Impact of Death Penalty

The number of countries where the death penalty is executed to date is decreasing with some of the religious people and abolitionists believing the practice to be barbaric. One of the penultimate forms of capital punishment in the United States is the death penalty. Although the number of states where the death penalty is still executed is reducing, this form of capital punishment is still being widely discussed. There are different pros and cons of the death penalty but with the Supreme Court and people calling out for the death penalty for the most notorious criminals, it is still one of the methods of capital punishment. In the U.S. death penalty is allowed and although there is strong opposition to these rulings they are still exercised. It is important to understand the different aspects of the death penalty to the society to make a decision as to whether it should be abolished as a method of punishment or retained. This paper assesses the financial effects and the social aspects of the death penalty in the current society and the role of the Supreme Court in such cases.

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The Supreme Court has the power and decree to overturn the decisions by other courts in the United States. Therefore, its precedents on any case are applied by all the other courts in the U.S. The Supreme Court makes judicial precedents that effectuate change in the area of social reform. In the case of Gregg v. Georgia, the opinions that were given limited the scope of the capital punishment for the different cases that were ruled in the country (Canes-Wrone et al., 2014). The Supreme Court has been making important decisions that are aimed at giving the people a chance to have the best judgment and model. The Supreme Court has the mandate to change and make important decisions and models that are critical to the precedents adopted by other courts. There have been debates of the distinct influence of the Supreme Court in participating in the capital punishment cases.

The United States of America is in a great position to make the best models and raise a model that is critical in giving the victims some justice through the death penalty executed in most states. The Supreme Court has been believed to be aligning itself against the Death Penalty with the Court overturning some of the decisions by other courts on this issue. The abolitionists believe that the U.S. is slowly engaging in a working model that is aimed at scrapping the death penalty and passing other forms of punishment. There are different models and aspects that have been identified thereby making it critical to develop the best working model that is crucial in giving the people a chance in connecting and deriving the best models that are used in the country. However, the decisions made by the Supreme Court may be increasing the number of death penalties in the country, therefore; the decisions are not decreasing (Canes-Wrone et al, 2014). However, since more people are against the death penalty more remains to be seen in future on the models and approaches that will be adopted in future to make the best decisions in these circumstances.

The financial implications of the death penalty are also very steep with most of the States citing the difference between the death penalty and other cases. In the State of Washington, each death penalty case costs 1million dollars more than other cases where the death penalty was not sought. In the State of Nevada there are similar statistics with the death penalty case costing the state half a million dollars more than other cases. The death penalty cases also deplete the state's resources in the prosecution processes, and the defense where the amount of money given is enormous. The cases exhaust the resources since the number of petitions or appeals are also costly in for most of these cases. The numbers of appeals for the death penalties are higher than in other cases. Therefore, the costs that can be identified in this case are very high for the state as well as individuals (Hood and Hoyle, 2014). The death penalty, therefore, depletes the state as well as the families of their resources. The death penalty in Washington has cost the state more than 24 million dollars per case since its reinstatement (Canes-Wrone et al, 2014). There have been five cases that have been passed in the state with a total cost of 120million dollars. These costs did not include the costs of incarceration for the death row inmates. As such, the taxpayers were paying a heavy price for the death row inmates.

On the other hand, the death penalty also affects the people socially since the victims and the family of the inmates are affected by these decisions. The main reason for the death penalty or any other form of capital punishment is to give a form of restitution to the victims. However, the death penalty affects the victims for years as well as the families of the individual on death row (Hood and Hoyle, 2014). This form of punishment may be the best form of capital punishment given the level of crimes that these individuals have committed, but its important to establish a working model that is critical for the people. The social effects outweigh the financial effects of the death penalty in the society since it affects the population in the society for years.

References

Canes-Wrone, B., Clark, T. S., & Kelly, J. P. (2014). Judicial selection and death penalty decisions. American Political Science Review, 108(01), 23-39.

Hood, R., & Hoyle, C. (2014). The death penalty: A worldwide perspective. OUP Oxford.