Why its a good source: This source gives a lot of specific information about what one state is doing wrong, complete with anecdotes and numbers. (See Death penalty draws more Americans support online than in telephone surveys for more on long-term measures and the challenge of comparing views across different survey modes.). A similar ruling was handed down by the court in Moore v. Texas (2017), which stated that the standards used to determine intellectual disability in Texas created an "unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disabilities will be executed.". Mr. Lees lawyers seem to endorse a system of endless delays that prevent a death sentence from ever becoming real. 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. 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. Executions in the United States peaked during the 1930s at an average rate of 167 per year. Mr. Lees lawyers opposed that request, insisting that overturning the order would result in their clients imminent execution. Half of those who favor the death penalty say this, compared with 13% of those who oppose it. The judge who imposed the death sentence on Mr. Honken, Mark Bennett, said that while he generally opposed the death penalty, he would not lose any sleep over Mr. Honkens execution. This article is for those who are willing to know why death penalty is justifiable. What its about: This article is the first of two parts and uses emotion more than straight facts. The article lists his responses to common arguments from those opposed to the death penalty, such as the racial biases and whether the death penalty actually deters criminals. Mastermind Behind Bars: Clarence Ray Allen. 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. The majority decision reasoned that the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not equate to a guarantee of a painless execution. States and Death Row. (2001) "Capital Punishment," by Ryan Koder. 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. On July 16, Wesley Purkey was executed for the 1998 murder of a teenage girl, whom he kidnapped, raped, killed, dismembered and discarded in a septic pond. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. The attorneys suggested that the combination of COVID-19 infection with the flooding of the lungs caused by pentobarbital, the drug used in their executions, would cause suffering that amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment." About half of Hispanic (53%), Asian (53%) and Black (48%) Democrats favor the death penalty, compared with 42% of White Democrats. The death penalty remains a controversial political and legal issue in the United States. This created a problem for juries that found a defendant guilty but did not believe the offense warranted a sentence of death. In your opinion, should pharmaceutical companies have the right to refuse to sell drugs for executions? Pro-Death Penalty article by UCLA Political Science student, Aanand N. Patel for student newspapaer. 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. Below, our experts have collected some death penalty title ideas and samples for your paper. That process creates peace for the victims, their families, and society in general. For federal offenses, the government uses the methods of execution authorized by the state in which the court imposes the punishment. Why? 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. The Daily Beast, 31 July 2014. Anyone can read what you share. "Capital Punishment." 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. Web. It includes many facts and dates about the shifts in procedures of the death penalty and gives more information than other death penalty articles about the lethal injection drug shortage. You have probably had to write about a fair share of boring essay topics, but this time, youve been dealt a topic that you think is completely played outthe death sentence. Mr. Lees final hours awaiting his fate were a result of his own lawyers choice to assert a non-meritorious objection at the last moment. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/learning/should-the-death-penalty-be-abolished.html, free digital access to The New York Times, Expedited Spree of Executions Faced Little Supreme Court Scrutiny, barring the execution of juvenile offenders, people convicted of crimes other than murder, The Death Penalty Can Ensure Justice Is Being Done,, free daily writing prompts for remote learning. US Supreme Court Packing. The death penalty goes against our most basic human right - the right to life. Sophisticated studies at the state level show that the death penalty costs taxpayers more than life without parole. Cohen, Andrew. A grand jury determined in 2016 that state officials had committed a long list of oversights and avoidable mistakes in carrying out executions. Correctional Facilities Directory By State. CORRECTION (July 13, 2021): The following sentence was updated to reflect the correct timespan: Last year, in part because of the coronavirus outbreak, fewer people were executed than in any year in nearly three decades. The changes did not affect the reports substantive findings. 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. Use ProCon.org to help students strengthen their persuasive writing by identifying and responding to counterarguments. Jacoby then goes on to give evidence of studies correlating lower homicide rates in states with the death penalty. Web. Do you have worries about the fair application of the death penalty, or about the possibility of the criminal justice system executing an innocent person? 