are actually executed (Evans). It costs more to have a convict on death row waiting for execution than to house that prisoner in a regular prison facility. For example, compared to an inmate in general population, having an inmate on death row costs California an extra ninety thousand dollars a year per inmate (Dieter). This is because death row inmates are going to require a higher level of security for safety precautions such as suicide watch as well as safety for other prisoners and staff. Trying a capital case requires an enormous amount of effort from the prosecution as well as the defense. They have to take the time to comb through witnesses, testimony, get mental health evaluations, go through jury selection, and if convicted, all the mandatory appeals. This process takes a significant amount of time because of the need to be fully prepared. On average, it takes a year for capital cases to even get to the trial stage (Evans). There is also an enormous amount of pressure on the prosecution because they bear the burden of proof (Dieter). The prosecutor needs to provide all the evidence that a person is in fact guilty in fear of sentencing an innocent person to death. Attorneys also need to explore the