How does the Death Penalty affect me?

El Guapo

1. It is not uncommon for innocent people to be sentenced to death (in the last 35 years, 130 people have been released from death row because they were exonerated by DNA evidence [DNA is not available in most homicide cases]). This could happen to you or someone you know.

2. Also, the death penalty costs taxpayers MUCH more than life imprisonment. So, people who live in death penalty jurisdictions have to live with either (a) higher taxes, or (b) slashed budgets for education, police, drug treatment centers, and other government programs that reduce crime. This leads to...

3. More crime. Violent crime rates are HIGHER in death penalty jurisdictions.

I hope that helps. Good luck on your speech!

wass

As I said earlier:

"If you support the Capital Punishment you support absolute political control and domination by government at it's sickest extreme.

There are approximately 3,000 prisoners currently living on Death Row. No other country in the world has this many of it's citizens awaiting execution."

So you could comment on the amount of prisoners on death row and comment that The United States is one of two remaining industrialized nations to still use death as a form of punishment... That makes you as an american quite unique among others in the world.

You could talk about what your decision would be - death or life imprisonment and the pros and cons of each...

America is full of nuts

Yes, the death penalty affects you directly as you are a United States citizen which means that if you were falsely accused of a crime than the laws related to the death penalty would directly affect you. Since the 1960's there have been many people who were on death row who were later found to be innocant as DNA evidence has proved that there was no possible way that they could have commited the crime. Eye witness testimony has time and time again been proven to be the most unreliable source of evidence ever to be used. It is quite possible that some one with very similar features to you could walk into a 7-11 and shoot the clerk and then later if 2 eye witnesses picked you out of a line up and you had no alibi than, you could be tried and falsely convicted of a crime you did not commit as many have been in the past. You also have to pay taxes for the appeals process which is used by those on death row, when you take the appeals process into consideration, it actually costs less to keep an inmate alive than what it does to execute him or her. I personally am for the death penalty and feel that it is way underused, and I feel that the appeals process needs to be adjusted and that we should execute immediately after person is convicted. Yes, I believe the trial should follow due process laws, but, after that, right to an attorney, right to remain silent, right to have bond set, all that good stuff, however, I feel that it is cruel and unusual punishment for a mother to have to loose her child, and then for the offender to still be allowed to walk the face of this earth and breath air, that's my take on the subject. But, good luck on your debate, keep an open mind, and please do listen to both sides of the argument and consider the other sides point of view as I have done in giving you information to argue your side. Thank you. As for Wass answer, the reason why we have that many on death row is because in many states, such as the State of Illinois, the death penalty has been suspended until which time that all people who were convicted prior to the use of DNA evidence cases could be investigated properly, where as other countries execute immediately. You see, the thing with that is though, even if they are being investigated, even if they are found to be innocant, is it really more so fair to leave them in prison to rot until they can find out for sure if they did it or not. Taking away one's life is taking away one's life, and to me in that situation, the death penalty is still more so merciful.

Dan S

We live in a representative democracy. The government is the people. When the government acts, it is the people acting. When the government kills, the people are killing. That means that we are each responsible for the killing of person who is killed "by the government". In effect you are a killer. This killing may be sanctioned by law, but is it sanctioned by God or one's conscience?

Dean A

Commit a Capital Crime and receive the death penalty. Otherwise, it doesn't affect you. If you're giving your speech to a bunch of bleeding heart Liberals who see things like the death penalty as a grave injustice, then I guess it affects your classmates in a way. They will be standing at a prison gate late one night with a picket sign trying to convince the rest of us that convicted murderers shouldn't be put to death by the Government.

Without using the words,"Death Penalty," you could use Capital Punishment instead.

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