Bibliography

Works Cited

"10 Infamous Cases of Wrongful Execution - Criminal Justice Degrees Guide." Criminal Justice Degrees Guide. Criminal Justice Degrees Guide.com, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"Cameron Todd Willingham." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Capital Punishment." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Cost - Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty." Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty. N.p., 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Murder Rates Nationally and By State." Death Penalty Information Center. DPIC, 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Reasons to Be Against the Death Penalty." Anti Death Penalty.org. N.p., 20 July 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?" ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Vollertsen, Nancy. "Death Penalty Focus." Death Penalty. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Bibliography

Works Cited

"10 Infamous Cases of Wrongful Execution - Criminal Justice Degrees Guide." Criminal Justice Degrees Guide. Criminal Justice Degrees Guide.com, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"Cameron Todd Willingham." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Capital Punishment." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Cost - Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty." Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty. N.p., 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Murder Rates Nationally and By State." Death Penalty Information Center. DPIC, 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Reasons to Be Against the Death Penalty." Anti Death Penalty.org. N.p., 20 July 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?" ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Vollertsen, Nancy. "Death Penalty Focus." Death Penalty. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
"Canada's Prison Population, Costs up Last Year." Toronto Sun. N.p., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/11/canadas-prison-population-costs-up-last-year>.
Canadian Government; Research and Statistics Branch. "Common Menu Bar Links." Correctional Service of Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/forum/e053/e053h-eng.shtml>.
"Corrections Research." Correctional Service of Canada. N.p., 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/forum/e053/e053h-eng.shtml>.
Lowe, Wesley. "Pro Death Penalty." Pro Capital Punishment Page. N.p., 17 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html>.
"Pro Death Penalty." Pro-death Penalty.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/>.
"The StandDown Texas Project." 'The StandDown Texas Project' N.p., 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2012/02/the-cost-of-lethal-injection-drugs.html>.

Miscellaneous Arguments

-R. v. Chaulk; A case which involved a young Robert Chaulk who broke into a man’s house and bludgeoned the owner to death. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was later deemed sane 4 months later. After his release he stabbed then beat his two neighbours on New Year’s Day. Cases like this demonstrate a less than effective Canadian rehabilitation program with a high recidivism rate. If the death penalty were in effect this horrible crime could be stopped and repeat offenders like Robert Chaulk wouldn’t kill again.

-The death penalty can help police gather more information pertaining to a crime through plea bargains.

-It is effective in ending repeat violent offenders. Although the inmates with life imprisonment terms may not be a danger to society they can be very dangerous to other inmates and prison guards. Violent offenders account for a large population of prison gangs who are known to organize and carry out attacks on prison guards and other prisoners.

To Ensure the Innocent are Not Executed

The wrongful execution of someone is not what any judicial system wants, and to ensure that the innocent are acquitted some guidelines would most likely be implemented into capital offence cases. To ensure the innocent are acquitted some basic guidelines (guidelines followed by the American judicial system) would be: more pre-trial time to prepare the case, facts, and evidence, more pre-trial motions are filed and answered, more experts are hired for the case,  twice as many attorneys are appointed for the defence and more lawyers for the prosecution, jurors are questioned as to their views on the death penalty and are more likely to be sequestered. With all of these additions the court needs two trials, one trial for guilt and a second for punishment if originally found guilty of a capital offence. The wrongful conviction can happen in any imperfect judicial system and having an innocent person get a life sentence in jail is exponentially more likely than a wrongful execution when all of these safeguards are implemented.

Resolution

     The clearest and probably best situation to the problem would seem to be life without parole.  The biggest advantage of this system is that it fixes issues with repeat offenders without eliminating the possibility of overturning decisions and executing the innocent.  Life without parole means that the sentence is not limited in extent, so convicts will not be re-released into society to wreak havoc.  This would also mean that we could be tougher on other violent crimes such as rape by upgrading their sentences, so as to eliminate chances of repeat offenders for these crimes and deter future possible offenders.  Life without parole also eliminates the encouragement of killing, retaliation, and violence as a reply to violence in our society  Issues with religions and other ethnic or societal groups would not occur because they do not disagree with life sentencing.  



     In this way Canada would continue to follow international law and be a world forerunner in justice, leaving behind countries such as the United States who prefer to drag themselves down with outdated and traditional methods of punishment.

     Killing is no way to deal with our problems, so leave the death penalty out of our society.

