Capital Punishment

10 Pages 2479 Words

“An Insightful Perspective On Capital Punishment”
~~~~~~~~Death is inevitable. No matter how difficult it may be to admit, every living
creature must eventually die. People die for many reasons ranging from old age to
sickness, murders, and accidents. Most people wish to live for as long as their body is
capable of living, but occasionally, a life is cut short. One reason this may happen is if
one is sentenced to die as punishment for a crime. capital punishment has its good sides
and its bad sides, but it must be repealed.
~~~~~~~~The death penalty may seem a financial necessity if it is considered that the
current economic recession has made it difficult to afford keeping prisoners in prison. In
Florida, 3,000 prisoners have been released early, and an appalling number of prisoners in
Texas have been allowed to go free after serving only 20% of their sentence because the
state could no longer afford to keep them in prison (Dieter). In light of this, it may seem
that carrying out death sentences would bring financial relief, but that is not so.
Exhaustive trials and litigation are routine in cases concerning a capitol crime, and these
legal processes tend to rack up a very large bill. Many states, including Florida and Texas,
spend millions of dollars on the death penalty at the same time that they are dismissing
police officers and laying off correctional personnel due to lack of funds (Dieter). A study
conducted in 1992 found the average cost of an execution in Texas to be $2,300,000.00.
It was also mentioned that this is about three times as much as it would cost to give the
same prisoner a single occupancy, top security cell for 40 years (Hoppe A1). A study
done in Florida in 1988 showed that each execution rendered was costing the state an
average of $3,200,000.00 (Von Drehle A12). When the facts are added up, it becomes
clear that capital punishment cannot save the state any money. In fact,...