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Law Assignment: Final Paper Student: Nathan Pollution Due Date: 05/07/2013 “Death Penalty In Maryland” Introduction Maryland has reinstated the death penalty In 1978 as an option for people convicted of felony homicide. Since that time, only five convicts have been put to death and five are currently awaiting their execution. There is so much publicity available debating whether or not a death penalty is effective as it used to be in older days. Www. Urban. Org). There are other important issues that are discussed In this paper as well: cost of death penalty versus cost of a life without parole, victims’ efferent perspectives on death penalty, current Maryland law abolishing death penalty discussion, theory of innocence and my personal opinion. Cost- Effectiveness: the Death Penalty vs.. Life without parole Death penalty In general is a very cost-effective process.
Most people believe that once a person receives a death penalty, he or she will be executed pretty quickly. It is not necessarily true, however. Every person regardless of received sentence is entitled to apply for every possible appeal that criminal Justice system has to offer. Most convicted felons do not have uncial ability to pay for their representations and for fling their appeals. An attorney should be provided by the court.
There are more procedures must be involved in most death penalty cases: Necessary pre-trial preparations Pre-trial motions filed and answered Sometimes more experts need to be hired by both prosecution and the defense Most death penalty appeal cases two defense attorneys need to be hired Long and complex Jury selection More additional scientific investigation must be conducted Most importantly: multiple appeals that can last decades must be exhausted before execution really happens. (www. Madame. Org) Therefore, life without parole would be considered to be less expensive after learning about death penalty lengthy and costly procedures.
However, it might not completely be true belief as well. If a convicted person lives his full life behind the prison walls, then there are different cost effective Issues appear. First of all, most prisons are overcrowded as we all know It. To build new facilities in order to hold more prisoners would cost us tremendous amounts of tax-payers money. This would mean that we need to hire more prison guards, deiced personnel, purchase more equipment, and pay for maintenance of those facilities. This would cause to more endless spending.
Healthcare of prisoners, food, clothes, transportation are very expensive considering that life without parole really means “life” and not three or five years. In my opinion, it is not clear even today what 1 OFF believe that they both are very expensive in their own way. However they both serve the main purpose in the end is to keep convicted felons away from our society forever. New Maryland Law: Abolishing the death penalty In 2013 Maryland has officially became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty.
According to our governor Maloney the death penalty is wasteful, ineffective and does not deter crime from happening (www. Saturdays. Com/publications). These are very powerful words coming from a powerful government official. However, what was most appealing and most believable to me is what governor Maloney expresses next. He believes that we should rather spend money on crime prevention and victim’s compensations than on costly death penalty procedures and appeals. (www. Saturdays. Com/publications). However, in Gail Ewing article, her opinion is very clear: “The appeals process is the problem, not the execution.
The right thing to do is to keep the death penalty and to improve the appeals process to ensure that the execution happens in a reasonable amount of time” (whom. Gazette. Net). The biggest question remains is once the death penalty is abolished, will the money really go where governor Maloney said it would: to crime prevention and victim’s compensations? The death penalty was a very powerful way to bring the Justice to the victim’s families in the state of Maryland. What will happen now after the Death penalty is abolished? What about the victim’s families and their cry for Justice?
This statement brings us to next very important topic of our discussion: the victims and their different perspectives on the death penalty. Victims’ Families: different perspectives on the death penalty According to Gail Awning’s fascinating article on death penalty, victim’s families are naturally entitled to seek revenge against the killers of their loved ones. It is perfectly natural for us to wish to take life of perpetrators who have taken a life of an innocent Emily member. If my husband or my child is murdered, there will be no Justification or excuse for the killer’s actions.
The life of a loved one has tragically ended by the murderer, and then I would wish nothing more than ending his life as well. It does not bring our loved ones back, but it is surely produces some closure for everyone who will be mourning the great loss for years to come. Interestingly enough, some victim’s families are against the death penalty as a punishment method. They believe that putting killers to death would be considered an easy and quick way out for them. Most murderers do not experience any remorse toward people they killed or the victim’s families. Www. Madame. Org). Therefore, to die by the means of a deadly injection would mean escaping very harsh prison environment for the rest of their lives. Moreover, some victim’s families also believe that spending life in horribly violent prison environment would make perpetrators suffer more and hopefully reflect on their wrong-doing for the rest of their miserable lives without any chance of getting out. For example, most cruel prison gangs very often eventually impose heir punishments of child molesters or child rapist in very violent ways (www. Madame. Org).
Bottom line is that maximum security prisons are not picnics for Innocence: a concern or a myth? Before the DNA technology was even in a spotlight, many convictions were decided based on the eyewitness testimonies which are even today considered to be very unreliable source of evidence. However, it is also true that with Dona’s help, there have been 303 post-conviction exoneration’s in the United States. 18 of the 303 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row. Windscreen’s]etc. Org). Some of these cases happened in our Maryland as well. Kirk Bloodshot, for example, was once sentenced to death.
He was later released when DNA analysis proved that he did not commit the rape and murder. Later in 2003, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney finally used the DNA evidence and the real perpetrator was convicted for that crime. (www. Madame. Org). Now retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra day O’Connor has stated that the Judicial system “may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed. (www. Madame’s. Org). However, it is a much known fact that DNA analysis does not only help the defendants in their cases, but it also can prove guilt as well.
Therefore, in most high profile cases where the capital punishment could be used, it is prosecution’s Job to present sufficient DNA evidence in order to prove beyond the reasonable doubt that defendant is in fact guilty of his or hers committed crime. DNA testing does that perfectly well: helps to prove beyond the reasonable doubt if a defendant is guilty. My Personal View I have always been supportive of the death penalty as a proper form of enmeshment for the most horrible crimes until the recent times when some states have abolished their death penalty for whatever reason.
The whole “trend” of abolishing the death penalty got me very confused. It got me really thinking whether or not the death penalty has outlived itself and if we really need it in the nearest future. On one hand if a person serves life without parole, he or she will never cause harm to anyone. On the other hand, if I was a victim’s relative, I would definitely want the offender to pay the price with his own life. It would really bring Justice and accessory closure to me and my family. Does it really deter crimes from happening? In my opinion, it does not.
Most perpetrators do not know about the laws and most of them simply do not care if the state currently has the death penalty in place. I also wanted to know why some states have abolished it. Therefore, I have conducted some research and I have gotten convinced that the death penalty is a very costly and very lengthy process. The death penalty does not stop crimes from happening and there is still possibility of executing innocent people. However, these very important seasons have not convinced me completely to be against the death penalty.
The main reason why I think death penalty should not be abolished is because of recent shooting case in Connecticut, and most recent horrific event of bombing in Boston. I should add our local tragedy from not so long ago: the DC snipers. The death penalty should be kept for the most heinous crimes, such as, terrorist attacks, mass murders felony murder has sufficient amount of aggravated factors, such the way a person was killed, how many shots were fired or how many stab wounds were inflicted.
Moreover, premeditation and deliberation must be proven to be present at the time the crime was committed. If all these factors are backed up with strong physical evidence such as DNA analysis, then I do not see why not the offender should not put to death. In spite of the current abolishment of the death penalty in Maryland, I believe that final decision should come from the people’s votes. Maryland citizens should have the right to express their final word about the death penalty. And if the final votes will be against the death penalty, then our governor was re-elected for a good reason.