Miscellaneous Issues

     There are also many miscellaneous issues with the death penalty.  One of these issues is cost.  Executions cost 4 times as much as life in prison.  $500 000 versus $2 000 000, that's a lot of tax money down the drain. Executing someone requires them to receive free counsel for defense, multiple chances to appeal, as well as imprisonment in a separate maximum security wing of a prison during their time on death row.  When people consider the cost of the two, they often just think of the cost up front, relatively cheap for a lethal injection compared to keeping someone in prison for life, but the hidden costs for a death penalty case are massive.  The trials alone for death penalty cost about 10x as much as life inprisonment cases, because the system of appeals, government-funded lawyers, and extensive trial lengths cause huge fees.  Investigations are also far more thorough so as to avoid error.



    
     Lawyer incompetence also causes issues.  Since people sentenced to murder who are having the death penalty pursued in their cases have the right free counsel for defense, which basically means a government funded lawyer.  These lawyers, according to American law, are supposed to be some of the most experienced and highly paid in the country.  This makes sense as they are dealing with sensitive and pertinent matters.  Unfortunately, this does not actually occur.  States ignore these standards completely, and death penalty lawyers are some of the worst paid and often have little experience.

     The death penalty is associated with many societies which we as advanced western cultures do not want to share judicial practices with.  Countries in eastern Europe and Asia, as well as south america and northern Africa  where many of today's greatest crimes against humanity are committed still harbor the death penalty.  The United states seems to be an outlier here, and why would we in Canada want to revert to old ways and unacceptable behavior.

     Finally, the death penalty violates international human rights laws.  As a promoter and proud upholder of these laws, it would not be right to turn around and break them within our own borders.

 

Ineffective Canadian Rehabilitation Programs

The Canadian rehabilitation program has proven to be less than effective despite the citizen's pumping tens of millions of tax dollars into it. With a 37.1% readmission rate back into Canadian Prisons among convicts we can conclusively say that our current system is faulty. Canada's focus on rehabilitation among convicts is yet another money sink for Canadian taxpayers. It would make the Canadian public feel uneasy if they knew that the recidivism rates in Canada are at 37.1% among convicts. The only 100% effective way of making sure convicts never commit criminal offences again is through capital punishment. 

The insertion of violent criminals back into the Canadian public should not be allowed when Canadian rehabilitation programs are faulty in functionality. With such a faulty rehabilitation program it is odd that the Canadian government has not looked to a more effective manner of preventing high recidivism rates among violent offenders.  

The Cost of the Death Penalty

The cost of the death penalty is an argument that is frequently brought up when discussing the death penalty. The fact is the lethal injection (the most common choice of state administered death) in Texas in 2011 cost taxpayers $83.35 for the lethal compound, whereas in 2010 StatsCan estimated the average daily cost for a federal inmate as $357 or $130305 a year. Straight out of the taxpayers pockets!

 

This extremely high cost of incarceration shows that the Canadian government is willing to spend an extra more than $3 250 000 for a life term in Canadian prisons. Although the Canadian crime rates are at an all time low since 40 years ago (around the time of abolition of the death penalty) it shows that we spend over three million dollars to incarcerate and ineffectively rehabilitate some one in Canada. Canada currently chooses to spend millions of dollars to have a violent offender inserted back into society where he may return to his previous life of violent crime when we could humanely and cost-effectively ensure the safety of the Canadian people by executing said convict.

General Inneffectiveness

     Possibly the greatest issue with the death penalty is that it is not effective or efficient in deterring violent crimes.  States which have abolished the death penalty have significantly lower murder rates than those which still carry out executions.  People may complain that this is mainly due to the difference in demographics between northern and southern states, but even in neighboring states one using the death penalty and one not, the murder rates are higher in the state using capital punishment.  This is probably due to the fact that murderers care far less what their punishment is, they are murdering someone and know that whether they go to jail for life or are put on death row, they do not have anything else left to do with their life.  Also in Canada, ever since the death penalty was abolished, murder and violent crime rates have dropped consistently.

   Even in neighboring states, the murder rate in death penalty states is significantly higher.

The Death Penalty Acts as an Effective Deterrent in Other Western Countries

The deterrent factor of the death penalty is another cogent argument in favour of Capital Punishment. Capital Punishment acts as a deterrent for violent crimes and there is an indisputable correlation between number of executions in the USA and number of murders. In 1964 the USA executed 56 violent offenders and had 9140 murders nationally. In 1966 the number of executions in the USA totalled just 15 executions and saw 9250 domestic murders. By 1969 the USA had no executions and saw a huge jump in murders totalling 14590 murders. Six years later, after a country’s hiatus from the death penalty the number of murders in the USA hit 20510 murders. From 1965 to 1980 the USA saw their murder rate per 100 000 people double from 5.1 to 10.2. This irrefutable evidence is just another one of the reasons why the Canadian judicial system should implement the death penalty. 

