debate on against capital punishment is better than life imprisonment
Answers
Better for whom?? For society as a whole, life imprisonment for the worst crimes is better, for many reasons. I’m against capital punishment not because of sympathy for criminals but because it doesn’t reduce crime, costs taxpayers much more than life sentences, is more emotionally draining for the families of victims than life in prison without parole. and, worst of all, risks executions of innocent people.
The worst thing about it. Errors:
The system can make tragic mistakes. As of now, 159 wrongly convicted people on death row have been exonerated. We’ll never know for sure how many people have been executed for crimes they didn’t commit. DNA is rarely available in homicides, often irrelevant and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.
Keeping killers off the streets for good:
Life without parole, on the books in most states, also prevents reoffending. It means what it says, and spending the rest of your life locked up, knowing you’ll never be free, is no picnic. Two big advantages:
-an innocent person serving life can be released from prison
-life without parole costs less than capital punishment
Costs, a big surprise to many people:
Study after study has found that capital punishment is much more expensive than life in prison. The process is much more complex than for any other kind of criminal case. The largest costs come at the pre-trial and trial stages. These apply whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.
Crime reduction (deterrence):
Homicide rates for states that use capital punishment are consistently higher than for those that don’t. The most recent FBI data confirms this. For people without a conscience, fear of being caught is the best deterrent. Capital punishment is no more effective in deterring others than life sentences.
Who gets it:
Capital punishment magnifies social and economic inequalities. It isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. Practically everyone sentenced to death had to rely on an overworked public defender.
Victims:
People assume that families of murder victims want capital punishment to be imposed. It isn't necessarily so. Some are against it on moral grounds. But even families who have supported it in principle have testified to the protracted and unavoidable damage that capital punishment process does to families like theirs and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.
Capital punishment comes down to retribution or revenge- the only plausible reasons to support it.