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. An eye for an eye has been a law for ages. The death penalty articles Ive listed below focus less about whether the death penalty is right or wrong, and more about the problems with the current system. 2016, Argumentative essay on The death penalty. Just over six-in-ten Republicans in this age group (64%) say this, compared with about eight-in-ten Republicans ages 35 and older. California, Texas and Florida hold nearly half of the country's death row prisoners, according to a new Bureau of Justice Statistics report. Officials in Oklahoma were found to have made significant errors in an execution in 2014 after authorizing the use of untested drugs supplied by undisclosed sources. Capital Punishment in America: Race and the Death Penalty over Time by Martin G. Urbina. The death penalty is permanent, meaning if someone is wrongfully convicted, the effects are irreversible. But let's stop for a minute here. 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. . How people can support the death penalty? Another point to paper pro death penalty a job well done. If you've looked for capital punishment essay topics, you're in luck! Large shares of Americans express concerns over how the death penalty is administered and are skeptical about whether it deters people from committing serious crimes. 2014. This in-depth article examines US state legislation that has impacted death sentencing in capital crimes. Among Black adults, 53% of those without college degrees favor the death penalty, compared with 34% of those with college degrees. Or is that still too harsh? The third execution, of Dustin Honken, occurred on schedule, but still too late for some of his victims families. The analysis suggests that adequate provision of counsel by states in death penalty cases correlates to reduced imposition of death sentences. Death penalty cases were required to strictly adhere to due-process rules, and during the late 1970s, the Supreme Court handed down decisions that expanded defendants' rights in capital offense trials and ruled that capital punishment could not be imposed for the rape of an adult, a decision that essentially limited the death penalty to charges of murder, treason, and the rape of a child. The survey, conducted April 5-11 among 5,109 U.S. adults on the Centers American Trends Panel, finds that support for the death penalty is 5 percentage points lower than it was in August 2020, when 65% said they favored the death penalty for people convicted of murder. 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. In 2020 the rulings of the Florida Supreme Court in several cases reversed existing protections afforded to inmates sentenced to death. People with four-year college degrees (68%) also are more likely than those who have not completed college (50%) to say that Black people and White people are treated differently when it comes to the death penalty. 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). About four-in-ten (39%) oppose the death penalty, with 15% strongly opposed, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. 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 answer was unequivocal: He would stay as long as it took. Moreover, more than six-in-ten Americans (63%), including about half of death penalty supporters (48%), say the death penalty does not deter people from committing serious crimes. Opponents counter that it is an immoral and costly practice that is particularly vulnerable to racial bias. Now that youve seen arguments in favor, lets take a close look at four anti- death penalty articles. Although they note that some members of Mr. Lees victims families opposed his execution, others did not. 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. The court's ruling is believed to have made proving racial discrimination more difficult. Inside, the mood was somber. 14 Jan. 2015. What Are the Pros of Abolishing the Death Penalty? 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. Cruel and Unusual. New Yorker. Among other factors, scholars determined that the races of both the victim and the defendant often influenced sentencing. 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. Concerns over botched executions using untested lethal injection methods reached the US Supreme Court, which handed down its decision in Bucklew v. Precythe in April 2019. 14 Jan. 2015. Because of this unique argument, this article should not be ignored. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. According to data from Amnesty International, there were 579 executions in 2021, which represents a 20% increase from 2020. The sources are credible, and the article also includes anecdotal support. 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. Pro death penalty for this essay pdf automatic . Is it ever justified, such as for the most heinous crimes? And when those tactics failed, they accused the Justice Department of a grave threat to the rule of law, even though it operated entirely within the law enacted by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court. Top 9 Pro Death Penalty Arguments. It says that capital punishment serves as retribution for victims and their families, as well as a deterrence for other murders. But Democrats are divided over whether the death penalty is morally justified. Those who oppose the death penalty, will ALWAYS state that the death penalty is given to more blacks, which in return makes it racially biased and unfair to the black community. Among Republicans who oppose the death penalty, about half (53%) say this. The death penalty is one of the most contentious issues in our society today. 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