Do You Believe More States Will Abolish Death Penalty?
I believe more states will follow the action taken by Nebraska to abolish the death penalty. First, more states are coming to the realization that the cost of implementing the death penalty is extremely high compared to life imprisonment. Besides, more victims perceive capital punishment as unjust considering the fact that the majority of the people sentenced to be executed stay on the death row for many years without facing the consequences of their actions (Nebraska Votes to Abolish the Death Penalty, 2015).
What Changes Should be Made, if any, Regarding the Death Penalty in the United States?
First, the death penalty should be reserved only for atrocious, heinous, and cruel killers. These are individuals who enjoy torturing their victims and they include the sadistic serial killers, mass murders, paid assassins, and terrorists. Additionally, the standard for establishing the guiltiness of people set to face death penalty should be raised to ensure that the innocent are exonerated. The prosecutors in cases where the death penalty is a possible outcome should go past convincing the judge that the accused person committed the crime. They should show that the defendant deserves to be executed if justice is to be served for the victim. Lastly, the death penalty should be prompt; hence people waiting to be executed should not spend much time on the death row (Casillas et al., 2011).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Should the Supreme Court Reconsider this Issue at the National Level? Why or Why Not?
According to a recent ABC-Washington poll, 52% of the American public believe that capital punishment should be abolished (Nebraska Votes to Abolish the Death Penalty, 2015). On this note, according to Casillas et al., (2011), evidence shows that the Supreme Court decision making process is affected tremendously by public opinion . As such, the Supreme Court should reconsider whether or not death penalty constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment under the Eight Amendment.
In conclusion, more Americans view the death penalty as an inhumane and archaic form of punishment. This is likely to influence many states’ as well as the Supreme Court’s stand on capital punishment.
References
Casillas, C. J., Enns, P. K., & Wohlfarth, P. C. (2011). How public opinion constrains the US Supreme Court. American Journal of Political Science , 55 (1), 74-88.
Nebraska Votes to Abolish the Death Penalty [Video file]. (2015, May 21). Retrieved on February 5, 2017, from http://community.cengage.com/GECResource2/info/b/am_gov/archive/2015/05/21/nebraska-abolishes-death-penalty
