The Death Penalty in the United States - Essay Example

The Death Penalty in the United s In their efforts to deter crime, many s in the US have adopted the use of the death penalty for most serious offenses like aggravated murder. The assumption behind this is that the fear of death reduces crime. Crimes subject to this penalty and the methods of execution differ between states. As of 1st April, 2008, there was a total of 37 US states that authorized the use of Death Penalty as a form of capital punishment. Despite this high utilization of death penalty, crime rates in the US are still very high and this questions the effectiveness of death penalty in deterring crime.

Currently, US states with capital punishment record higher murder rates than those without. This means death penalty has failed deter crime the US. A recent survey conducted on the country’s most leading criminologists reveals that many of them do not believe that the enforcement of death penalty has helped to deter homicides (Radelet and Lacock, 2009). One reason for this is that death penalty never addresses the internal and external forces behind offense. For example, many crimes are driven by the prevailing unfriendly and increased unemployment rates.

Such situations also trigger aggression among populations. Therefore, killing those found guilty does not solve the problems of the remaining lot. There are also some types of murders that are non-deterrable for example family disputes that result to a non-premeditated murder. These normally increase during times of economic hardships. Increases crime rates can also be linked to increased drug abuse and the never-ending racial biases (Liebman, et al, 2000). Glaeser and Sacerdote (1999) state that whenever execution is publicized, it tends to trigger more murders in the subsequent days and weeks.

The Linberg kidnapping is a good example this. A number of states adopted the death penalty for kidnapping but figures indicate that kidnapping increased. Other countries like the UK are not totally against the use of death penalty. However, they are against violation of human rights in the process of carrying it out, for example, death penalties for crimes committed by minors. China has the greatest support and use of death penalty. In 2009 alone, it executed over a thousand people. This is followed by countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Japan and Vietnam.

Most countries use death penalty for murder and violent crimes but others like Afghanistan, China, Iraq among others also use it for drug-related offenses. Others like Iran and Somali execute minors. In my view, the use of death penalty should be abolished. First, its use distracts the Congress and state legislatures from seeking and focusing on working solutions to crime. In death penalty, offender is killed just as they did to their victim or victims. This mean death penalty is more of revenge than punishment.

The person does not have a time to reform or learn lessons yet reformed persons are important in discouraging offense among their former peers. In some cases, defendants insist on execution. This means that some of the hard-core criminals have taken death penalty as a form of relief or an act of kindness to them. They could seek for execution as means of death instead of committing suicide. If conviction of an innocent person occurs, the action is irrevocable. In my opinion, youths convicted of violent should not be subject to the death penalty.

This is because death penalty does not deal with the root course of violent crimes. These youths should be put in institutions put in institutions for reformation and during their stay, an evaluation of their crime trigger factors is done. These factors are then addressed accordingly. References Glaeser, E. and Sacerdote, B. (1999). Why is There More Crime in Cities? Online: http://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DezRubShepDeterFinal.pdf. Viewed on 21st July, 2011. Liebman, J. et al. (2000). A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995.

Online: http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/liebman_final.pdf. Viewed on 21st July, 2011. Radelet, M. and Lacock, T. (2009). “DO EXECUTIONS LOWER HOMICIDE RATES?: THE VIEWS OF LEADING CRIMINOLOGISTS.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (99) pp 489.