Death Penalty Information Center, “The Report Concluded

In the last several years, too many people in the United States have been wrongfully sentenced with the death penalty. Several accused have their sentence overturned or they have been totally exonerated. There are at least 8 people who were executed by United States and later proven innocent (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org). Over a 20 year period, 68% of all death sentences were reversed (http://karisable.com). A noteworthy example is of Jerry Banks who was convicted and sentenced with the death penalty for two counts of murder in 1975. Five years later, in 1980, Banks' conviction was overturned on the basis of newly discovered evidence which was allegedly known to the state at the time of trial. Another example was the case of Lawyer Johnson who was sentenced to death in 1971 by an all white jury for the murder of a white victim. Later in 1982, Johnson’s conviction was overturned and Johnson exonerated when a previously silent eyewitness identified the state’s chief witness as the real murderer. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) Human error is inevitable, particularly

There have been some that had been declared innocent before their execution date. In the book, Death Row and Capital Punishment, it states that “Dennis Williams walked free from a Chicago court after 18 years on Death Row after being cleared by DNA evidence” (Kerrigan 88). People make mistakes and innocent people get blamed and killed for nothing. Williams is one of the lucky ones who was found innocent. Not all of them were lucky though. Bessler argues that “as long as the death penalty exists, there will be people like Anthony Porter, one of many death row inmates recently exonerated, who are sent to death row in error” (14). There have been victims who have been killed of a crime they did not commit. Porter was not one of the lucky ones to be alive today. There is too much of a risk that someone could be killing an innocent person and that is why lie in prison is a better option than killing

Not only does the death penalty not deter crime but it is also very expensive. The death penalty costs so much because of the appeal process. The appeal process is a very long and expensive process that can go on forever and costs the government millions. Many assume that abolishing the death penalty is wrong because it becomes unfair to the taxpayers because they think the cost is less than that of life in prison without parole. However life in prison is less expensive than the death penalty (Bedau). The death penalty is actually three times more than keeping a prisoner in prison for life without parole (Messerli). Death penalty trials are costly as well. “[S]tudies estimate that death penalty trials cost $1

In 2003, a study found that death penalty cases cost 70% more than cases seeking life without parole. The average case seeking the death penalty costs 1.26 million, while the average cases not seeking the death penalty costs 740,000 dollars. For instance, in California, a state that uses the death penalty, it costs about 137 million dollars a year. If they did not use the death penalty, it would cost about 11.5 million dollars a year. The average cost of keeping a criminal in jail each year is anywhere from $30,000 to $168,000, depending when and where they are imprisoned. Many people also believe that using or not the death penalty will act as a deterrence, however 88% of criminologists do not believe that the death penalty has a big impact on preventing crime. 87% say that abolishing the death penalty would also have no big impact on crime and homicide.

Using the example of the case of Damon Thibodaux, he was taken for questioning after a girl who they were last seen with went missing. She was found strangled and naked (Leo, 2008). A homicide officer took over the case, and Thibodaux was interrogated for several hours. Although Thibodaux repeatedly said he knew nothing about the murder, the interrogation kept going, eventually the officer was able to record a statement from Thibodaux pleading guilty of consensual and non-consensual sex with the victim, beating, and assassinating her. Thibodaux was condemned to death, and was to spend fifteen years on death row and sixteen years in jail before DNA examination confirmed that he was not guilty (Kassin, 2013). Thibodauxs exoneration proceeding concluded that fatigue and exhaustion from the overnight search for the girl, the long interrogation, psychological vulnerability, and fear of the death penalty led to the false confession by Thibodaux (Leo, 2008). This case is a great example of

In the united states there have been one hundred and sixty two people exonerated from death row since nineteen seventy three. According to deathpenaltyinformation.org (“innocence cases”). Early as last year former death row inmate Isaiah Mccoy was released from death row inmate under the charges of murder “Deputy Attorney General R. David Favata belittled McCoy in front of the jury for choosing to represent himself, made intimidating comments to McCoy during a break in proceedings, then lied to the judge about having made those comments. McCoy waived his right to a jury for his retrial, but was represented by counsel” deathpenaltyinformation.org (“innocence cases”). There was no physical evidence holding Mccoy for the murder upon his release he MCcoy said “ I just want to say to all those out there going through the same thing I'm going through 'keep faith, keep fighting. Two years ago, I was on death row. At 25, I was given a death sentence – and I am today alive and well and kicking and a free man." seeing that a free man was put in jail for a murder he didn't commit and given the death penalty is a scary process I couldn't imagine what McCoy was feeling this is why the death penalty should be

-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.

"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.

Nevertheless, I am choosing to look at the other 120 of the approximately 3,000 inmates on death row in America are not guilty (Drehle, 2014 ). Namely, eight people that were executed was later on found to be innocent of the crimes that they were accused of.

What if someone who was put on death row was truly innocent? That isn’t far for that person to have their lives taken and the real suspect is to be let go. This has happened in the past As of January 2015, 150 individuals have been found to be innocent

Years later, DNA evidence exonerated him and he was set free (Rankin, 2011). What about the execution of Troy Anthony Davis? The State of Georgia executed him in 2011 for killing a cop although they had no physical evidence that linked him to the crime, but they had eyewitness testimony. When addressing the slain officer’s family, he said he was sorry for their loss, but it was not him that took their family member’s life, implored them to seek the truth, and asked for God to have mercy on his executioners’ souls. Since his execution, 7 out of the 9 eyewitness have recanted or changed their testimony. This is an outrage in and of itself and a black eye to our justice system (Troy Anthony Davis executed in Georgia after appeals exhausted, 2011).

1. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from death row, including some who came within minutes of

Before researching the topic, I strongly believed in capital punishment. The Bible says "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", therefore if an individual decided to take another's right to pursue a long and successful life, should the same punishment not be inflicted on the killer as well? It should; but I believe this only to be true when the killer is obviously guilty. There has been many incidents where an individual has been convicted and executed but later found innocent. I do understand this is the reason that many inmates are on death row for an extended period of time, to allow DNA evidence to be collected and prove those whom are innocent to be so, but what if the evidence is not uncovered until after the punishment has been

Many prisoners in the past have been known to be killed before they were proven innocent. Many documented cases where DNA testing showed that innocent people were put to death by the government. This sometimes happens because there are defendants who are given minimal legal attention by often minor qualified individuals. The government has made many mistakes which are being wrong about convicting someone for something they didn’t do, and killing this person for the wrong reason. Putting the wrong person to death is the biggest mistake that can be made and the government cannot afford to make this mistake.