These few years were no outliers in the overall studies and it is proven that the death penalty does have a strong inverse relationship with murder rates in the U.S.A. With Canada's high recidivism rate to indicate a less than effective rehabilitation program we see cases like Robert Chaulk being released following murder charges and murdering 2 more people on New Year's Day. Murders like this can be prevented if Canada reinstated Capital Punishment. 

The death penalty is a warning, just like a lighthouse throwing its beams out to sea. We hear about shipwrecks, but we do not hear about the ships the lighthouse guides safely on their way. We do not have proof of the number of ships it saves, but we do not tear the lighthouse down.  - poet Hyman Barshay

Ethical Controversy

     Another major concern with the death penalty, possibly foremost in the general public's mind is the moral right or wrongness of the death penalty.  From newborn to adult almost all of us are taught the principle that two wrongs don't make a right.  Killing is no exception to this idea simply because it is on a larger scale.  The idea of trading a life for a life, and having punishment alike to the crime comes originally from the code of Hammurabi, an almost 4000 year old document representing the views of our most primitive and basic past civilizations.  Based on these principles, shouldn't we be sexually assaulting all of our rapists?  That does not seem quite right.  As a certain Mahatma Gandhi once said, "an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind".
 


      The use of the death penalty also promotes the use of killing as a way to resolve difficult or extreme situations.  It could prompt people into matters into their own hands, because if killing a person for having killed some one is right, then why shouldn't the family of murder victims simply go after the murderers?  And why shouldn't the murderer's family then kill the murderer of the murderer?  This creates a vicious circle of killing that seems to be never ending, and resembles the behavior of our earliest and most savage ancestors.

     There are also many religions, making up the majority of the Canadian population, which are fundamentally against the death penalty.  It would be outside the comfort zone of many of them if we had death penalty.  The Christian faith, for example, dictates that we should "love our enemy", and he will be judged later when he goes to heaven or hell.  This perspective, though through different belief systems, is also held by the Buddhist and Jewish faiths. 

Wrongful Convictions

     The biggest problem with the death penalty is the possibility of wrongful convictions.  The world has no "necromancers", nobody can be brought back from death.  In other words the death penalty cannot be undone.  Once someone has been wrongfully convicted and put to death, that cannot be compensated.  It is surprisingly common for people on death row to be acquitted or have their charges dismissed.  Since 1976, 82 inmates have been released from death row in the U.S., coming to 1 released for every 7 executed.



This is a chart of the spread of wrongful convictions cases in CA.  42% of them are for Murder related trials, showing that cases involving major crimes are more likely to have a wrong decision.

   The wrongful convictions also sometimes deal with racism and prejudice.  Studies have shown that a black man and a Caucasian man on trial for the same thing have very different likelihoods of conviction.  About 50% of men sentenced to death are black, where only 20% are white.  Especially in states where racism still defines everyday life, this is a huge problem because juries and judges, as much as we wish they were impartial, do have their biases.  University of Iowa professor David Baldus published a study examining more than 2,000 homicides that took place in Georgia beginning in 1972. They found that black defendants were 1.7 times more likely to receive the death penalty than white defendants and that murderers of white victims were 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks.  Baldus also discovered that although blacks and whites are victims of homicide in relatively equal numbers nationwide in the United States, roughly 80% of people receiving the death penalty had killed white victims.  In Texas, out of 470 executions since the death penalty was reinstated, only one involved the murder of a black man by a white man.  Similar to this issue is the issue of mental instability or disability, which is often used successfully as a defense.  In murder trials decisions are often taken too quickly for proper analysis of the accused's mental state, meaning that people who murdered due to an unstable mental condition are executed.  

     On February 17 2004, American Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas on the legal grounds of having murdered his three children with arson.  5 years later, in 2009 the case was revisited, and courts found that there was no reason to be suspicious of arson, based on their thoughts, and the input of professional fire-investigators.  Had Cameron been in jail, on a life sentence, this would have provided the basis for a new trial and the acquittal of the accused, however Cameron was not in jail he was dead and this cannot be undone.