Why The Death Penalty Should Be Banned Persuasive Essay

The death penalty has been and still is a very controversial topic in America. There has been an ongoing debate about whether it should be legalized or outlawed in all 50 states. The death penalty should be outlawed in all 50 states in America. Some people have been wrongfully convicted; it is a waste of taxpayer money, and it is unfair to mentally ill people.

Over the last forty-eight years, there have been a lot of cases in which someone was put on death row but later found innocent. According to the National Geographic article, “Sentenced to death, but innocent: These are stories of justice gone wrong.” “Since 1973, more than 8,700 people have been sent to death row. At least 182 weren’t guilty.” This means that at least 182 innocent people have been killed due to the death penalty. This is wrong for so many reasons. Going through something like this is very traumatic for the person who was convicted and their family. Losing a loved one is difficult and emotional, and experiencing it through these circumstances is much worse. These innocent people did not deserve to die. Another issue when an innocent person is sentenced to the death penalty is that while they are going through trial and are in prison, the person who committed the crime is still loose and could be causing more harm and danger to people. Some people who are wrongfully convicted get lucky and are found innocent before receiving the death penalty. Since 1989, when DNA became a factor, more than 2,500 exonerations have been made in the United States. It’s a great thing that these people were exonerated, but some of these people stayed in prison for more than twenty years. Not only is that a waste of twenty years, but also a waste of money.

Sentencing someone to the death penalty is a waste of taxpayers’ money. Compared to non-death penalty cases, the death penalty costs about ten times more. According to a report done by Seattle University of Law on “The Economic Costs of Seeking the Death Penalty” average trial level prosecution costs in death penalty cases are 2.3 to 4.2 times more expensive. The reason it is so expensive is that these cases require a more extensive legal process and more expensive housing.  What people tend to fail to realize is that in a lot of cases in which the death penalty is sought, it is never imposed. Once a death sentence is imposed, the likely outcome is that it is overturned by the courts, and the person convicted ends up getting sentenced to life in prison. However, this process can be very long, and some prisoners are on death row for years, and even decades before receiving this sentence. That is also why it is so expensive. Life in prison is not only significantly cheaper; it is also arguably a better sentence. The taxpayer money that is going towards funding this horrible system, should be reallocated to other things, such as emergency services, schools, and mental health resources.

Reallocating that money, especially to mental health resources, would be beneficial to those who suffer from a mental illness. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “A leading mental health group, Mental Health America, estimates that five to ten percent of all death row inmates suffer from a severe mental illness. People who suffer from mental illness are usually very impulsive and don’t think about the actions of their consequences. However, they have very little or no control over it. That is why the death penalty is unfair to people with mental illness. One important part of being convicted of the death penalty is the ability to form criminal intent. However, the defendants who suffered from a serious mental illness were unable to form a specific intent to kill during their defense. After a case called Clark v. The United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court held that defendants do not have a constitutional right to present evidence that they suffer from a serious mental illness, to show that they did not have specific intent to kill. This is very unfair because they are not getting the same opportunities as people who do not have a mental illness. People who are on death row should all get equal opportunities to defend themselves, regardless of mental state, ethnicity, or economic background.

The death penalty is a system that is unfair, inefficient, wasteful, and should be banned in all 50 states. Nobody should be put to death, regardless of the crime that was committed. Instead of continuing to sentence people to death, the United States should work together on prison reform, and come up with a more ethical, and economical way to punish people who commit such horrible crimes.