Limiting Death Row Appeals :: essays research papers

Limiting Death Row AppealsThe Constitution of the United States outlines the rights of a personaccused of a crime. The individual has a right to a trial and to be judged by ajury of his peers. When the result of a trial is a guilty verdict and theindividual is sentenced to closing, the individual has a right to appeal theverdict and the sentence. At the present time, there atomic number 18 virtually no limits onthe number of appeals the individual is entitled to and the border could take divisions. on that pointfore, the operate should be altered to limit the number of appealsto one.The arrogant Court of the United States re-instituted the death penaltyin 1976. Between that year and 1995, 314 inmates have been executed in the 37states, districts, and providences of the United States that allow the deathpenalty. There atomic number 18 more than 3100 inmates on death row. The majority ofexecutions be of white males. Most executions are by lethal injection orelectrocution. In the years since the Supreme Court re-instituted the deathpenalty with 1994, there have been approximately 467,000 homicides in theUnited States. Based on that number, 2.8 tribe will die every hour at the pass of another person.Death row inmates are often on death row for years, some upwards oftwenty years. This puts great financial inventory on taxpayers money. While inprison, inmates have many privileges, including cable television, the venture topursue a college degree, and free health care, all at taxpayers expense. Thereare many law-abiding citizens who dont get in these benefits. It is appalling tothink these people have a virtual disembodied spirit of leisure while in prison. There aresome death penalty opponents who believe that convicts dont get enoughprivileges and lobby for better living conditions and the rights of theconvicted felons. Lost in this fanatic pursuit of human rights are therights of the dead victim and those of that victims family.The appeal process i s lengthy and time-consuming. The appeal process isalmost automatic for individuals sentenced to death. Many appeals are filed bythe convicts in hopes of overturning their conviction or to change theirsentence to life imprisonment. Although a great majority of these cases arehandled pro bono by lawyers ethically opposed to the death penalty, noconsideration is taken in pry to the cost to taxpayers for the local, state,and federal government to respond to and process these appeals. A forgetful knownfact about the appeals process is that many states have laws providing silver forthe legal defense and appeals for convicted felons.