CJ_560_Module_7_Short_Paper.docx Southern New Hampshire University CJ-560-Q1024 Issue

CJ_560_Module_7_Short_Paper.docx    Southern New Hampshire University  CJ-560-Q1024  Issue  The death penalty in America is a topic that has always been controversial for many people. This punishment is one that is reserved for the worst of the worst criminals, but there are many who feel as though society has no right to take one life for another. Currently, the death penalty is authorized in 28 states with New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire and Colorado having abolished the death penalty, œreplacing it with a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2020). There is constant debate œacross the country as to the fairness, reliability and cost of implementation of the death penalty (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2020).One of the biggest issues is that there is a risk of sentencing an innocent person to death along with it costing more money in taxpayer dollars (California Innocence Project, 2020). However, there is also the opinion that the death penalty is an important tool that helps preserves law and order as well as ensuring that, that person won™t ever have the opportunity to hurt or kill another person again (Stimson, 2019).   Opposition  According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 172 former death-row inmates that have been exonerated since 1973. One of the issues is that the death penalty has been used, in some instances, as a coercive tool by police and prosecutors in order to ob