School English Debate Point - Death Penalty

School English Debate Point - Death Penalty 

1)The death penalty does not improve public safety

 

We all want a criminal justice system that’s sensible, effective, and creates a safe society with less crime—and evidence shows that the death penalty has no impact on public safety. Stats from the Death Penalty Information Center indicate that in the past forty years, there have been 1,184 executions in the South compared to just four in the Northeast, and yet homicide figures in 2015 were nearly 70 percent higher in the Southern states.

 

We need to take a closer look at what works and what doesn’t, and use a common-sense approach to improve public safety. By abolishing the death penalty, we could focus our time, energy and resources on supporting victims and families harmed by violence.. If you listen to victims speak about their experience with the death penalty, you find that virtually all are frustrated with the current system. There’s no such thing as quick and easy in a system that’s supposed to be deliberative to ensure that the innocent aren’t punished along with the guilty—and even then the system gets it wrong too often.

 

The fact that it doesn't prevent crime may be the most significant reason why the death penalty is wrong. ... In states without the death penalty, the murder rate is much lower.

 

2)We can change

 

We’re all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done, because all human beings are capable of change. If our criminal justice system is to change, it should be designed not just to punish, but to also rehabilitate those who’ve committed crimes. There should always be the opportunity for rehabilitation, redemption and grace. We have the capacity to hold people accountable and separate dangerous people from society without foreclosing that opportunity.

 

So, do we continue down a path that has failed repeatedly to produce results? Do we continue with an institution that inflicts harm? The death penalty traumatizes everyone it touches: victim survivors, prosecutors, defense lawyers, prison workers and families. Former wardens, guards and execution team members report severe damage to their mental and physical health because of the stress and trauma of participating in executions and killing prisoners. It doesn’t have to be this way. The death penalty is an old-fashioned, outdated, harmful practice, and it must be abolished.

 

3)The death penalty is not a good example of blind justice.

The death penalty is not a good example of blind justice. Studies show that the mentally ill, people of color, and the poor make up the majority of death row inmates. In the United States, between 5-10% of prisoners on death row have a severe mental illness, according to Mental Health America. As for racial groups, despite making up only 13% of the US population, black people make up over 40% of the prisoners with a death sentence. When researchers take a deeper dive, they discover patterns of death row have a severe mental illness.

 

 

In theory, the death penalty is only intended for use as punishment for the most serious crimes, like murder. However, in places around the world, governments use executions for non-lethal crimes. This includes drug-related offenses, burglary, adultery, blasphemy, and political crimes. It becomes clear that many governments are not interested in justice, but rather suppression and control. By using the death penalty so arbitrarily, authorities set their own definitions for what’s “unacceptable”

 

 

Counter

Based on the facts from Amnesty International there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than a prison term.So therefore we all should agree that  prison term is more effective because criminals can learn to discipline themselves inside of prison and become a good human other than being executed .This reason is because many people who have gone to prison will come out living a new life