Savannah Lindley

Elaine Decker
Mrs. Henry
Service Learning, Period 4
5 March 2015
Death Penalty Notes
Retribution:
The experience of getting revenge using the death penalty can cause more pain
to the families than it does reliefUsing life without parole allows the families to
get justice for their loved ones without having the constant reminder of their loved
ones death.
Death penalty focuses on the legal consequences, not the consequences it has on
humans.
There are many organizations created by family members of murder victims that
verbalize their belief against the death penalty such as Murder Victims Families
for Reconciliation, Murder Victims Families for Human Rights, and Journey of
HopeFrom Violence to Healing.
The death penalty creates more victims.
Life without parole not only is cheaper for taxpayers but also allows mistakes to
be corrected.
Irrevocable Mistakes:
On average, there have been five exonerations per year from 2000-2007
Those innocent and sentenced to death are held for 10.1 years, on average, before
being exonerated.
Wrongful convictions can be caused due to human error: eyewitness error,
government misconduct, junk science, snitch testimony, and false confessions.
In California alone, there have been three men put on death row that have been
found not guilty: Ernest Graham (locked up for 5 years), Troy Jones (locked up
for 14 years), and Oscar Morris (locked up 17 years).
DNA has been the primary factor for exonerations on 18 casesthese three men
had no DNA evidence.
Cost of Death VS Life in Prison:
Death penalty is more expensive than life without parole due to the long judicial
process capital punishment has due to the constitution.
Life without parole not only ensures an irreversible mistake wont be made but
also provides money that can help benefit the community by going towards
education, roads, police officers and safety programs, after-school programs, drug
and alcohol treatment, child abuse prevention programs, mental health services,
and services for crime victims and their families.
Alone, California could save $1 billion in five years by using life without parole
instead of the death penalty.
California taxpayers pay $90,000 more per death row prisoner each year than on
prisoners in regular confinement (with Californias current 670 on death row,
thats $63.3 million annually).

$4 billion has been spent on capital punishment in California since it was

reinstated ($184 million more is spent on capital punishment due to capital trials,
enhanced security on death row, and legal representation).
A system in which the death-eligible crimes were significantly narrowed would
cost $130 million a year compared to a system which imposes maximum penalty
of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would only cost $11.5
million a year.
Constitutional:
Eighth amendment doesnt prohibit the death penalty, but it does shape certain
procedural aspects regarding when the jury can use it and how it must be carried
out.
The death penalty does violate the eighth amendment if the crime isnt
proportional with the punishmentdeath.