Home
Old Essay
New Essay (fixed)
Rock Thao
English 9B
Stumpf
Hour 3
I. Intro
In the United States alone from 1976 to April 24, 2014 there have been a total of 1,378 people executed by the death penalty. From the 1,378 people executed, 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt. A few main reasons is that it violates our right to live, It is costs more money than being condemned to life in prison, and there is always the risk that the death penalty will execute someone innocent.
II. Body
I. Firstly, why the death penalty should be abolished is that the guilty have the right to life.
A. According to Amnesty International, The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human rights. It also violates the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty undermines human dignity which is inherent to every human being.
B. The death penalty is against one of the most basic human rights; the right to life. States need to learn that the right to life is a widely accepted human rights law.
C. Under Article 3 of the UDHR, life is a human right. This makes the death penalty our most fundamental human rights violation. As long as governments have the right to extinguish lives, they maintain the power to deny access to every other right enumerated in the Declaration.
II. Secondly, the death penalty costs more money than life in prison.
A. Study after study has found that the death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process, with the largest costs at the pre-trial and trial stages. The point is to avoid executing innocent people. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.
B. According to Amnesty International, In California the current system costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.
C. In Maryland death penalty cases cost 3 times more than non-death penalty cases, or $3 million for a single case.
III. The death penalty risks executing the innocent.
A. There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,000 people executed since 1976 may also have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients' lives can still be saved.
B. According to Forbes.Com, At least 4 percent of all people who receive the death penalty are innocent.
C. According to DeathPenaltyInfo.Org, On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, despite claims that he was innocent. Graham was 17 when he was charged with the 1981 robbery and shooting of Bobby Lambert outside a Houston supermarket. He was convicted primarily on the testimony of one witness, Bernadine Skillern, who said she saw the killer's face for a few seconds through her car windshield, from a distance of 30-40 feet away. Two other witnesses, both who worked at the grocery store and said they got a good look at the assailant, said Graham was not the killer but were never interviewed by Graham's court appointed attorney, Ronald Mock, and were not called to testify at trial. Three of the jurors who voted to convict Graham signed affidavits saying they would have voted differently had all of the evidence been available.
II. Counter Argument
I. The Death Penalty is racist.
A. According to DeathPenalty.Org, The Death Penalty is unjustified and racist, because 50% of the white do not get killed if they commit a horrible crime, whereas if you were from a different race, they would kill you with a higher percentage.
II. The innocents could be poor.
B.The judge could also sentence someone to jail, even if the convicted person was innocent. The convicted person would not even have a lawyer because they were poor, so they would get hanged for no reason.
III. Conclusion
A. In conclusion, the death penalty should be abolished from the United States. The death penalty violates the right to life, The death penalty costs more money than life in prison, and The death penalty risks executing the innocent. The death penalty doesn’t prevent or reduce crime, costs a whole lot more than life in prison, and, worst of all, risks executions of innocent people.
- Spoiler:
- Hey guys! Can you guys check if my essay is good and all? Especially connor should check it if he's still around
. Tell me any flaws or errors please since I'm not that great at english. (P.S it's layed out in that format because that's how I have to read my speech like that but still pretty much a essay)
I. Intro
In the United States alone from 1976 to April 24, 2014, there have been a total of 1,378 people executed by the death penalty. From the 1,378 people executed, 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt. Hi, I’m Rock and I’m here to inform you why the Death Penalty should be abolished in the United States. It violates the right to life, The Death Penalty costs more than life in prison, and The Death Penalty risks executing the innocent.
II. Body
I. Firstly, why the death penalty should be abolished is that the guilty have the right to life.
A. According to Amnesty International, The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human rights. It also violates the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty undermines human dignity which is inherent to every human being.
B. The death penalty is a denial of the most basic human rights; it violates one of the most fundamental principles under widely accepted human rights law states must recognize the right to life
C. Under Article 3 of the UDHR, life is a human right. This makes the death penalty our most fundamental human rights violation. As long as governments have the right to extinguish lives, they maintain the power to deny access to every other right enumerated in the Declaration.
II. Secondly, the death penalty costs more money than life in prison.
A. Study after study has found that the death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process, with the largest costs at the pre-trial and trial stages. The point is to avoid executing innocent people. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.
B. According to Amnesty International, In California the current system costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.
C. In Maryland death penalty cases cost 3 times more than non-death penalty cases, or $3 million for a single case.
III. The death penalty risks executing the innocent.
A. There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,000 people executed since 1976 may also have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients' lives can still be saved.
