The Death Penalty Issue in Texas

The death penalty is a horrific way the justice system has convinced itself its helping its people. It has gone on for many years and no one has done anything about it. I think that we should eliminate the death penalty. Many death penalty opponents base their views on research that indicates the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent to crime or is racially biased against minorities. First, the government chooses victims because of race and social status. There are a variety of reasons why the death penalty in America is unjustly applied, and chief among them is race.

In fact, Texas is preparing for the likely execution of a man named Duane Buck, who was literally sentenced to death for being black. At his sentencing hearing, prosecutors argued that he would be a further threat to society because he was black. Also, we know that poverty is a chief factor in ultimately receiving the death sentence since quality of defense plays a significant role in the outcome of a trial. This means that the death penalty is something that specifically targets poor people and minorities Secondly, the defendant has killed someone who has a family who is of course suffering because of their loss. So it is only right that the defendant must also suffer, giving him the death penalty is just taking him out of his misery which he doesn’t deserve.

The death penalty adversely affects both families of murder victims and families of the accused, according to two recent journal articles. In his Psychology Today blog, Talking About Trauma, psychologist Dr. Robert T. Muller (pictured) reports that psychological studies have found that the death penalty produces negative effects on families and friends of murder victims. Also, money plays a major role in all this. A new study by Lewis & Clark Law School and Seattle University that examined the costs of hundreds of aggravated murder and murder cases in Oregon has concluded that "maintaining the death penalty incurs a significant financial burden on Oregon taxpayers."The death penalty in the U.S. is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits.

All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. In a time of painful budget cutbacks, states are pouring money into a system that results in a declining number of death sentences and executions that are almost exclusively carried out in just one area of the country. As many states face further deficits, it is an appropriate time to consider whether maintaining the costly death penalty system is being smart on crime. The mentally ill are incapable of showing feelings or remorse this affects the decision in a major way. Many times they are on medication that makes them act in ways that they cannot help. The death penalty is not the best way to deal with situations like this. So if you really want to help the family make the defendant sit in jail until he rots.