“Legalizing Death” Capital punishment has been and will remain one of the most controversial issues in United States history. It poses many questions concerning morality, religion, cost, and effectiveness. The death penalty is such a controversial issue because it can be extremely personal. United States citizens are paying taxes to house or execute the criminals that have killed their own family members and friends. It is also a personal issue because many people might feel differently about capital punishment is they were in a situation where a family member or a friend is killed.The cost of capital punishment is of great controversy. Ernest van den Haag, author of “The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense”, argues that the cost of an execution should not be considered with such a serious issue rather justice should be served. “At any rate, the actual monetary costs are trumped by the importance of doing justice”(van den Haag 445). There is much evidence to prove that capital punishment is cheaper for taxpayers than paying for a criminal to live out his or her life in prison. The author of “Death is Different,” Hugo Adam Bedau, argues that in the long run capital punishment is more expensive for the taxpayers. “In practice the evidence shows that non-death-penalty trials and appeals are generally less protracted and therefore less expensive”(Bedau 450). The cost of capital punishment is personal issue because people work hard for their money and find it hard to part with it to pay for the death of a criminal. Although money poses a strong argument on both sides of capital punishment, financial cost is not the only expense to be considered.E.J. Dionne Jr., author of “The Tucker Execution,” would argue that the highest cost of the death penalty is the people’s own morality. He believes the risk of feeling guilty and taking the responsibility of perfor...
