CJ202 Death Penalty Paper

Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Name

CJ202

Date

Professor

Death Penalty

The death penalty is one the most controversial topics in American society. While every other Westernized country on the globe has abolished the death penalty many states in America continue to embrace the practice. The death penalty is the ultimate punishment for committing a capital murder. Even though thirty two states still practice the death penalty, states such as Illinois and New York, have recently decided to abolish the practice in their state. New York abolished the death penalty in 2007 while Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011. Each state has different reason for keeping or abolishing the death penalty.

The state of New York abolished the death penalty finding it to be unconstitutional while in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill to abolish to death penalty in fear that a wrongfully convicted person would be put to death for a crime they did not commit. In the state of New York the death penalty has had a turbulent history. The death penalty has been abolished and then reinstated over the hundred years. In 1977 the appeals court struck down a law requiring death for offenders accused of murdering a police or correctional officer. By 1984 inmates could no longer get a death sentence for killing while imprisoned and in 1995 the death penalty was reinstated.

In the case of the People vs. LaValle the 1995 act reinstating was struck down (Lentol, 2005). The New Appeals court found the New York’s 1995 death penalty law was unconstitutional. This ruling effectively abolished the death penalty in the state. The ruling in Lavalle required the legislation to take action and develop a law to enforce the court ruling. As a result the legislation reviewed the history of the death penalty on the state and the majority opinion of the people. The court established a statute forbidding the use of the death penalty but also allowing criminals to be sentenced to a life sentence without parole. In the end the government agreed the death penalty is immoral, fails to deter, and is unconstitutional.

The elimination of the death penalty in Illinois occurred in 2011 but it was after a ten year period where the state imposed a moratorium on applying the death penalty. The moratorium was imposed after concerns were raised when a potential 13 inmates on death row could have been potentially innocent of the charges. In January of 2011 lawmakers voted to abolish the death penalty but it was not until two months later that the Governor assigned the act into law. The governor stated because there is no way to ever be 100% sure that a criminal offender is in fact guilty of committing a murder that the death penalty is immorally wrong. If one innocent person dies because of the death penalty is should be permanently abolished.

Governor Quinn also found that the death penalty was unfair and only the poor and minorities are ever sentenced to this harsh form of punishment (Perlman, 2011). Since the rich and the white are rarely subjected to the death penalty there are disparities and this is not justice. In a final act as Governor, Quinn commuted the death sentences of 167 death row inmates to life sentences. This outraged many in public especially the families of the murder victims but the Governor no longer considered the death penalty to be just. This did not stop the anger of supporters of the death penalty and the families of the murder victims.

The death penalty is a form of revenge or retribution that is designed to bring justice to the victim. The problem is the death penalty does not deter and innocent members of society could die for a crime they did not commit. In New York the state no longer finds the death penalty to be constitutional while in Illinois the potential of someone being wrongfully convicted and then sentenced to death resulted in the abolishment of the death penalty.

References

Lentol, J. (2005). The Death Penalty in New York. Retrieved June 18, 2013 from

http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/Codes/20050403/deathpenalty.pdf

Perlman, S. (2011). Illinois Abolishes Death Penalty. Retrieved June 18, 2013 from

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/09/134394946/illinois-abolishes-death-penalty