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Taylor Cogswell
Mr. Gross
English 12 A (1)
20 November 2014
Death Penalty
One warm July evening, 15 week old Evelyene was at home with her father within the
dirty walls of a trailer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Steven Deuman Jr. was taking care of his
baby daughter while her mother was away at work. Later that day Evelyene was found dead on
the floor of the trailer in a small thick pool of blood and a condom lodged in her throat. Deuman
was charged with the murder and aggravated sexual abuse of his 3 and a half month old
daughter and now is serving life in prison. A pure evil act inflicted on a pure and helpless being
is punished with a lifetime spent in jail. A lifetime where Deuman can still take art classes,
employment opportunities, and socialize with other inmates. Steven Deuman does not deserve
to live after what he did to his 15 week daughter. With all of the sadistic crimes in the world, the
death penalty needs to be enforced. For one, the American taxes are paying for the cost of
living for murders. It is also a very effective form of justice, and it prevents the overcrowding of
prisons. Overall, legalizing the death penalty nationwide would benefit America in many ways.
The cost of the keepin an inmate on death row for one year is $49,380 (Whats New 1).
$50,000 a year comes out of American taxpayers pockets to keep one inmate on death row.
The cost of this for one year is tremendous, lethal injection is a humane way of execution and
the cost for the chemicals is substantially less. The cost of one lethal injection is approximately
$200 (Costs of the Death Penalty 1). This is far cheaper than the hundreds of thousands of
dollars spent on keeping an inmate on death row. The cost is only one reason that the death
penalty should be legalized and enforced. The cost of keeping inmates in prison comes from
American taxpayers. If there is substantial evidence, a conviction and no doubt of innocence the
death penalty should be used in capital offenses.

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Todays prisons are full and overflowing with inmates. At the end of 2013, an Illinois
prison was housing 48,653 inmates when its capacity is only 32,075 (Prisons in These 17
States Are over Capacity 1). Many prisons throughout the country are housing inmates at a 150
percent capacity like the one in Illinois. A solution that Prisons have found to the problem of
overcrowding is a release of inmates. California has the largest prison system in the United
States with the highest level of overcrowding, a federal court ruled for the release of 36,000 to
46,000 inmates (Mears 1). Instead of enforcing and using the death penalty for gruesome
capital offenses and repeat capital offenders the United States government orders the release
of thousands of convicted criminals. The release of these criminals endangers the safety of law
abiding residents in the U.S. instead of releasing criminals the government should seek out
punishment for those who are sitting on death row or in prison for life.
Some may say that the death penalty risks killing those who are innocent and did not
commit the crime in question. The death penalty is cruel if it kills innocent people, but then the
death penalty will not be used. In cruel capital offensives such as first degree murder, rape,
molestation, pedophiles, ect. the death penalty should be a viable option of justice. The death
penalty would not be sought after in these cases if there was any doubt that the person in
question did not commit the crime. In order to pursue the death penalty in a case, there must be
no doubt, substantial evidence and a deserving crime. The death penalty would not be put in
place for all offenses or even for all capital offenses, it would be used to serve justice to those
who are undeniably guilty.
The death penalty is the only way that justice can be pursued against malicious crime.
The United States is a country build on the foundation of justice. The only way to ensure the
justice to the victims of these crimes is to legalize and pursue the death penalty. In addition to
justice there are other benefits to the death penalty. There would be less overcrowding in
prisons and lethal injection is far less costly than the cost of life in prison. The death penalty has

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been a fair punishment for hundreds of years and in some cases is the only way that justice can
be served.

Works Cited
"Costs of the Death Penalty." DPIC. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
Mears, Bill. "High Court Orders Drastic Prison Population Reduction in California." CNN. Cable
News Network, 24 May 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.

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"Prisons in These 17 States Are over Capacity." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d.
Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
"What's New." DPIC. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.