Death Penalty or Life In Prison
Which is more humane? What are the pros and cons of both?
Overview
Capital punishment is the lawful and legal killing of a person by the government as disciplinary action for a crime.
Life in prison is a similar punishment because the inmate stays alive but will be in prison until his death.
Cons of Life In Prison
- "I've had clients who want me to fight for them, and then when we win and get their death sentence converted into life, end up telling me I've betrayed them..." David R. Dow, JD (deathpenalty.procon.org)
- If terrorists are held in prison with small-time criminals they can spread their doctrine to others and then there may be more homegrown terrorists (www.americanthinker.com)
- In prison, there are still gangs, violence, murder, rape, and other things that are detrimental to prisoners' rehab
cons of Death Penalty
Money Spent on Inmates
This happens due to the Constitution outlining a long and complicated process for sentencing death penalty so that the innocent isn't condemned. Even after this, there isn't a 100% chance of correct conviction. (www.deathpenalty.org)
Crime Deterent?
This data shows that the death penalty may deter crime to some point, but it has never been equal to that of the non- death penalty states. The non-death penalty states have a lower crime rate. The data also shows that even though the crime rate decreased , it has stayed proportional.
Time Spent On Death Row
Over the past decades, the length of time spent on death row has grown quite a bit. Contrary to popular belief, its not because of the long appeals process, but to the process of checking every detail to make sure that the innocent aren't executed, which takes a long time. The inmates are on death row for decades in the conditions of a prison who is in solitary confinement. It is almost as if they are serving two different sentences. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org)
Pros of Life In Prison
- The inmate will get to live and better himself while in prison.
- There are rehabilitation programs in the prisons so that the inmates will be able to get better mentally, if there are problems.
- If they have good behavior, the inmates can get visits from others outside of prison
- The victims don't have to wait on justice to come, they know the criminal will get locked up
Pros of Death Penalty
- It's a methodical solution to capital crimes
- If the victims wait on their justice, they won't have to be paranoid because the offender would be dead
- Keeps experienced and hardened criminals from going to prison and making life harder and more disruptive
(theproscons.com)