B. According to Forbes.Com, At least 4 percent of all people who receive the death penalty are innocent.
C. On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, despite claims that he was innocent. Graham was 17 when he was charged with the 1981 robbery and shooting of Bobby Lambert outside a Houston supermarket. He was convicted primarily on the testimony of one witness, Bernadine Skillern, who said she saw the killer's face for a few seconds through her car windshield, from a distance of 30-40 feet away. Two other witnesses, both who worked at the grocery store and said they got a good look at the assailant, said Graham was not the killer but were never interviewed by Graham's court appointed attorney, Ronald Mock, and were not called to testify at trial. Three of the jurors who voted to convict Graham signed affidavits saying they would have voted differently had all of the evidence been available.
II. Counter Argument
I. The Death Penalty is racist.
A. The Death Penalty is unjustified and racist, because 50% of the white do not get killed if they commit a horrible crime, whereas if you were from a different race, they would kill you with a higher percentage.
II. The innocents could be poor.
B.The judge could also sentence someone to jail, even if the convicted person was innocent. The convicted person would not even have a lawyer because they were poor, so they would get hanged for no reason.
III. In conclusion, the death penalty should be abolished from the United States. The death penalty violates the right to life, The death penalty costs more money than life in prison, and The death penalty risks executing the innocent. The death penalty doesn’t prevent or reduce crime, costs a whole lot more than life in prison, and, worst of all, risks executions of innocent people.
New Essay (fixed)
Rock Thao
English 9B
Stumpf
Hour 3
I. Intro
In the United States alone from 1976 to April 24, 2014 there have been a total of 1,378 people executed by the death penalty. From the 1,378 people executed, 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt. A few main reasons is that it violates our right to live, It is costs more money than being condemned to life in prison, and there is always the risk that the death penalty will execute someone innocent.
II. Body
I. Firstly, why the death penalty should be abolished is that the guilty have the right to life.
A. According to Amnesty International, The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human rights. It also violates the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty undermines human dignity which is inherent to every human being.
B. The death penalty is against one of the most basic human rights; the right to life. States need to learn that the right to life is a widely accepted human rights law.
C. Under Article 3 of the UDHR, life is a human right. This makes the death penalty our most fundamental human rights violation. As long as governments have the right to extinguish lives, they maintain the power to deny access to every other right enumerated in the Declaration.
II. Secondly, the death penalty costs more money than life in prison.
A. Study after study has found that the death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process, with the largest costs at the pre-trial and trial stages. The point is to avoid executing innocent people. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.
B. According to Amnesty International, In California the current system costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.
C. In Maryland death penalty cases cost 3 times more than non-death penalty cases, or $3 million for a single case.
III. The death penalty risks executing the innocent.
A. There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,000 people executed since 1976 may also have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients' lives can still be saved.
B. According to Forbes.Com, At least 4 percent of all people who receive the death penalty are innocent.
C. According to DeathPenaltyInfo.Org, On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, despite claims that he was innocent. Graham was 17 when he was charged with the 1981 robbery and shooting of Bobby Lambert outside a Houston supermarket. He was convicted primarily on the testimony of one witness, Bernadine Skillern, who said she saw the killer's face for a few seconds through her car windshield, from a distance of 30-40 feet away. Two other witnesses, both who worked at the grocery store and said they got a good look at the assailant, said Graham was not the killer but were never interviewed by Graham's court appointed attorney, Ronald Mock, and were not called to testify at trial. Three of the jurors who voted to convict Graham signed affidavits saying they would have voted differently had all of the evidence been available.
II. Counter Argument
I. The Death Penalty is racist.
A. According to DeathPenalty.Org, The Death Penalty is unjustified and racist, because 50% of the white do not get killed if they commit a horrible crime, whereas if you were from a different race, they would kill you with a higher percentage.
II. The innocents could be poor.
B.The judge could also sentence someone to jail, even if the convicted person was innocent. The convicted person would not even have a lawyer because they were poor, so they would get hanged for no reason.
III. Conclusion
A. In conclusion, the death penalty should be abolished from the United States. The death penalty violates the right to life, The death penalty costs more money than life in prison, and The death penalty risks executing the innocent. The death penalty doesn’t prevent or reduce crime, costs a whole lot more than life in prison, and, worst of all, risks executions of innocent people.
Last edited by Rock on 2014-05-12, 02:02; edited 1 time in total
