The death penalty has faced a huge decline in the United States since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The death executions and death sentences have lost the support of the public, and the states that were famous for capital punishment are seemed to be declining as well. Many states are putting an end to the death punishments, and people seem to be united for the progressive cause (Haddad). The seven states that have banned the death penalty include New Jersey, New York, Illinois, New Mexico, Nebraska, Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut. However, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Pennsylvania have put a moratorium on the death executions.
Only a few decades before, it was impossible to imagine that a country like America would get together to oppose the death penalty. History has witnessed that people of different states always stood in favor of it. So, what is the reason that changed people’s stance on it? Researchers suggest that people turned against it because death sentences are inhumane and cruel. The countries that impose death penalties have the highest murder rates, so it is not effective against crime. But another view on it is that ‘cash’ is what changed the public opinion. Cases of the death penalty are way too expensive. And the abolishment of it is one effective way to cut pressure on states’ budgets (Erb).
Another reason for people voting for the abolishment of the death penalty might be that there exist some case where innocent people received death penalties. The figure is estimated to be around 4%, i.e. every four percent of the people who are sentenced to death are innocent. And the administration has failed to come up with a method that would make sure that only criminal or a murderer receives such cruel punishments, and no innocent person suffers (Lopatto).
The death penalty’s administration of today has three prominent flaws which also contributed to making people stand against the punishment. They are not reliable enough as the application of the death penalty is arbitrary and long delays are experienced before the final decision is taken. Despite this fact, the United States might face an expansion in making use of the death penalty as the Candidate of Republicans; Donald Trump won the Presidential elections in the year 2016. He has appeared to be a big supporter of capital punishment, hence; the efforts to ban the death sentences will go in vain or will face new obstacles
. The campaigns against the death penalty faced a major setback when Donald Trump became the President. Thus, it appears like death sentences will not end and will continue to move forward in the future. However, the death penalty policy has not been up to the mark, and the defects in it have led the Republicans to oppose it too. A GOP lawmaker stated that the conservative principals of death sentences had made him work against it. If the challenges that the death penalty is currently facing are taken into account, it is better to bring an end to it (Jones).
Pope Francis, the pope of the Catholic Church, recently made certain changes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teachings on the subject of the death penalty. He called the death penalty as ‘inadmissible.’ He described it as a violent act and attack on a person’s dignity. However, the Church did not oppose the death penalty previously in the unjust cases or the cases in which human lives are harmed (Catholic News Agency).
Another possibility can be reframing the principles of the death penalty and doing some alterations in its policy. It might bring some improvement and people might find it somewhat possible to accept this policy. Republicans have stopped favoring the long-term prisons and severe punishments now. Texas experienced an increase in prison population in the year 2007, and hence, more prisons were required to be built. The state budget was getting affected by the high costs of building new prisons. So, the Texas Legislature decided to put an end to long-term jails for smaller crimes. Other states also followed this reform. It led to an improvement; thus, any justice policy that is providing harm to the state or is not up to mark must be altered. The Republicans who were great supporters of sentences and severe punishments have now softened or changed. They now actually consider and question if the justice policies are working or not. Therefore, the failure and ineffectiveness of death penalties have led some of the Republicans to vote against it (Jones).
The death penalties have reduced to a very large extent. It has now become limited to only small groups. But it was very common only a few decades before. The studies and research conducted regarding this subject that the race of the victims has always affected the death penalties. The victims of the rural areas have mostly resulted in being executed. One reason for the decline of the death penalties has been the decline of murders in the states. The jury and the presence of capital defense also correlate with the number of death sentences that are announced in a statement. Some countries also have limited resources to complete death sentences cases. This factor also decreases the death penalties, in particular, states (Garrett, Jakubow and Desai).
A study was conducted by Eisenberg that suggested that the death penalty rate was to be low when the victims involved were black. It is true in the cases where the majority of the population living in the state is black. It has also been observed that prosecutors do not announce death sentences more often in cases where black people are concerned. It is weird but true. Also, the rate of death penalties was higher in urban areas. But this all is a story of the past and used to happen before the modern death penalty declining period began (Garrett, Jakubow and Desai).
In the end, it can be concluded that the study suggests that the countries which were great supporters of severe punishments and used to hand out hundreds of death sentences on a regular basis; they have also faced huge opposition regarding the subject by their people. Thus, the rate of death sentences has dropped immensely even in the states like Texas. Capital punishments are now opposed by various lawmakers and the public due to its arbitrary structure of implementation and many flaws in its application. But even in this Modern era, some small counties still practice death penalties. And with Donald Trump being the President of the United States, bring a complete end to it does not seem possible.
Work Cited
Catholic News Agency. “Pope Francis and the death penalty: a change in doctrine or circumstances?” Catholic News Agency. Catholic News Agency, 3 August 2018. Web. 8 November 2018. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/
pope-francis-and-the-death-penalty-a-change-in-doctrine-or-circumstances-39898.
Erb, Kelly Phillips. “Death and Taxes: The Real Cost of the Death Penalty.” Forbes. Forbes, 22 September 2011. Web. 8 November 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/
2011/09/22/death-and-taxes-the-real-cost-of-the-death-penalty/#3c2dbdf2673e.
Garrett, Brandon L, Alexander Jakubow and Ankur Desai. “The American death penalty decline.” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 107.4 (2017): 561-642.
Haddad, Michael George. “The Death Penalty, Nearing Its End.” New York Times. New York Times, 24 October 2016. Web. 8 November 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/24/
opinion/the-death-penalty-nearing-its-end.html.
Jones, Ben. “The Republican Party, conservatives, and the future of capital punishment.” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 108.2 (2018): 223-252.
Lopatto, Elizabeth. “How Many Innocent People Are Sentenced To Death?” Forbes. Forbes, 29 April 2014. Web. 8 November 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethlopatto/
2014/04/29/how-many-innocent-people-are-sentenced-to-death/#61b80acb3b9e.
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