Persuasive Speech

Sample Persuasive Speech

Introduction:

In 2014, Glenn Ford was exonerated from Death Row after serving 30 years for a crime he did not commit. It took a jury only 3 hours to sentence him to death, but 30 years to find out that he was innocent (Cohen, 2014). Unfortunately Glenn Ford is not the only one. It is estimated that 4% of the inmates on Death Row are innocent (Lapatto, 2014). I have done my research on the topic of the Death Penalty, and have come up with many facts. Also, in my American Corrections class I completed a project on people on Death Row and watched documentary films such as Race to Execution and Inside Death Row. Today, I would like to talk to you about the debate surrounding the death penalty, and why I feel that we should not support it as a means of punishment.

First Point: Death Penalty

“Execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense” (Capital Punishment, 2008).
Use of death penalty declining over the years
1. Currently legal 32 states
2. 1394 people put to death between 1976-2014 (Death Penalty Facts)
3. 103 countries in the world abolished
4. 6 in 10 Americans favor

Second Point: Pros of Death Penalty

Justice for killing the killer
1. An eye for an eye
Considered the ultimate warning
1. Less inclined to commit murder knowing they will be punished for it (Arguments for the death penalty, 2013)
2. People fear death
3. Balancedpolitics.org reports that it is a crime deterrent
Provides closure for victim families
Eliminates chances of parole or escape and another chance to kill
1. Presents crime from both in and outside of prison
Overpopulation in prison system (Messerili, 2015)
1. Limited resources
2. Expensive, costs $___ to keep inmates alive

Third Point: Death Penalty Cons

Executing innocent people
1. Dr. Brian Forst states in the “Error of Justice” that 350 people found innocent in 1900-1985 (Forst, 2003).
2. Discovery of DNA testing, Innocence Project
3. Executing wrong persons
4. For example, Author states “In 1989, an innocent man was punished the with the death penalty in Texas because the jury confused him for another man with the same name, looks, and height.”
Many victim families are against death penalty
1. Bill Cosby
2. Other examples
Better for murder to suffer life in prison
1. Think and live with what they did
2. Code of conduct in prison
Goes against 8th Amendment in Constitution
1. Cruel and unusual punishment
Outcomes not always when it should be
1. Divine retribution
  1. Execution doesn’t work, criminal walks free
  2. Death more painful than it should be
    1. John Wayne Gacy
    2. Potassium chloride didn’t stop heart
    3. “Listverse.com states “His death took 18 minutes instead of the usual 7.”
Hypocritical
1. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
2. “If the goal of any punishment is to teach us those things we should not do, then the justice system should more adequately teach the criminality of killing by refusing to partake in it.”
Does not dissuade
1. US 2012 murder rate of 4.8 victims/100,000 people
  1. 15,000 homicide victims that year
Capital punishment more expensive
1. Tax payers pay several more times for execution than to have life in prison
Holds up justice system with endless appeals
Mentally ill put to death
1. Adam Ward
2. IQ below 70

Third Point: Why you should oppose

More expensive
1. NCADP save millions if abolish
More punishment to live with consequences
Too risky of innocent execution
Hypocritical
Holes in the justice system
1. White juries against black defendants
2. Put to death with little evidence
3. Lawyer fees
4. Tampered evidence

Although there are many arguments for both sides of the death penalty, I believe it should be abolished. There are at least 17, 833 people that are being sentenced to death worldwide. It is easy for us to say that people should be put to death, but I ask you, would you be able to pull the trigger? Would you be able to execute a person knowing that they may be innocent?