Sign In Sign Up Cart CliffsNotes CliffsNotes Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Search Icon ____________________ Search [CliffsNotes] * BROWSE + o Literature o Test Prep o Shakespeare Central o Sciences o College o Study Break o Math o Writing o More Subjects o Foreign Languages o Popular Links # 1. Mobile Apps # 2. Test Prep Center # 3. Shakespeare Manga # 4. Online Quizzes by Subject o Top 10 LitNotes # 1. To Kill a Mockingbird # 2. A Tale of Two Cities # 3. Animal Farm # 4. Catching Fire # 5. Of Mice and Men # 6. The Catcher in the Rye # 7. The Great Gatsby # 8. The Outsiders # 9. Romeo and Juliet # 10. Lord of the Flies * SHOP + o Literature o Math o SAT o AP o Accounting o Economics o History o Writing o Shakespeare o Test Prep o ACT o Professional Exams o Cram Plans o Sociology o Foreign Language o Flash Cards o See All o TOP 5 LITNOTES # 1. Golding's Lord of the Flies # 2. Homer's Odyssey # 3. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet # 4. Shakespeare's Macbeth # 5. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby o TOP 5 SHAKESPEARE # 1. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet # 2. Shakespeare's Macbeth # 3. Shakespeare's Hamlet # 4. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar # 5. Shakespeare's Henry V o TOP 5 TEST PREP # 1. AP Biology, Fourth Edition # 2. ACT Cram Plan # 3. Praxis II: Principles of Learning andTeaching, Second Edition # 4. EMT-Basic Exam Cram Plan # 5. Math Review for Standardized Tests, 2nd Edition * Inside HMH + o Educational Services o Professional Learning / Education Conferences o Certification Training o Program Implementation o School Improvement o School Grants & Funding o Resource Center o Custom Solutions o Professional Development For Educators o eLearning Professional Development o Desk and Exam Copy Requests o BookSeller Resources o Asset Library o Bookseller FAQs o Backlist Order Forms o Education Topics o Core Curriculum o Common Core State Standards o Technology for the Classroom o Homeschool Curriculum o My Location o California o Florida o Georgia o Indiana o New York o Ohio o Texas o International ______________________________________________________________ Home > More Subjects > Criminal Justice > Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished? The Criminal Justice System + The Process of Criminal Justice + The Politics of Criminal Justice + Which Model Crime Control or Due Process + The Structure of Criminal Justice Criminal Justice in the U.S. + Racial Disparities + Is the Criminal Justice System Racist? + Citizen Participation + Rights Consciousness and Civil Liberties Crime + Part I Offenses + Drugs and Crime + Guns and Crime + Does Gun Control Reduce Crime? + Definitions of Crime + Types of Crime Criminal Law + Sources of Criminal Law + The Nature of Criminal Law + Functions of Criminal Law + Legal Elements of a Crime + Legal Defenses, Justifications for Crimes + The Limits of Criminal Law + Should Drugs Be Legalized? Development of the American Police + Developing the New Police + Frontier Justice + Progressive Police Reform + Crime Control Decades (1919â1959) + Policing the Social Crises of the 1960s + Crime Control Revisited (1970sâ1990s) + Policing Colonial America + Law Enforcement Goes HighâTech + Should Police Take DNA Samples? Police Function + Police Systems + Police Organization + Police Strategies + Does Community Policing Prevent Crime? + The Nature of Police Work Police Powers and Citizens' Rights + The Exclusionary Rule + Fifth Amendment: Right to Remain Silent + Citizens' Rights: A Barrier to Justice? + Criminal Procedure and the Constitution + The Right to Privacy Police Problems + Police Brutality + Deadly Force + Police Corruption + Employment Discrimination + Affirmative Action: A Tool for Justice? + Police Perjury Criminal Courts + Federal Courts + Heavy Caseloads and Delay + Judges + Remove Judges Who Are âSoft on Crimeâ + State Courts Defendants' Rights + The Posttrial Process + Should Plea Bargaining Be Abolished? + Introducing Defendants' Rights + The Pretrial Process + The Trial Process Prosecutors + Prosecutorial Discretion + Important Relationships for Prosecutors + CaseâManagement Policies + Prosecutorial Misconduct + Headhunting: Effective in Organized-Crime Combat? + Introducing the Prosecutors + Types of Prosecutors Defense Attorneys + Defense Strategies + Ineffective Assistance of Counsel + Do Most Defense Attorneys Distort Truth? + Introducing the Defense Attorneys + The Adversary Justice System + Types of Defense Sentencing + Sentencing Statutes and Guidelines + Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished? + Theories of Punishment + Types of Sentences Prisons and Prisoners' Rights + Prisoners' Rights + Can Imprisoning More Criminals Cut Crime? + Prisons The Juvenile Justice System + A Separate System for Juveniles + Minorities in Juvenile Justice + Myths About Juvenile Justice + Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults? + Juveniles' Responsibilities and Rights Related Topics: American Government U.S. History I U.S. History II Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished? Few areas of criminal justice have sparked as much debate as the death penalty. The public strongly supports the death penalty even though there are strong arguments suggesting that it should be abolished. [content-ad-bgrd.gif] Capital punishment should be abolished Critics of capital punishment put forward several arguments. 