The death penalty is not a surefire way to punish criminals. Another reason to oppose the death penalty is that there is always the chance that the defendant is wrongly convicted and put to death. Jury members may avoid the death penalty for this very reason. ... DNA testing has improved identification, and in fact, in 1993, Kirk Bloodsworth became the first death row inmate to be released after DNA cleared him of murder. ... If the death penalty does not deter crime, why should there have a death penalty? ...

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The death penalty is costly do to the appeals process. ... DNA testing has death row inmates from blame. ... DNA testing became available only in the early 1990's, due to advancements in science. If this testing had not been discovered until ten years later, many of these inmates would have been executed. And if DNA testing had been applied to earlier cases where inmates were executed in the 1970s and 80s, the odds are high that it would have proven that some of them were innocent as well. ...

• Word Count: 1092
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• Grade Level: High School

Secondly, why does the death penalty for juveniles remain? How often is the death penalty given to juveniles and what if any are the profiles of juveniles on death row? ... Juveniles and the Death Penalty. ... The Supreme Court's Narrow Majority To Narrow The Death Penalty. ... Currently, the US Supreme Court's death penalty jurisprudence ...

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Debating about the death penalty allowed numerous ideas to be discussed. ... This type of death is clearly not cruel because the state is offering the civil form of the most severe penalty, death. ... The death penalty is an expensive act that provides no benefit. ... However, it is not necessary for every state to require such expensive testing. ... In addition, this testing does not bring into account whether evidence was tainted by other fibers or contamination found at the crime scene. ...

• Word Count: 1591
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• Grade Level: High School

Jones was convicted in 1989 before DNA tests were available, but when they were made available in 2000, the request for a DNA test was ignore, and Jones was executed. In 2007, the Innocence Project filed a law suit requesting for the hair so that it could undergo DNA testing. ... However, the death penalty is more than just faulty. ... The reasoning for this is that people fear death, and that fear of death would make a person think twice before committing a serious crime. ... Since the death penalty was reinstated, 87 people put on death row were later freed because they were proven to ...

• Word Count: 1445
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• Grade Level: High School

There has been some form of death penalty in the world throughout history. ... We can see many mistakes have been made in sentencing people to death. ... Therefore, advancements in science and DNA testing has changed the destiny of the innocent suspects dramatically. DNA testing became available in 1995, due to advances in science. ... The death penalty should be abolished all over the world. ...

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James Liebman released the first phase of their study on the death penalty in the United States. ... In the early 1970's, the chief argument in favor of the death penalty was its assumed deterrence of crime. ... Unfortunately, retribution is a non-empirical justification and thus makes it impossible to test with empirical data, making the calculation of how much punishment a criminal "deserves" more of a moral issue than of a legal one (Radelet and Borg 2000). ... The article alone does not provide enough evidence that the death penalty system is flawed. ... The slight downward trend ...

• Word Count: 1333
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The death penalty has been shown to be a very discriminate consequence. ... Feeling the guilt would become worse a punishment than death. ... Most of all the death penalty doesn't deter crime! ... DNA testing has proved that some people were not guilty after execution. ... Worst of all, their death is probably a cruel and unusual one....

• Word Count: 759
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• Grade Level: High School

I for one do believe in the death penalty. ... Kendall was put to death for being a spy for Spain. ... The concept is very simple, the death penalty prevents a murder by putting the fear of death into would be killers. ... In 1992, his lawyer asked for a more sophisticated testing on the evidence. The DNA test showed that there was no semen of Bloodworth's on the little girl's clothes and on stick found near her. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

It is the Death penalty that can accomplish this. ... These types of tests have been used to convict criminals and were thought to be a great way to exonerate them as well. ... Richard Willing writes that there was a program offered in New Jersey for felons to undergo free DNA testing. However, they gave up on the program because only twelve inmates applied for the testing. Out of the twelve takers for the testing only three of them were death-row inmates (Willing par 4). ...

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• Grade Level: High School

Justice O'Connor concurred, but pointed out that Oklahoma's death penalty statute set no minimum age at which the death penalty could be imposed. ... In both cases, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty sentence. ... The Stanford plurality rejected the third part of the test, namely, that the punishment is disproportionate to the severity of the crime and makes no measurable contribution to the deterrence of crime. ... There are currently 83 death row inmates (all male) sentenced as juveniles constituting about 2.25% of the total death row population. ... - They are on death...

• Word Count: 2175
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The death penalty debate has long been part of our nation's history. ... The death penalty remains a controversial issue and there are people who stand on both sides on the issue regarding the death penalty. ... As of December 31, 2011 there were 58 women on death row. ... By a wide margin, the American public believes that the most significant development in the death penalty in recent years has been the advent of DNA testing and the proof that many who were sentenced to death were innocent. DNA-based death row exonerations have influenced the public's view, but the recent case o...

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The death penalty has been used through out history. ... "On June 1, 2000, Governor Bush issued a 30-day stay of execution to convicted murderer Ricky McGinn, for DNA testing. ... The DNA tests came back in positive in August, and a new September execution date was set for McGinn" (txexecutions 2001). ... One of the main weapons challenging the death penalty is the use of, DNA testing or evidence. DNA testing has been around for quite a few years now, but only recently has the testing methods improved and used to prove someone's innocence or guilt. ...

