Should the U.S. Abolish the Death Penalty?

• “Yes”

  

  “The American Public is Moving Away from the Death Penalty”

• “Objection”

  

  “Support Remains Strong in America”
  

  Response

The American Public is Moving Away from the Death Penalty

Amnesty International

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Public support for the death penalty is diminishing in the U.S. - roughly half the U.S. public now prefers life without parole over the death penalty as the best punishment for the crime of murder. As evidence, annual death sentences in the U.S. have dropped dramatically since the year 2000. In the last two years the number of death sentences has been lower than any time since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Executions have declined as well, from a high of 98 in 1999, to 53 in 2006, to just 42 in 2007.

Evidence

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Recent Death Penalty Trends

Next Argument

"Yes" Amnesty

• The Death Penalty is a Denial of Human Rights
  7
• The Death Penalty Makes Too Many Mistakes
  9
• The Death Penalty Costs More
  6
• The American Public is Moving Away from the Death Penalty
  5

"No" Josh Marquis

• How Many Innocent Victims are Too Many?
  8
• The Idea that Many People on Death Row are Innocent is Nonsense
  3

"No" Criminal Justice Legal Foundation

• An Enforced Death Penalty Saves Lives Through Deterrence
  3

Most Objections

• How Many Innocent Victims are Too Many?
  8
• The Idea that Many People on Death Row are Innocent is Nonsense
  3
• The Death Penalty is a Denial of Human Rights
  7
• The American Public is Moving Away from the Death Penalty
  5
• The Death Penalty Makes Too Many Mistakes
  9
• The Death Penalty Costs More
  6
• An Enforced Death Penalty Saves Lives Through Deterrence
  3

Should We End Executions?

• Yes
• No

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