1. The application of the death penalty is so arbitrary that it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Harry Blackmun claims there is an irreconcilable conflict between two requirements in capital sentencing. On the one hand, the Eighth Amendment demands that sentencing discretion in capital cases be structured according to fixed, objective standards to eliminate arbitrariness and discrimination. On the other hand, there is a humanitarian requirement that sentencing discretion be flexible enough to permit sentencers to individualize justice by taking mitigating circumstances into account that might justify a sentence less than death. 2. The death penalty discriminates against racial minorities and the poor. Statistics show that the death penalty is administered in a selective and racially discriminatory manner. 3. The death penalty doesn't deter crime. 4. The death penalty costs taxpayers more than life imprisonment. 5. The inevitability of factual, legal, and moral errors results in a system that must wrongly kill some innocent defendants. 6. Public support for the death penalty diminishes substantially when the public is fully informed about the penalty, the alternative of life imprisonment without parole, and the consequences of the death penalty. Capital punishment should not be abolished Proponents of the death penalty make arguments centering around the justifications of fairness, retribution, deterrence, economy, and popularity. 1. The death penalty isn't arbitrary. In Gregg v. Georgia (1976), the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty isn't cruel and unusual punishment and that a twoâpart proceeding — one for determining innocence or guilt and one for determining the sentence — is constitutional. Any conflicts between eliminating arbitrariness and allowing sentencers to individualize justice can be resolved, according to Justice Scalia, by dispensing with the requirement that sentencers consider an array of mitigating circumstances. 2. The death penalty isn't discriminatory. In McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), the Court held that statistical evidence of racial discrimination in death sentencing can't establish a violation of the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments. To win an appeal under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court requires an appellant to prove the decision makers in his or her case acted with intent to discriminate. 3. Executions deter wouldâbe criminals from committing crimes. 4. It is cheaper for the government to kill murderers than to keep them in prison for the duration of their lives. 5. The few mistakes that are made in carrying out the death penalty are offset by its crime prevention and economic benefits. 6. Polls show the vast majority of Americans favor the death penalty for murderers. 7. Society has a moral right to punish the most violent criminals by taking their lives. Some violent criminals are vile, wicked persons who deserve to die. Evaluating the debate over capital punishment A substantial body of empirical studies shows that the administration of capital punishment is arbitrary, that the costs of trials and multiple appeals make the death penalty more expensive than housing an offender in prison for life, that the death penalty does not deter violent crime, and that during the twentieth century more than 400 people were erroneously convicted in capital cases. Although the Supreme Court denied the racial discrimination argument in McCleskey v. Kemp, statistical evidence supports the claim that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor and the underprivileged. Studies show that a disproportionate number of individuals sentenced to death are members of minority groups and that nearly all individuals on death row are indigents. The argument that the death penalty should be retained because the majority of the people in the United States want it, equates the numbers in support of a position with the correctness of it. The rightness or wrongness of the death penalty logically is neither helped nor hindered by the numbers in support. Opinions don't logically equate to factual knowledge. Deciding whether or not society has a moral right to take the lives of murderers and other violent criminals requires a value judgment. In support of their position, proponents of the death penalty cite the JudeoâChristian tradition of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Opponents counter by emphasizing New Testament admonitions to “turn the other cheek” and “to love thy neighbor.” Cite this article Cliff's Notes + How do lobbyists influence public policy decisions? + What do you think secret service for the Obama girls is like? Is there a dude with a gun and stuff sitting next to them in class? Wouldn't that make it hard for them to concentrate? More Study Help Quantcast Quantcast HMH Logo * About HMH + HMH Home + Company Overview + Corporate Social Responsibility + Executive Leadership + Board of Directors + Investor Relations + Partnering with HMH + Careers + Our Offices * ABOUT CLIFFSNOTES + Newsletters + About CliffsNotes + Advertise with Us + CliffsNotes on Facebook + CliffsNotes on Twitter + CliffsNotes on YouTube * Study Help + Cliffs Notes + College + Download Cliffsnotes Apps + Manga Editions + Study Break + Vocabulary Help: The Defining Twilight Series * Shop + Buy Cliffsnotes + Sample Education Programs + Buy CliffsNotes Books and E books + Assessment Solutions + Educational Services + General Interest Bestsellers + Popular Fiction + Popular Nonfiction + Books For Kids and Teens Twitter Facebook YouTube BookRags Media Network ©2013 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy