Abolishing Death Penalty

The death penalty has had and will always have the danger of judicial errors. As the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center Richard Dieter has emphasized, “every time we have an execution, there is a risk of executing an innocent person. The risk may be small, but it’s unacceptable” (Death to the Death Penalty). According to the Death Penalty Information Center, among all 7,818 people who were sentenced to death since 1977, 1412 people have been executed and 155 people have been proved innocent. Therefore, for every nine people executed, we have found one person is innocent.

-Innocence, there are innocent people on death row, and there have been people put to death. Since 1977, 144 prisoners on death row have been found to be innocent of the crimes there were convicted of.

If there are innocent people who were on death row but were later acquitted, then it is possible that there have been innocent people who were executed. There needs to be special precautions taken in order to sentence

"Since 1973, over eighty people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence" (Innocence and the Death Penalty 1). Statistics say that of the three-thousand six hundred people on death row right now, at least one hundred of them are innocent (Capital Punishment 1). When an innocent person is executed, the real killer is still on the streets ready to victimize someone else (Pragmatic Arguments 1). The most important problem is that when an innocent person is executed, they represent another human being who did not deserve to die.

The death penalty is highly flawed in its form of justice. Many innocent people are sent to death row, along with the guilty. As a result, an innocent person ends up paying the price of his life for a crime that he did not commit. As many as twenty five people were exonerated from death in the state of Florida alone (“Innocence and the Death Penalty”). Twenty five lives almost lost is no form of justice. There are approximately 3.03 exonerations per year in the U.S. (“Innocence and the Death Penalty”). And that is not even counting for the amount of people executed despite there being some doubt to their guilt. In 2004, Cameron Willingham was executed for the deaths of three children in a house fire. After examining the evidence presented against the defendant, four national arson experts have said that the case against him was highly flawed and the fire may have been accidental (”Executed But Possibly Innocent”). This is not an isolated case; many people who were executed were either later proven innocent or there is

Many people have been sentenced to death for a crime they did not commit. Innocent people are put to death more often than people would assume. The results from “a recent study by Columbia University Law School found that two thirds of all capital trials contained serious errors” (Arguments), which could eventually lead to a potentially innocent person being put to death if the error of the case was not caught before the time of execution. If the error is caught and the person is proven innocent while they are still on death row, they will be released and free to go back to their normal lives outside of prison, but not all falsely accused people are that lucky. Even

Contrary to what one would assume, the death penalty does not decrease crime rates: “Death Penalty Information Center show that murder rates

It has been proven that some people that have suffered at the hands of the death penalty were in fact innocent. As technology and the justice system advances more and more people that have been found guilty are having their sentences over turned. Many of these people were on death row. Between 1900 and 1985 of the 7,000 individuals that were executed 35 were proven to be innocent. Since 1985 many more people have been proven to be innocent. In opposition to this fact Olin states that despite precautions, nearly all human activities, such as trucking, power line operators, and construction cost the lives of some innocent bystanders. He also says that for those who think the death penalty just, miscarriages of justice are

Research has found that capital punishment does not deter violent crime, and is a sufficient way to reduce crime (Bedau, 2012). Supporters of the death penalty believe it may deter potential criminals. The FBI has found states who are supporters of the death penalty have the highest murder rates, and the capital punishment is mostly given to poor and uneducated minorities who living in a geographic area (Bedau, 2012). Therefore, the death penalty is ranked the least effective way to control crime. It is considered counterproductive because limited funding, which can be used for other things, is used. The death penalty does not prevent nor solve a crime.

According to “Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty” The Facts: 13 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty “Since 1976 138 innocent men and women have been released from death row.” (Paragraph 2) Truthfully a lot of untold numbers of innocent people have been executed. Avvo stories “8 People Who Were Executed and Later Found Innocent,” “In 1992 Willingham was convicted of arson murder in Texas. He was believed to have intentionally set a fire that killed his three kids. In 2004, he was put to death. Unfortunately, the Texas Forensic Science Commission later found that the evidence was misinterpreted, and they concluded that none of the evidence used against Willingham was valid. As it turns out, the fire really was accidental.” (Mike 2) Now that he was executed and was later found innocent there is nothing they can do to bring this innocent man life back.

The death penalty gives humans in our legal system rights to decide who deserves to live, a power only God should possess. Capital Punishment takes away our rights as equals. From its origins, the death penalty has been an inhumane, costly, ineffective, and biased form of punishment that needs to be abolished granting everyone their right to live.

Statistics back up the fact that the death penalty doesn’t deter crime. In 1999, the murder rate in states with the death penalty was 5.5, and in non-death penalty states was 3.6 (Jillette, Teller, & Price, 2006). In 2004, the murder rate in death penalty states was 5.1, and in non-death penalty states was 2.9 (Jillette, Teller, & Price, 2006). Topping these particular statistics is the state that uses the death penalty the most frequently, Texas, which had from 1996 through 2006 a murder rate of 6.7 at the time when the national murder rate was 6.23 (Jillette, Teller, & Price, 2006). With the murder rate being higher in states with the death penalty, it shows little evidence of deterrence.

One in twenty five. “One in twenty five people executed are innocent” (Zelman). Innocent lives have been taken because of a problem with a simple solution. The death penalty impacts lives, and that impact is permanent. There is no going back. Knowing about the death penalty and the negatives that it has can help shed some light on the reality of capital punishment. The death penalty should not be enforced. This is to protect the wrongfully accused, the victims of prejudice, taxpayers, and put us on the path to a more successful country.

According to the Innocence Project, there have been 173 exonerations due to eyewitness misidentification, 116 cases due to improper forensics, 51 cases due to false admissions, and 36 cases of unreliable informants. In addition, 17 people have been exonerated through DNA testing. Opponents note, that these people have spent a combined 187 years on death row for a crime they did not commit (2010). It is their stance that executions should be halted or at the very least, be sure that persons awaiting execution are allowed to prove their innocence.

The death penalty should be abolished because many innocent lives are taken for a crime they did not commit. Each year death row cases are over-turned and " Since 1973, more than 155 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence" ('Facts'). The justice system is far from perfect and that leaves a lingering question about whether innocent people are put on death row due to unfair trials, circumstantial evidence, or simply, a wrong conviction. Texas, being a brutal and for-the-death-penalty state, " executed Cameron Todd Willlingham in 2004 despite strong evidence of his innocence, including forensic evidence" (Death Penalty Issues), for a crime that may have truly been done by someone else. By executing and holding innocent men on death row, criminals walk away free and innocent lives take their place for the crimes committed, causing more grief for families and victims. With the death