The Slow Death of the Death Penalty - the Economist

Colton Rothwell

Mrs. Whepley

Honors English 2, 8th Hour

November 7, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

“The Slow Death of the Death Penalty.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 26 Apr. 2014, www.economist.com/news/united-states/21601270-america-falling-out-love-needle-slow-death-death-penalty.

The author writes about two view points, giving information for supporters and negators of the death penalty. Older white men are big defenders of execution. The 60 percent of supporters in the United States believe capital punishment deters murderers, but this type of punishment is becoming less popular. One main reason of this is the concern of cost and efficiency of the lethal injections given. It is more expensive to execute than to put in prison. Another main argument against the death penalty is that juries make mistakes sometimes when deciding somebody’s verdict. Also, homicide rates in the U.S. have declined. To this day, only 32 states use capital punishment.

It explains both sides of the arguments over capital punishment. There is no bias towards one direction of this big dispute. This was more of an article to find facts, than an article to create an actual argument. When people read this, they will be able to see two different perspectives, and think of which one relates to them most.

“Mississippi, Pennsylvania Courts Grant New Trials to Wrongly Condemned Prisoners;New Report Documents ‘Dramatic Rise’ in Republican Support for Death Penalty Repeal; DPIC Analysis: Execution Trends Continue to Decline in 2017.” DPIC | Death Penalty Information Center, 1 Nov. 2017, deathpenaltyinfo.org/

Misleading testimonies and mistakes in court has changed the way people think about the death penalty. Republican support has dramatically declined, and they are now looking to repeal it. Now, execution trends are continuing to decline in 2017. First, a couple court cases in Mississippi and Pennsylvania have given prisoners new trials, due to wrong evidence. The evidence originally found had no scientific validity, and had changed their original verdict of being condemned to the death penalty. Recently, reports of Republican support for repeal have gone up. According to most Republicans, the death penalty is “broken”. Support has gone down about 10% within the last year. However, the number of executions has declined. Juries are giving less death sentences than ever before. Capital punishment is now being replaced with more life sentences without parole.

These few articles show what is currently going on in the United States. Using data and evidence, the reports explained are pointing out the few wrong things with the death penalty. You can read about the many possible mistakes that happen during court trials, and the way support can affect how many executions can occur. In our daily life, this information is important because it shows how capital punishment can change the courts, the people, and even politics in the United States.