Capital Punishment - Horrific Crimes

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a chance to raise issues in an intermediate court. The defendant can choose to do another petition but to the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. If the Court denies the writ the defendant can appeal a petition to the U.S. District Court were a judge

may grant a hearing on new evidence. The judge again l can dismiss the petition, overturn the conviction, or overturn the sentence. Then there is the U.S. Supreme Court the defendant can appeal to but the problem with that appeal is that the Supreme Court only takes a few death penalty cases a year. After the U.S. Supreme Court there is only one more thing that may be able to stop or postpone the death and that is “Executive Clemency”, the power that the governor has. The Governor has the power to postpone an execution to grant more time to further review or commute a defendant’s death sentence to a different sentence, most likely life without parole. This all cost the tax payers millions more compared to just keeping the convict in maximum security. In California it cost around forty seven thousand dollars a year to incarcerate an inmate in prison. It would take around 42 years for the price of incarceration to overlap the cost of appeals.

In conclusion the act of sentencing someone to death does not necessarily solve the problem. Capital Punishment puts us back as a nation because of all of the costly appeals that take place, the mistakes that can and are made in a trial can result in an innocent losing their life, and there is the better cheaper alternative to an execution, life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Reference:

"Death Penalty Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d

"Death Penalty Appeals Process | Capital Punishment in Context." Death Penalty Appeals

" Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty." OREGONIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY

"California Criminal Justice FAQ: Cost to Incarcerate an Inmate"