The Death Penalty: To Be Or Not To Be...

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Although the media have played an important role in raising the public's
awareness of lawlessness, crime in America is far from a media - created
phenomenon. Government statistics support the image of a nation which has
overwhelmingly lost the war against crime. For instance, in 1960 there were 161
reported violent crimes per 100,000 people By 1992, the figure had jumped to 758
per 100,000 -- a rise of over 350 %.
More and more people today are starting to think that something is
terribly wrong when a modern, civilized nation must confront statistics like
these. The American public is demanding an end to this violence, and surveys
show that they believe swift and harsh punishment is the most appropriate and
effective means to these ends.
The death penalty, or as it is sometimes being called " capital
punishment " is the hardest punishment that could be received when a person is
convicted of a capital offense. Until recently it did not exist in New York
State but ...

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and from the
results of numerous surveys, a quite large number of people who supported George
Pataki, were doing that mainly because of this part of his program.
But does having a death penalty law actually help keeping the crime
rates down? The answer is in the statistics: it turns out that the violent crime
rates in New York State did not go down for the past year since the death
penalty law was in effect. Another thing that would surprise those who support
death penalty is it's price. The fact is: each death penalty case costs about
2.3 million dollars. That is three times more than a price for keeping a person
in a prison for the rest of his life. Here is what Mr. C.Hoppe ...

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