Death penalty Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Death penalty - Term Paper Example Following an unsuccessful attempt by a foreign passenger to set off explosives on an airplane in the U.S., public outrage led to pressure to extend the federal death penalty to such crimes. The President has asked for an opinion regarding the constitutionality and the appropriateness of the death penalty for crimes that do not involve actual killing. I am working as one of the staff of the Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General has asked me to draft a memo that spells out the policy arguments on both sides of the issue and then make a recommendation. This memo is prepared to submit to the president of United States which analyses both the sides of death penalty issue and argues against death penalty. Moreover, this memo provides recommendations to the President about the alterative options to death penalty. â€Å"The death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights† (Death Penalty, 2009). Unlike many other modes of punishment, death penal ty cannot be reversed once it is executed. The core philosophy of American criminal justice system is that not even a single criminal should be punished even if thousands of criminals escaped. Under such circumstances, it is quite possible that an innocent person could be given death penalty based on circumstantial evidences. It is possible for smart criminals to fabricate evidences which are pointing towards innocent people at the crime spots. Thus, instead of original culprit an innocent person may face death penalty. Life is the most important thing in this world and so science or technology succeeded in creating an artificial life form in a laboratory set up. In other words, the secrets behind life are still unknown to us. Only the creator has the moral authority to make changes in his creations. Capital punishment is the most an expensive way of punishing a criminal; so it should be prohibited. It is estimated that the cost needed for executing a death penalty is around 70% mor e than other punishments because of the necessities of the services of expert advocates, forensic testing, witnesses, investigating officers etc. In 1989, the state of Florida executed 42-year-old Ted Bundy. Bundy confessed to 28 murders in four states. During his nine years on death row, he received three stays of execution. Before he was put to death in the electric chair, Bundy cost taxpayers more than $5 million (Capital Punishment - The Costs Of Capital Punishment, 2011) The purpose of death penalty is to avoid threats from hard core criminals to innocent people in future. The innocent people or the tax payers forced to spend millions of dollars for punishing a criminal which is illogical especially when we consider that the objectives of death penalty can be obtained through cheaper options like life sentencing. Death penalty is not suitable for a civilized society like ours since it reduces the gap between the criminal and criminal justice system. A criminal who kills a perso n and the criminal justice system which execute a criminal are doing the same activity of taking the life. Even though the circumstances are different, the outcomes are the same. Delfino & Day (2008) have pointed out that â€Å"In the United States, death penalty is said to serve two principal social purposes: retribution and deterrence of capital crimes by prospective offenders† (Delfino & Day, 2008, p.1). Taking revenge for a crime is not a good philosophy to current generation. America is a Christian