| Submitted by: | Strobes |
| Date: | 08 / 19 / 2008 |
| Category: | Business and Marketing |
| Words | Pages: | 2796 | 12 |
| Views: | 358 |
TERM RESEARCH PAPER: A Ethical Look at the Death Penalty
Leadership and Social Responsibilty
An Ethical Look at the Death Penalty
The death penalty is not a new idea in our world. Its origins date back 3,700 years to the Babylonian civilization, where it was prescribed for a variety of crimes (Kronenwetter p.10). The most famous executions of the past included Socrates and Jesus (Wilson p.13). In recent years, crime in America has been on the rise; in particular, violent crime. This has led not only to an overcrowding of prisons in our country, but also to an increase in the number of death sentences handed down by the courts. With the increasing number of death sentences issued, one would expect a decrease in the frequency of violent offenses. What then is the problem? Why is violent crime still on the rise? Despite the fact that the number of inmates on death row is climbing, the number of sentences actually carried out in any given year lags far behind. For example, between the years 1973 and 1992, four thousand seven hundred and four convicted murderers were sentenced to die, but only one hundred eighty-eight of them were executed (Stewart, 1994). That is but a mere four percent. In fact, the number one cause of death for inmates on death row is neither the electric chair nor lethal injection, gas chamber or hanging it is "natural causes” (Kaplan, 1995). The reason for this disparity is the costly and lengthy appeals process to which every death row inmate is entitled. One misunderstood concept concerning the death penalty is that it is less expensive to execute someone instead of life imprisonment. What many people do not understand is how our courts work. “Contrary to popular belief, death penalty cases are three to four times more expensive than life imprisonment cases” (http://mtsd.k12.we.us/mtsd/district/whacked.sites/anatomy.of.a.murder/furman.htm). Cases that involve the death penalty are typically appealed, which makes the case...
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