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1 Death Penalty vs. Life in Prison: Which is Humane? According to the Cornell University Law School, “Most often mentioned in the context of the death penalty, the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments” (“Eight”). This illustrates that the Eighth Amendment is against the execution of innocent and mental disabled inmates. The jury has to follow the Eight Amendment procedures in order to sentence an inmate to death. “The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that a penalty must be proportional to the crime; otherwise, the punishment violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments” (“Eight”). A criminal should be punished according to the level of crime committed. If an inmate commits capital crime of murder, the jury might decide sentence to death. However, there are many other aspects that should be considered before executing an inmate that includes mental and physical disability of an inmate. According to Ethan A. Wilkinson, a writer for journal Law & Psychology Review, “This trend would ultimately culminate in the categorical exemption of the intellectually disabled from execution as protection from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment” (324). This illustrates that the Eighth Amendment has a significant role in death penalty decision because it stops the jury to execute inmates with mental disability. This leads to two different ways to give punishment to criminals that include death sentence or life in prison. These punishments will be further examined to determine which punishment has deterred crime (murders) or the crime that involves the death of victims. Life in prison and death penalty will be evaluated based on three criteria; which type of punishment is cost effective, the effects of punishment on society and family, and risk of innocents and mentally disabled inmates to get executed. Before evaluating the types of punishment, the United States has had a history with a situation of death penalty becoming a legal penalty in Texas. According to Cornell University

2 Law School, death penalty is defined as, “Congress or any state legislature may prescribe the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, for murder and other capital crimes” (“Death penalty”). This illustrates that the criminals committing murders intentionally or death of a victim, these are considered as capital crime and the punishment announced to them is stated as death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Texas was the first U.S. state to carry out an execution by lethal injection, executing Charles Brooks on December 7, 1982. Texas is first in the number of executions carried out in the United States since 1976” (“Texas”). This illustrates that decades ago, capital punishment in Texas was undertaken by an injection of drug that condemned to death. All the following information comes from the Death Penalty Information Center. Counties in Texas carried out execution by hanging prior to 1923. After 1923, all executions in the state of Texas were carried out by the means of electric chair. In 1992, the number of executions in Texas increased rapidly, by executing 64 prisoners in four years. In 2005, the death penalty in Texas declined because Texas changed the law in which the murderers were sentenced to life in prison instead of death penalty. They were ineligible for parole and this resulted in large number of natural death than the number of death penalty. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice stopped serving special meals to the condemned prisoners in 2011. From 2005 to 2015, death penalty declined but didn’t stop completely. In 2016, Texas has condemned seven people to death (“Texas”). However, in the United States, especially the state of Texas still continue death sentence as a legal penalty for serious crimes. Now that some fundamental history has been explained about death penalty, the same attention needs to be given to life in prison. According to Andrew Clark, a reporter for Time, “In the U.S. there are basically two kinds of life sentences: with or without the possibility of parole.” This illustrates depending upon the type of crime committed; the criminals are sentenced to life

3 in prison with parole or without parole. Life in prison without parole which leads to natural death of inmates instead of criminals sentenced to death. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “Calling the 1990s ‘the punishing decade,’ JPI noted that the imprisoned population grew at a faster rate during the 1990s than during any decade in recorded history. The prison growth during the 1990s dwarfed the growth in any previous decade; it exceeded the prison growth of the 1980s by 61 percent and is nearly 30 times the average prison population growth of any decade before the 1970s” (“Ethical Consideration”). This illustrate that in 1990s the prisons were overcrowded and also indirectly indicates increased in the number of crime rates. The research also shows that mentally ill inmates live in prison for longer period and face vindictive problems (“Ethical Consideration”). Hence, life in prison will be evaluated in detailed further. The first and the most significant criterion is cost that determines which type of punishment; criminal sentenced to death or sentenced to life in prison is cost effective. There are numerous ways in which one could determine cost, but this evaluation will include operation cost and cost of judgment. The cost of operating prison for inmates sentenced to life in prison is precisely stated by Death Penalty Information Center, “The average cost to house an inmate in Texas prisons is $47.50 per day, according to Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Thus it would cost about $17,340 to house an inmate for a year and $693,500 for 40 years” (“Costs”). This illustrates that the cost to house an inmate sentenced to life in prison for decades’ results to be a large amount. The cost of operating prison not only includes housing cost but also the basic requirements of an inmate. According to the United States Department of Justice, “Other operating costs covered a wide variety of outlays, such as inmate health care, food, utilities, supplies, fees, commissions, and contractual services” (“State

