Capital Punishment

I think that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent to crime, but only sometimes. Unless a criminal really deserves to have their life taken away, i believe it is more of a punishment to have them rot in jail for their whole life. I'm sure that many people who have been sentenced to life in jail would rather have just gotten the death penalty because jail is so much worse. Now some people do just need to be put to death after they commit a crime, but there are other ways to punish criminals without killing them. The biggest benefit to capital punishment is obviously taking away the lives of people that don't deserve to live because they have wasted their life. On the other side though it does cost a lot of money to do this over and over, plus the death penalty is not the worst consequence for everyone, some even wouldn't mind that because their life is such a failure that they just want to be dead. That is why i think life in jail is more appropiate. The thing that shocked me the most was actually the costs of the death penalty and how much more expensive it is than more important things such as school. Also how it costs $22,650 to keep a person in prison for a year. I was also shocked when i saw that whites receive the death penalty more than blacks do. In the reading it said that 50% of Americans today support the death penalty. I didn't really know what to think of this because i don't know how people feel about this topic. I know though that i don't have a problem with it, even though i think jail is worse.

Insanity

I think that insanity is a good law, but only if it is properly used. People can not be allowed to get away with crimes by pleading insanity if they do not have a history of psychotic behavior. Insanity isn't suppose to be a last resort for people trying to get away with a crime, it is a serious thing and should not be played around with. People trying to plead insanity who are really should face further consequences for trying this, otherwise anyone could try it and who knows what could happen.

Insanity should be constituted through a sanity evaluation to address to question first of whether or not the defendant has a mental illness. Anoterh thing that constitues insanity is if the person didnt know what they were doing was actually wrong. A sane person knows the difference between right and wrong, but a person with a mental illness may not so they need to be properly treated so they are not a threat to society.

When it comes to the Andrea Yates case people can not blame her for what she did. Yes she was the one who committed the crime and she was the one who stopped taking her medication, but there should have been people helping her all the time, or she should have had to stay in a mental hospital or something so they could help her stay mentally stable. She is the one that should be punished for her actions, but what she did was because of what other people didnt do for her. i do believe in the death penalty in some cases, but not this one. That wouldnt teach her anything and she needs serious help if shes doing that to her own family. Sghe should be institutionalized at the highest facility possible.