Arguably, the death penalty is one of the controversial and debatable issues in the world. As a matter of fact, there are states who are against the death penalty, while others are in support of the issue. The death penalty has been there since the 8th century B.C. The trends have changed since then. Based on the trends I anticipate that the use of the death penalty as a punishment will be decreased in the next 20 years. Statistically there was an increase in the use of the death penalty since 1977 to the year 1999. Since then there has been a decreasing trend on the issue of the death penalty (Bedau & Cassell, 2004). Apart from the statistics, there is mounting evidence that will show that the use of the death penalty will decrease in 20 years time. The fact that the death penalty in U.S, and the entire world is used disproportionately and discriminatory against minorities, the poor, religious communities, as well as racial communities.
The fact that the death penalty is used discriminatively has led to the rise of many people against the use of the death penalty. Since human beings are imperfect, there is high possibility of executing innocent people. In addition, the use of the death penalty will decrease in 20 years because of the inability of the method of punishments in reducing crime. The main purpose of punishment is to reduce crime, but the use of the death penalty for various crimes does not reduce the crime. For example, murder cases continue to increase yet death penalty is used. This means that in the future the use of the death penalty does not make sense (Banner, 2002).
In 20 years, the use of the death penalty will decrease due to the fact that the death penalty costs the government a lot of resources. The costs associated to lengthy trials, criminal investigation, and appeals have made many states to re-consider and re-evaluate the use of the death penalty (Banner, 2002). Since the year 2006, the overall public support has decreased, which means the policies on the death penalty will be reconsidered by the responsible stakeholders to suite the public domain. In general perspective it is anticipated that the use of the death penalty will reduce in the next 20 years based on recent statistics, the increase in execution of the innocent, cost of the death penalty, as well as its ineffectiveness in reducing crime.
References
Banner, S. (2002). The death penalty: An American history. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Bedau, H. A., & Cassell, P. G. (2004). Debating the death penalty: Should America have capital punishment? : the experts on both sides make their case. Oxford: Oxford university press.