4 Prison” 4). The inmates sentenced to life in prison are provided by the maintenance of physical and mental health, food to survive, electricity, water, and other essential requirements, those are the vast expenses to carry out the operation. “On average nationwide, State departments of correction spent $2.62 to feed inmates each day” (“State Prison” 7). Above all, the cost incurred to operate prison for an inmate sentenced to life in prison that includes housing cost, feeding, health care, and utilities, etc., can vary person to person because the cost seems high, but they may not be when death penalty reality are examined. Likewise, to the operation costs of prison for inmates sentenced to life in prison, inmates sentenced to death have certain operation costs which are far more expensive. According to Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, “Felons sentenced to life in prison may eventually be placed in the general population, but death row inmates are virtually always housed in administrative segregation, or solitary confinement, which costs more per day due to heightened security.” This illustrates that death row inmates’ maintenance costs per day are significantly more due to higher security whereas the maintenance costs of criminals sentenced to life in prison costs much less. While incarceration, inmates are placed together in a prison cell and do not need highest security. In case of death penalty, according to Christopher Reinhart, chief attorney at the Connecticut General Assembly, “Death row inmates are held in single cells while life without parole inmates are in double celled housing.” As death row inmates has certain restrictions or control and are constantly supervised by security guards. According to Kelly Phillips Erb, a reporter for Forbes, “Housing prisoners on death row costs more than twice as much per year ($49,380) as for prisoners in the general population ($24,690).” This illustrates that housing cost for two inmates sentenced to life in prison will be cheaper than housing one inmate sentenced to death because of shared cells and shared security. As a result, the operating

5 cost of prison for inmates sentenced to death is significantly more expensive due to heightened security as compared to incarceration. In addition to the operation cost of prison, cost of judgment is a major cost to draw an outcome of an inmate involved into capital cases whether he is guilty or not. There are several reasons that results death penalty judgment cost millions. According to Logan Carver, a news reporter at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, “The cost for the trial team alone — which comprises two attorneys, an investigator and a mitigator — was $250,000. That does not include the cost of experts, security and court personnel during the five-week trial, Stoffregen said. Seeking death in this instance was certain to cost more money than a life sentence.” This illustrates that after the capital case is taken into consideration the initial cost of death penalty trials to hire attorneys and investigators to further investigate the case and to assemble the evidence are significantly expensive. “They found that jury selection could take as much as a month longer in death penalty trials and cost roughly $200,000 more than in other murder trials. As support for the death penalty declines, Mitchell said, it takes longer — more paid hours on the part of attorneys, the judge, and court staff — to find twelve jurors who are willing to impose the punishment” (Chammah). This illustrates that the jury selection for death penalty trials is time consuming and costly. If the trial prolongs after the expected period of time, the related cost to pay attorneys and the court judge also increases. “From indictment to execution, the trial costs alone for a death penalty case are estimated at about $1.2 million, said Jack Stoffregen, who runs the West Texas Regional Public Defender’s Office for Capital Cases” (Carver). The trial costs from an official formal accusation for a capital offense to execute an inmate costs millions of dollars. Therefore, the whole process of death penalty from finding evidence and investigating the case, if proved guilty, executing an inmate results to be outrageously expensive.

6 Life in prison also come with their own judgment cost after an inmate is sentenced to prison without parole, there are certain institution and treatment expenses. “State correctional expenditures include the cost of operating prisons and related institutions. Such institutions are reformatories; prison farms; centers for the reception, evaluation, and classification of inmates; and correctional facilities exclusively for the criminally insane or for the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction” (“State Prison” 2). This illustrates that prisoners, according to their physical and mental health are treated by institutions. Inmates with drug and alcohol addiction are sent to the rehabilitation center and various treatments are provided. Likewise, an inmate who is charged for criminal offense can be mentally insane or emotionally unstable; such inmates are treated and supervised constantly. The expenses incurred to treat an inmate with mental disorder is shown by the research from the Treatment Advocacy Center, “In Texas prisons in 2003, mentally ill prisoners cost $30,000 to $50,000 per year, compared to $22,000 for other prisoners” (17). These are the costs incurred to treat the mentally challenged inmates, which can be considered as the costs after the judgment; sentenced to life in prison is announced. Therefore, providing treatment to inmates results to be a minimal amount because there are few prisoners who suffer through mental illness. When reflecting on all the research that was presented, it is secure to say that life in prison is cost effective. Though life in prison requires operation costs and after judgement cost, but the overall cost is not as expensive as death penalty. Death penalty process is too long and it cost millions from the initial trials to the execution. The next criterion to be evaluated is the effect of both punishments; incarceration or death penalty and which has more negative effects. The two ways to determine its effects are; family and society. The first section of this criterion will be how families are affected by

