Murders by firearm rates are 17.5 times higher than in twenty-two other populous high-income nations combined. The United States is one of the most violent nations in the world. Because of this, suicide rates are very high, and costs are very high. Nearly as many citizens are killed each month, as were killed in the first seven years of the Iraq war. The suicide rate of children between the ages of five and fourteen is eleven times higher than that of twenty-five other countries.
“Along with Troy Davis hundreds of people have been wrongfully convicted and executed in the United States” (David A. Love 1). Think about it if the person that faced the death penalty wasn’t guilty you took an innocent life. There are just some things that people shouldn’t have the ability to do, and sentencing someone to a death is one of them. “Since 1976-2010 there have been approximately 1,226 executions”.
They were later convicted and sent to jail. Scenarios like this this happen all the time for example in 1988 two men named Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz were convicted of rape and first degree murder and later convicted. 11 years later they were found to be innocent but why were they convicted? B. Tie to the audience: According to the website researchnews.osu.edu/archive/ronhuff.htm it is estimated 10,000 people each year are falsely convicted of crimes.
The count here is 15 from northern cities, 8 from southern cities and 2 from western cities. So the “Southern subculture of violence” accounts of less than one third of the top 25 most violent cities in this country. And the two worst cities are very near where Dr. Sloan obtained his education. And when you peel back the facades that the politically correct crowd attempts to maintain, black on black crime is sadly the prime cause in many of the southern cities. Judge Marvin Arrington, a black judge in Atlanta, confirms that in Atlanta, African-Americans are 54 percent of the population, but are responsible for 100 percent of homicide, 95 percent of rape, 94 percent of robbery, 84 percent of aggravated assault, and 93 percent of burglary.
62% of local jail inmates are awaiting trial. The cost of medical care for inmates grows by 10% annually. High rates of incarceration are due to sentence length. The United States incarcerates a large number of non-violent and victimless offenders. 50% of all prisoners are non-violent offenders, and 20% are drug related offenders.
While it is true that guns are involved in thousands of deaths per year in the United States, there are things that lead to far more deaths than guns. According to Levitt, in 2009, 45,000 people died in autmobile related accidents and only 30,000 died in gun related incidents (151). Using the logic of those against gun rights, it’s the car’s fault not the driver’s fault that 45,000 people die every year. This is just an irrational attempt to shift reponsibility off of the people that actually cause these incidents. Another example that shows that guns aren’t so dangerous is that in any given year there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools as compared to 1 death for every 1 million guns, or 175 children killed for the over 200 million guns owned in the U.S. (Levitt 150).
Over time the death penalty could cost well over one million dollars more than life-in-prison cases. For one person to be put to death it would take at least up to $500,00 for one inmate. This is absolutely absurd amount to end another person’s life when they could spend their entire life in jail with the guilt. (“What Costs More the Death Penalty or Life in Prison?” Home - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA, NBC, 21 Sept. 2011, www.nbcrightnow.com/story/15519792/what-costs-more-the-death-penalty-or-life-in-prison.) This money could be invested into each and every school nationwide.
In 2004, there were 4,919 black inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,717 Hispanic males per 100,000 and only 717 white males per 100,000. This seems to be quite the racial divide. This could be the result of racism within the system. In a similar issue, the percentage of women in the prison system is on the rise as well. The number of women has risen 2.9% since 1995, reaching 103,310 in 2001, compared to 2.0% increase in male inmates, reaching 1,390,906.
Other states, however, are known as big users of the death penalty. States like California, Texas, and Florida rank the highest among them. Since the Supreme Court validated state reformed capital punishment systems in 1977, 1,000 people have been executed” (“Death Penalty Arguments & Resources: Northern Illinois University” 2003). During this time the amount of people who support the death penalty had changed. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “The highest level was 80 percent in 1994, and the lowest 40 percent in the late 1990s” (Bedau Hugo, 2003).
Many, if not all, would agree. However, as death is permanent and non-revocable this fundamental principle fails to apply to Capital Punishment. In the United states alone, 140 people were wrongfully sentenced to death since 1973. One may argue that with improved technology this is no longer an issue. However, the 140 man-long list clearly indicates otherwise.