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.