• Word Count: 2355
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• Grade Level: High School

Not only the ridiculous cost of executing these convicts but the prisoners on death row stay on death row for 10 to 30 years before they actually get put to death. ... However, in 2014 seven people were exonerated due to new evidence or DNA testing. DNA testing only became available in the early 1990s. After DNA testing became available it caused a spike in exonerations, from 1993 to 2012 there was an average of 23 exonerations each year. ... The death penalty is not a proven deterrent to future murder. ...

• Word Count: 949
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• Grade Level: High School

In January 2000, thirteen innocent people were discovered on death row. ... Death is permanent, forever, and irreversible. Forensic evidence is now much more scientific with the use of DNA testing. ... Unfortunately, many states do not offer DNA testing, and little evidence is available. ... Although many scientific methods have been advanced, such as DNA testing and forensic studies, witnesses are still regarded highly although their memories may have been traumatically distorted, or they may just be plainly lying. ...

• Word Count: 977
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Should the United States abolish the death penalty due to the enormous financial deficit that comes with keeping someone on death row? ... We have come along way with technological advancements with evidence, such as DNA testing. It's not too long ago where science has evolved where scientists have perfected DNA testing in reference to murder and homicide cases. It's unfortunate for those innocent people who have been executed before DNA testing was discovered. But as for now there have been several cases where DNA testing has ruled out those convicted and sentenced for a crime they...

• Word Count: 2043
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the event that the death penalty is implemented in all the states and is carried through in a fast and consistent manner, then the death penalty would also serve as a deterrent. ... Even in criminal subcultures, for example the Mafia, death (the death penalty) is a very dominant and influential deterrent, even among career criminals where not many will betray the ones in charge, for they know the consequence would be immediate death (Lowe, 2000). ... Another source, besides the Constitution, that promotes and implies that the punishment for murder is death, and that the death penalty is a...

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Capital punishment is punishment by death for committing a crime. ... The court had banned the death penalty as it was then imposed. ... Once abolished, the death penalty is seldom reintroduced. ... Rakoff, a New York Judge, made this decision at a time where DNA testing and other technological advancements flourish in the court of law to help inmates challenge rulings and convictions. It was reported in the USA Today that because of DNA testing, 12 death-row inmates have been freed. ...

• Word Count: 1346
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It is proven through DNA tests that sixty-seven people were sent to prison and death row for crimes they did not commit. ... It is referred to as the "DNA fingerprint test (pg.36)." ... Despite denying the crimes later, he was convicted and sentenced to two death penalties plus 725 years. ... Secret tests were done on the suspect for these crimes, Ronald Lott. ... In the next chapter, the stories of those who are wrongly convicted and sent to death row are told. ...

• Word Count: 1796
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• Grade Level: High School

The death penalty has not remained constant throughout American History . ... (Ivers434) This case temporarily suspended the death penalty, showing that the laws that were established for the death penalty needed to be fixed, because they were in violation of the eighth and fourteenth amendments, therefore suspending the death penalty... The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death -- something which is rather permanent for humans, due to the concept of mortality. ... There are many questions about the death penalty. ... Georgia, which had suspended the death penalty. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

The issue has received additional scrutiny recently due to modern day scientific advances, specifically the advance in the availability of and the precision of DNA testing. ... They also show that public opinion changes when a sentencing alternative is suggested, "When given an explicit alternative to the death penalty- life imprisonment with no chance for parole- the percentage of Americans favoring the death penalty drops to near 50 percent." ... Ryan declared a moratorium on the executions of all Illinois death row inmates. ... The state of Illinois, facing exonerating evidence, has set ...

• Word Count: 2477
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Currently there are approximately 3,500 inmates on death row in thirty-eight states that have adopted the death penalty. ... "In an execution in this country the test ought not to be reasonable doubt; the test ought to be is there any doubt." ... The continually growing number of prisoners on death row reflects a rise in the number of death sentences being imposed. ... In 1987, he was granted a retrial but was again sentenced to death. ... Later a DNA test would exonerate Williams and the other men. ...

• Word Count: 2692
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• Grade Level: High School

Another strong and compelling issues is the possibility of innocent death. ... DNA testing on biological samples such as skin, 3 saliva, semen, blood or hair has proven their innocence with great accuracy. ... Radelet, Bedau, and Putman Punishment And The Death Penalty (96). ... In the book Death And Discrimination by Gross and Mauro, research done by Harold Garfinkel concluded that, "defendants who kill whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kil...

• Word Count: 1323
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Also the death penalty is a long and costing process . A prisoner can spend a long time is prison while on death row. ... The test for deterrence is not that executions produce lower murder rates, but that executions produce fewer murders than if the death penalty did not exist. ... (Sharp) There is direct proof that the death penalty does save lives. ... which has currently put them on death row. ...

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That alone makes anyone think twice about using the death penalty. ... Now the death penalty has grown into a national phenomenon. ... It's like telling a person on death row that we are sentencing you to death to prevent people from doing the same thing. ... Imagine a psychological test for high school students where it is shown that those who fail are as likely to commit a future crime as are those arrested for having committed that crime in the past. ... If it is right to kill to prevent a future crime, then we are just as justified to kill 4...

• Word Count: 2619
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• Grade Level: High School