Argument Against the Death Penalty Essay Example

Ray Krone spent 3,769 days in jail, and 2 years and 8 months on death row for a crime he did not commit. He was falsely accused of the murder of Kim Ancona, a barmaid, with the only evidence being a bite mark on her arm, and a car ride Ray gave to her two weeks earlier. At the first trial, Ray was immediately convicted and sentenced to death. After the evidence was overturned he was given a second trial and ended up with a life sentence in prison. 9 years after the murder, With the help of a new attorney and DNA evidence, his conviction was overturned. The DNA testing of the bite marks matched the DNA of Kenneth Phillips. Phillips lived 600 yards away from the bar and was arrested 2 weeks after the murder for breaking and entering of a woman’s home and threatening to kill her.  Ray Crone is only one case out of 100’s that lives were being risked because of the death penalty. Not only does the death penalty risk lives it causes states to drown in payments and fuels crime all throughout cities. 

The death penalty is one of the most expensive state program.    “While states were spending millions of dollars on a single capital case, the average police budget had to be cut by 7 percent this year” (Richard C. Dieter). According to a recent report using figures from Kansas’ indigent defense fund, “it cost the state four times more in legal fees to seek the death penalty than to not pursue it” ( Tom Bell). States could save millions if not more by dropping the death penalty. If the death penalty is dropped, the money can be put forward to hire more officers in high-crime areas, which can help keep the crime down and prevent lots of people that could potentially be put on death row. 

Although the goal of capital punishment is to reduce crime, the affect is opposite. Research by a death penalty information center analysis of murder rates from 2015 shows, “ The rate in death penalty states was 1.39 times higher than in states without capital punishment, and that the rate for murders of police was 1.37 times higher in states without the death penalty”(Tom Price). Relating to this,  In Kentucky, a state with capital punishment, a person has the chance of 1 in 53 to become a victim to crime, in New Hampshire, a state without capital punishment, a person has the chance of 1 in 656 to become a victim to crime (Neighborhood scout). It’s clear that the death penalty does not discourage crime. In fact, states that utilize the death penalty as a form of criminal punishment have higher crime rates, than those that have banned it.

The death penalty risks innocent lives. “186 people from 28 states have been exonerated from death row from 1976 to early 2021. The average time an innocent person has spent in prison for a crime they did not commit is 11.5 years. 4.1% of people that are currently on death row are most likely to be innocent. The leading cause of wrongful capital convictions is official misconduct with 69.2%” (Witness to Innocence). These statistics establish that, many innocent people sit on death row for long periods of time with false accusations against them. It is safer to put people in jail with life sentences, which can be overturned with new evidence, rather than to put them on death row and risk the death of innocent people.

According to some, the death penalty reduces the amount of prisoners in jail , and because of this the crimes reduce due to less crowding and chaos. Based on my findings this could not be farther from the truth. “The USA has a prison population of approximately 2.2 million but only around 3,000 prisoners are condemned to death. If the entire population of death row were executed, it would make no discernible difference to the prison population”(Amnesty International).Looking at this, this argument is invalid because of the death row inmates total incarcerated inmates ratio.

Besides the blatant disregard for humanity, risking the lives of innocent people, costly state programs, and increased crime rates in states that support the death penalty, are all factors that lead to an even more broken society. Supporting prisoners' lives being taken away is morally wrong when what we should be doing is giving life sentences without parole. This gives prisoners a chance to save themselves rather than worry about a timer counting down until their death.