acing a stigma on certain crimes like manslaughter, resulting in attitudes of disgust and horror to such acts (McCuen, 1985). Bedau states that the facts to support this claim do not exist. He says that the death penalty fails as a deterrent for the following reasons: (1) Capitol punishment could be an effective deterrent if it were administered consistently and promptly; which because of due process cannot. (2) Those that cause premeditated violent crimes are ordinarily concentrating of escaping detection anyway so it would not deter them. As for those crimes not considered premeditated; those individuals are usually highly charged with emotional stress and logical thinking is not a conscious thought, so the threat is not a viable one.
             The second issue in the capital punishment debate is unfairness. The author sites several statistical reference to the past in which African Americans were the most discriminated race in regards to capitol punishment and the death sentence. With the cultural acceptance of multiply races and racial discrimination laws, we would think that we as a society have stepped up to equality. However, the author states that there is still a disproportionately large fraction of black minorities on death row today. Both sex and socio-economical class are also factors that play into the determination of who is sentenced to death and executed. "Approximately, ninety percent of those on death row could not afford to hire a lawyer when the were tried." (Tabak, 1989)
             The third issue in this debate is the danger of mistake or inevitability of error. The unique thing about the death penalty is that it is final and irreversible. Since 1970, 77 people have been released from death r
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