Proponents:
Around the world people are either support the death penalty, proponents, or against the death penalty, opponents. Proponents of capital punishment would argue that the death penalty provides closure to families of homicide victims, is a deterrent against violent crimes and removes threats and makes society safer. Another reason reason people support the death penalty is because, “execution is a justifiable punishment for those who have been convicted of murder, given that they have taken someone else’s life” (Jones).
For instance, when Frederick J. Romano heard his daughter, Dawn, was beaten, tortured, mutilated and left for dead; he said, “I want Oken to die for the murder of Dawn, Patricia Hurt and Lori Ward.” The Romano family believes that the execution of Oken is justice not revenge. Vicki Romano, Fred’s wife, explained, “Revenge would be going out and killing one of [the murderer’s] family members. The death penalty isn’t revenge. It’s the law” (Kane).
Opponents:
Many opponents would say that capital punishment is a violation of the Eighth Amendment, costs too much money, has a risk of discrimination, and a huge possibility of executing the innocent or wrongly convicted. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution makes any form of cruel and unusual punishment by the federal government illegal.
In 2015, Seattle University released a study that showed death penalty cases cost $1 million more than non-death penalty cases (seen in the graph). The one million dollars that was spent on killing people, the government could have used taxpayer money to help fund healthcare programs, invest in higher education, or build infrastructure.
Discrimination within the justice system is another reason people don’t support the death penalty. African Americans make up 13% of the population in the United States, yet out of the executed defendants, 35% are black (Death Penalty). 77% of victims in cases resulting in the death penalty were white, even though 50% of victims of all crimes are white (Facts). This shows that Blacks are targeted as defendants when the victim is white.
Racism is not the only problem with capital punishment, on death row, there are hundreds of people who are innocent or wrongly convicted. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 172 people have been exonerated since 1973 (Death Penalty). By one estimate, 4 percent of death row inmates are innocent (Gross). In 2019, Gavin Newsom, being an opponent of the death penalty announced, “I cannot sign off on executing hundreds and hundreds of human beings, knowing — knowing — that among them will be innocent human beings.” Abolitionists say people shouldn’t lose their life because of an unfair criminal justice system. No innocent human should ever be executed.