POLS 3700 Lecture : 7
5 May 2018
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Publicized Executions
In line with deterrence, many critics have also asked the question if publicizing
executions will promote violence. According to Welch (2011) and brutalization theory,
publicized executions create an alternative identification process that promotes imitation, not
deterrence. Another fact to take into consideration is the statistic that a majority of murders
happen under acts of passion, anger, and hot-blooded states of mind (Welch, 2011). A person is
extremely not likely to consider the consequences of killing someone based on a past execution,
under these circumstances. When the mind is in a bought of anger, cognitive processes are
disturbed, and past examples of consequences don’t usually come to mind easily.
Financial Costs
Many supporters of the death penalty also claim that financial costs are a reason for
keeping the death penalty. Such supporters say that putting a person to death is much less
expensive than paying for them to stay in prison for the rest of their life. This simply isn’t true
when considering the entire process. On average, to keep a person in jail for a life sentence costs
around one million dollars, considering both imprisonment and the trial process (Welch, 2011).
Although the actual procedure of lethal injection costs around $350, we have to take into
consideration the legal process of a capital punishment trial. Capital trials are far more expensive
for the state to prosecute and for the defendant to defend than non-capital trials due to the
numerous and complex legal issues that must be resolved before the sentence of death can be
imposed. Capital trials are two separate trials: a guilt and a penalty phase. Each of these stages
requires far more preparation and additional resources than non-capital cases. The appeals
process in capital cases is also complex and lengthy, demanding large financial expenditures paid
for by tax dollars (Garey, 1985). The average cost of the court process for capital punishment
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Document Summary
In line with deterrence, many critics have also asked the question if publicizing executions will promote violence. According to welch (2011) and brutalization theory, publicized executions create an alternative identification process that promotes imitation, not deterrence. Another fact to take into consideration is the statistic that a majority of murders happen under acts of passion, anger, and hot-blooded states of mind (welch, 2011). A person is extremely not likely to consider the consequences of killing someone based on a past execution, under these circumstances. When the mind is in a bought of anger, cognitive processes are disturbed, and past examples of consequences don"t usually come to mind easily. Many supporters of the death penalty also claim that financial costs are a reason for keeping the death penalty. Such supporters say that putting a person to death is much less expensive than paying for them to stay in prison for the rest of their life.