7 incarceration and death penalty. In case of families, children are more influenced by their parent’s behavior. According to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), “By 2000, the number of parents in prisons had nearly doubled to 737,400, and the number of children affected rose by over a third to 1,531,500” (“Effects of Parental”). This illustrates that parents sentenced to life in prison has significantly increased over years and this has tremendously affected their children. Because of their separation from parents, children get involved into immoral activities. According to Tony N. Brown and Evelyn Patterson, news reporters for New Republic, “Studies show that the children of inmates do less well in school and exhibit behavioral problems.” This illustrates that prisoner’s children are less likely to be interested in studies and attend school, and moreover they demonstrate anger, get involved into fights and get engage in annoying behavior. “Fathers account for 90% of incarcerated parents” (“Effects of Parental”). This statistic proves that males are more likely to commit crimes. “In addition, women partnered with inmates suffer from depression and economic hardship” (Brown and Patterson). This illustrates not only children are affected, but at the same time wife also goes through distress and financial problems to feed their children and pay bills. It becomes very difficult for a single parent to look after their children and work at the same time. Due to this, there are more changes for a child to mislead and perform unethical activities. As a result, parents sentenced to life in prison negatively affect children and spouses. Likewise, in case of death penalty, effects of death penalty on families must be examined. According to Delta Winds, a magazine of student essay, a publication of San Joaquin Delta College, “Capital punishment only reinforces violent behavior and serves no purpose but to avenge victims and their families” (“The Death”). This illustrates that criminals sentenced to death penalty are punished in the same way as the victims in order to take revenge of misdeed.

8 This results into violent behavior instead of correcting it and executing an inmate just to give justice to victim families. However, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Lula Redmond, a Florida therapist who works with family members of murder victims, said, ‘More often than not, families of murder victims do not experience the relief they expected to feel at the execution. Taking a life doesn’t fill that void, but it’s generally not until after the execution that families realize this.’” (“Studies: Death”). This illustrates that when families of victims fight for their loss and to get justice, they encourage murderer should be sentenced to death. However, while executing the murderer, families of murder victims feel remorseful instead of feeling relaxed. At the same time, the pain suffered by families of the accused is inevitable. According to Susan F. Sharp, the author of the book “Hidden Victims,” the following quote comes from his book, “Many family members choose to be present during the execution so that their loved one will see the faces of people who do not hate him or her, not rejoicing in death. The closer the bond between the condemned person and the family member, however, the more difficult the task may be” (85). For instance, the worst-case scenario, when a mother observes his son being killed in front of her eyes, it will be the most heartbreaking moment for her. Thus, executing an inmate not only affects families of the accused but also the families of the murder victims. Similarly, incarceration not only affects family but also whole community. The second section of this criterion will be how societies are affected by incarceration and death penalty. According to Emily Von Hoffmann, a reporter for The Atlantic, “Residents of neighborhoods with high incarceration rates endure disproportionate stress, since these communities face disrupted social and family networks alongside elevated rates of crime and infectious diseases.” This illustrates that due to high crime rates and the spread of communicable diseases in the prison such as HIV aids, hepatitis, etc., when released, affects the people living in the society and

9 that causes mental distress. Because it encourages other people in the society to act violent and especially children try to imitate their criminal friends. According to Lateshia Beachum, a reporter for The Washington Post, “Prisoners around the world and people who were formerly incarcerated have a higher burden of HIV and other infectious diseases than the general population, worsening the spread of diseases inside and outside of prison.” This illustrates that people in prison are more likely to get infectious diseases because of unprotected sex and other sexual activity, this leads to affect other people in the prison as well as the society. According to Todd R. Clear, a writer for The University of Chicago Press, “Imprisonment affects the children of people who are locked up and their families; it affects community infrastructure— the relations among people in communities and the capacity of a community to be a good place to live, work, and raise children—and it affects how safe a community is to live in” (99). This illustrates that incarceration not only affects the family and their children, but also the society as it makes unsafe for the other people to live without fear. Children raised up in brutal society are influenced by the illegal actions in society and it becomes extremely difficult for parents to sustain. As a result, the effects of imprisonment on society are devastating and elevate crimes rates. On the other hand, how death penalty affects societies will be examined. According to Gary Potter, Ph.D., a professor of Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, “Studies of capital punishment have consistently shown that homicide actually increases in the time period surrounding an execution.” This illustrates that death penalty provokes homicide because it leads to unlawful killing of other people. “The death penalty is more likely to endanger the lives of police who investigate crime and pursue fugitives, and endanger the lives of witnesses who may provide evidence necessary for conviction” (Potter). This illustrates that death penalty affects the

10 lives of people who are involved to investigate the case or in support of the victims. The society is brutally affected as it leads to increase in violent crime. The defendants also try to take revenge of people who provides witnesses and this result into an increase in homicides. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “The murder rate in states that do not have the death penalty is consistently lower than in states with the death penalty. The South, which carries out over 80% of the executions in the U. S., has the highest murder rate of the four regions” (“Facts about Deterrence”). This statistics shows that the places where death penalty transpires, the crime rates are significantly higher, whereas the places where death penalty is illegitimate, the crime rates are lower. Therefore, death penalty results into more killing of people in society and also makes society more violent. Reflecting back on all the research presented in this section of how societies and families are affected by death penalty and incarceration, there is a tiebreaker. Incarceration as well death penalty both has a devastating repercussion on families and societies. In particular, incarce...