Death Penalty
The Death Penalty has been a controversial subject in the American legal system for the past fifty years. There are many facts and reasons why the death penalty should be opposed. Valid reasons are the death penalty is racist, it punishes the poor along with condemning the innocent to die and it's not a deterrent to violent crime.The United States is a unique country because it allows individual states to decide whether or not they wish to invoke capital punishment. Most foreign nations have a policy on capital punishment that applies to the whole country. The U.S also is one of a handful of countries, which still executes people and there are around 3,000 people on death row, more than any time in U.S. history. (Hood 25,26) Both political parties in the U.S. have started a "get tough" policy, which means more executions and also means something has to be done soon to end this practice.There have been many problems with the death penalty and one that is still evident and very controversial is that it's racist. The death penalty was even abolished for four years because capital punishment had many racial issues. African Americans have seen and felt the racism of the judicial system pertaining to
Furthermore, death penalty believers insist that the deterrent influence of the death penalty reaches across state lines into jurisdictions that have abolished it, and so all benefit by its continued use. But social scientists have concluded that, when compared to white defendants, minority groups face a greater likelihood of imprisonment and serve longer sentences for identical offences. ) Fear of death deters people from committing crimes, proponents say. In a study at least 23 innocent people have been executed in the USA this century prior to 1984. Instead they are forced to use inexperienced, poorly paid, court-appointed attorneys. Beyond its horror and incivility, it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the criminals. In Georgia, killers of whites are more likely to receive the death sentence then killers of blacks. They point to mistakes in the system, such as the high-profile case of Rolando Cruz, a man who had been convicted for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Illinois in 1983. (Eckholm,B1) Also the United States Supreme Court even overturned existing death penalty statutes in part because of the danger that those being selected to die were chosen out of racial prejudice. Does the Death Penalty really deter crime? That's a question that many ask and also seem to get the same answer. Critics of these findings argue that the statistical results are skewed by factors such as the generally higher crime rates in ethnic communities or poor methods in research. Another and most disturbing fact is that the execution of innocent defendants is an ever-present risk where the death penalty is used as punishment. A defendant who cannot afford an experienced and competent lawyer is more likely to be sentenced to death than someone who can. "(Bedau, 21) In most of these cases, defendants were pardoned or offered a retrial following judicial review, but 23 defendants later found innocent were executed, according to the study.
Common topics in this essay:
Rights Fear,
Death Penalty,
Harry Blackmun's,
Johnny Cochran,
Rolando Cruz,
Black Critics,
African Americans,
President Clinton,
Supreme Court,
Bedau Radelet,
death penalty,
capital punishment,
death row,
people executed,
deter crime,
capital crimes,
innocent people,
innocent people executed,
penalty racist,
white defendants,
defense attorneys,
death penalty statutes,
death penalty racist,
reasons death penalty,
|
Acceptance Essays
