Persuasive Speech Assignment

Persuasive Speech Assignment

General Purpose Statement: To persuade

Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my audience that the death penalty should be abolished

Specific Action Step: Providing materials and information about why the death penalty is not justifiable as a way of deterring or punishment for crime.

Introduction

By a show of hands, how many of you support capital punishment? And how many are against? Every day, people are executed and sentenced to death by the state as a punishment for a variety of crimes and sometimes for acts that should not be criminalized. In some countries, it can be for drug-related offenses, in others, it is reserved for terrorism-related acts and murder. Amnesty International recorded at least 2,531 death sentences in 54 countries in 2018, a slight decrease from the total of 2,591 reported in 2017 (“Why Amnesty Opposes the Death Penalty Without Exception,” n.d.). Lethal injection is currently the primary method of execution in all 29 states that have capital punishment (“States and Capital Punishment,” 2019). Texas was the first state to use the method in 1982. Secondary methods of execution include electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, nitrogen hypoxia, and firing squad (“States and Capital Punishment,” 2019). The death penalty may seem like a great idea, but did you know that it is available in 29 states? The killing of a criminal is something that is permitted by the government, and that is very wrong. Every human deserves the chance at life, no matter what they have done, and we cannot take that right away. Capital punishment does not allow for rehabilitation or repentance. If the person is killed, they are denied an opportunity to mend their ways.

Transition: We will look at the three main reasons why capital punishment should be abolished, beginning with its ineffectiveness in deterring crime.

1. Studies show that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. Because of this, many feel that the death penalty should be banned. Everyone deserves the right to life, and that means an attempt to rehabilitate rather than kill, must be made, even in extreme cases.
   1. There is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment.
   2. A report by the National Research Council, titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty, stated that studies claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should not be used when making policy decisions (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
   3. Consistent with previous years, the 2016 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the South had the highest murder rate. The South accounts for over 80% of executions. The Northeast, which has less than 1% of all executions, had the lowest murder rate (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
   4. According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country’s top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
   5. A reason why it does not deter crime is possible because it is relatively rarely enforced and because it takes so long for a convict to be executed, it does not make people afraid to commit capital offenses.

Transition: a death penalty is the ultimate, cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment for anyone. The justice system, like any other system, is prone to error, which takes us to the next point.

1. The death penalty is irreversible, and mistakes happen
   1. According to Amnesty International, since 1973, there have been more 160 prisoners sent to death row in the United States that have later been exonerated or released from death row on the grounds of innocence. Others have been executed despite serious doubts about their guilt (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
   2. From 1973-1999, there was an average of 3 exonerations per year. From 2000-2011, there was an average of 5 exonerations per year (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).

Transition: Lastly, it is crucial to know how the cost of capital punishment compares with other forms of punishment in various states.

• The death penalty is more expensive than other forms of punishment.
  1. A 2011 study conducted in California revealed that the cost of the death penalty in the state had been over $4 billion since 1978 (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
  2. In Oklahoma, the capital cases cost more than 3.2 times more than non-capital cases.
  3. In Florida, it costs over $51 million annually to enforce the death penalty above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
  4. A 1993 study conducted in North Caroline indicates that the death penalty costs the state $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).
  5. In the state of Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years (DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER, 2019). defense costs for death penalty trials in Kansas averaged about $400,000 per case, compared to $100,000 per case when the death penalty was not sought. (“Facts about the Death Penalty,” 2019).

Conclusion

In summary, the death penalty will always be controversial, but evidence shows us that Capital punishment does not allow for rehabilitation or repentance of those convicted. However, there are those of the opinion that some people cannot be rehabilitated and that these people should be subjected to death or that certain crimes require stiffer punishment for deterrence and that capital punishment is the ultimate deterrent. The death penalty should be abolished. It is costly and decidedly unjust. It has never proven effective as a deterrent, except in pushing plea bargains. The appeals process and the length of the time an inmate is on death row is extremely expensive for the government. Abolishing the death penalty would save the government money, reduce the risk of killing innocent people, and it would be a sign of respect for human rights. Every human deserves the chance at life, no matter what they have done, and we cannot take that right away.

References

Facts about the Death Penalty. (2019, May 31). Death Penalty Information Center. https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/documents/FactSheet.pdf

States and Capital Punishment. (2019, June 12). Legislative News, Studies, and Analysis | National Conference of State Legislatures. https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx

Why Amnesty Opposes the Death Penalty Without Exception. (n.d.). Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/