Collin Brauer

Mediation Essay
The Green Mile
The worst of all sentences: The Death penalty. Capital punishment is
the severe enforcement on corporal punishment because it essentially
requires the law enforcement officers to kill the offender.
As of January 1, 2016 The number of inmates on death rows acroos
the nation is 2,943 a decrease from 2,959 in October 1, 2015 (Death
Penalty Focus). In the United States someone can only be put to death if
they themselves have killed someone, committing the act of murder. Even
then it is extremely rare for this sort of capital punishment to be used. In the
United States today there are 5 methods that are used to execute the one
who is sentenced. These methods are Lethal injection, hanging, firing squad,
gas chamber, and the electric chair. However, each state only usually use one
or two of the methods. Today there are 31 states in the United States that
still have the death penalty. In the history of the United Stated the death
penalty was declared unconstitutional in 1972 after the court decision of
Furman v. Georgia. In the Furman v. Georgia case it did not state that
capital punishment itself was unconstitutional but instead they need to take
a look at the system to how you can be put onto death row. This was exactly
changed when capital punishment was brought back into the Supreme Court

case of Greg v. Georgia. Since these two court cases capital punishment has
never been stated as unconstitutional. In recent years though, many
questions have been brought regarding whether if the death penalty is
ethically right to put someone to death because they did the same thing to
someone else, some people though see this as contradicting.
Currently, there are thirty-three states in which the death penalty is
considered legal and seventeen states that have completely abolished capital
punishment. Arguments for the death penalty to be legal include thinks like
discouragement, justice, and moral.
In states that capital punishment is legal it greatly discourages citizens
of that state from committing crimes such as murder. An average persons
greatest fear is death, so if they know that there is a possible consequence
of death for their wrongdoing than they are much less likely to perform such
crimes. Capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishes
because people fear death more than anything else. They fear the most
death deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled by the courts.Hence, the
threat of the death penalty may deter some murderers who otherwise might
not have been dettered. (Death Penalty Curricula for High school) This was
said by Ernest van den Haag, a professor at Fordham University.
Deserved punishment protects society morally by restorying this just
order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has

done. (Budziszewski). Justice is one of the strongest arguments for keeping

the death penalty around. People simply think that giving the death penalty
as a punishment restores the previous order to the society and punishes the
criminal for his crime. Justice may serve as retribution for the families of the
murder victims. It is possible to interpret this as revenge, but this is revenge
not driven by cruelty, rather it is motivated by the need for justice.
Capital punishment is seen as a way to keep society safe, yet there are
still many debates on whether the death penalty should even be an option or
if the offenders should just receive life in prison. These arguments come
from the idea that it is morally wrong to kill a person, but no one is truly
sure if it is morally wrong to kill someone with intent to stop them form
killing in the future. This is something that is decided and varies from person
to person in society. Another argument has is about the money, they say
that someone on death row is lengthy and an expensive process. For a
person sentenced to a maximum security prison for one year within the state
of Rhode Island according to the Department of Corrections, it comes out to
$176,174. Average age of a murder is approximately 27 years old, and the
average life expectancy in the United States is 80 years old. This means that
you would be paying for someone to stay in a maximum security prison for
about 53 years. 53 years times the amount from above to keep someone in
a maximum security prison for one year gives you $9,337,222 for the
prisoner to spend life in a maximum security prison. The death penalty on its

own usually costs between $1,030,000 and $1,300,000. Although both are
large sums of money, it still is $8 million dollars cheaper to have someone
sentenced to death. (Death Row USA)
Few arguments for the side that thinks capital punishment should be
abolished completely. First, the death penalty has no beneficial effect on
murder rates, the five countries with the top homicide rates that do not
enforce the death penalty average about 21.5 murders per 100,000 people.
The five countries with the top homicide rate that do enforce the death
penalty average 41.5 murders for every 100,000 people. (United Nations
Development Program). Second, the concept of justice that every crime
there is a punishment that seems to balance the crime. This whole idea is
flawed because say I shoot you in the right eye. Following this idea, I would
have to have my to remove one of my eyes, but having one of my eyes
removed will not make yours come back. Two wrongs will not make a right.
Lastly and one of the most impactful arguments for the abolishment of the
death penalty is wrongly killing someone who is innocent. There are many
cases in which someone was convicted guilty and sentenced to death but
later evidence was found to prove them innocent but it was already too late.
Capital Punishment can be a difficult topic to really look at without an
open mind because people tend to have extreme opinions on it. The Death
Penalty could be considered an advantage to society, it discourages future
criminals, it serves justice, and some people may say it is immoral. The

arguments against death penalty are still upheld though, because the simple
idea of trying to right a wrong with a wrong never works and is never
justice. The best compromise would be death-in-person sentence or
essentially a life sentence without parole. This is a very flawed compromise,
but still would improve the flawed judicial system. The main reason it would
be the best fit for right now is how it would affect capital punishment
decision makers focus away from whether the offender lives or dies but
rather the focus shifts to what the key moral issue in the case.

Works Cited:
Jonsson, Patrik. "Death Penalty in 2014: Why US Has Seen Fewest Executions in 20
Years. ." EBSOC. COD Databases, 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
Walsh, Mark. "Death revisited: will the Supreme Court 'peck away at' capital
punishment?" ABA Journal Oct. 2015: 19+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Apr.
2016.
Death Penalty Curricula for High School. The Death Penalty Prevents Future
Murders: Agree. Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab & Death Penalty
Information Center. Web. 20 April 2016
Budziszewski, J. Capital Punishment: The Case for Justice. OrthodoxyToday.org.
August 2004. Web. 21 April 2016
"Death Row USA" Http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row-usa.
Deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.
Excluding Central Doc Admin And Capital Costs. "Cost Per Offender 2013 Actual."
RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS COSTS PER OFFENDER - FY
2013 Actual (n.d.): n. pag. www.doc.gov. Department of Corrections, 2014.
Web. 21 Apr. 2016.