Eye for an Eye essays

Eye for an Eye essays Today there is a big controversy over capital punishment whether or not it works or if its morally right. People who favor the death penalty say that the criminals deserve it and is the only way for justice to be served. This statement is very true. Many murderers and rapists today are not serving most-if even half-of their sentences due to early parole or overcrowded prisons. If a murderer is sentenced to life imprisonment, not only does it cost the tax payers money to support them but often their life in jail is often better than that which some citizens live everyday. As of today there are currently thirty- seven states that have the death penalty. A majority of the other states, mostly in the Midwest, have abolished it. At the end of 1992 State and Federal prisons reached a record high of 883,593 prisoners. This record meant that approximately 1143 prison bed spaces are needed per week due to overcrowding. To put this in an economic prospective, on the average each prisoner costs $22000 per year, and the cost of new construction averages $54000 per bed. These 883,593 prisoners are costing the American tax payers approximately 19.4 billion plus another 61.7 million for the construction of the 1143 spaces needed. The average time a death row prisoner has to spend in jail until the death sentence is carried out is about nine years six months. Economically, its cheaper to keep them in prison for those nine years and execute them, rather than let them spend their life in jail taking up space and tax money. Those who argue that its more expensive to execute the prisoner dont look at the overall picture. In 1992 of the 2575 prisoners sentenced to death, 1 out of 11 had a prior conviction of homicide. This means additional people had to die before these murderers were sentenced to death. What kind of justice is that? If these murderers were sentenced to death the first time convicted, innocent liv ...