Communications and Media

The debate as to whether to abolish the death penalty or not, has generated much heat within the criminal justice systems. Opponents of the death penalty express their opinion that the death penalty is an ultimate violation of human rights. They term the penalty as an inhuman and degrading act done in the name of justice. However, they have faced strong opposition from the proponents who feel that by not legalizing death penalty within all the states then we are not adequately punishing our pernicious criminals.
   
Proponents of the death penalty argue that it is economical. They cite that the death penalty cost per prisoner is estimated as 1.91 as compared to life without parole that costs an estimate 5.53. It is estimated that we have at least 3726 criminals in the cells and only 712 have been executed since 1976. Thus, they feel that the death penalty gives the convicts an opportunity to appeal. The convicts have the chance to appeal directly, through Post conviction review, Federal Habeas Corpus and via Clemency.
   
Opponents feel that the executions associated with the death penalty is normally directed to innocent citizens. On the other hand, proponents have countered this by presenting the argument that, no innocent individual have so far been executed. They argue that no inmate under the death penalty has been found to have an innocent postmortem. This is so because any inmate who is proved innocent is released.
   
The capital punishment serves as a deterrent to other potential criminals. The penalty does inflict fear to potential criminals. This is so because no one in his right senses would love to be arrested, convicted and executed. The proponents also express their opinion that by not executing the convicts this will serve as a justification that it was right to take the life of the innocent victims. They term it as mere hypocritical to oppose the death penalty. They cite that there are too many activists against the penalty but none is addressing the rights of the victims who are often forgotten and left behind to pick up their pieces.
   
Another argument presented by the proponents of the death penalty is that the execution process saves time .They feel that the forms of execution currently available such as electrocution, hanging and the gas chamber are quick and humane.

They also argue that using the death penalty eliminates the chances of the criminals of escaping from prison. The death penalty ensures that the criminals do not find their way back to the society where they could cause more harm. In this case they cite one specific example of Richard Biegenwald who had murdered a store owner in New Jersey.  He was arrested and given a life sentence instead of a death penalty. He was later released after 17 years under parole which he later violated  by killing an 18 year New Jersey girl, three 17 year old girls and a 34 year old man. The loss of lives could have been avoided if Richard had in the first place been executed.
   
In another argument, opponents of the death penalty have expressed concern that the death penalty is unequally applied between the Caucasians and the Black Americans. The proponents for the death penalty have countered this accusation by producing the statistic that show that within the cells there is a 46.14 Caucasians.
I am of the opinion that the death penalty is the way to go in the bid to reduce the rise in the number of those committing capital offences.