Death Penalty Mistakes

"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.

Each year, approximately about 10,000 innocent people in the United States get convicted of serious crimes that they did not commit. And at least four percent of them receive the death penalty being completely innocent. Scenarios like this happen all the time because there are more and more false persecutions each day which can be easily avoided. Many people are occupying prisons all over the world, for felonies they did not execute. More than 200 people have been exonerated through DNA testing nationwide. But why do these wrongful convictions keep happening?

     There are many reasons to both support and oppose the death penalty. Many people can feel very strongly about whether or not they approve of this method of punishment. I feel that the death penalty is wrong, and I believe that there is much support to back this up.

Each year approximately about 10,000 innocent people in the United States get convicted of serious crimes that they did not commit. And at least four percent of them receive the death penalty being completely innocent. Scenarios like this happen all the time because there are more and more false persecutions each day which can be easily avoided. Many people are occupying prisons all over the world, for felonies they did not execute. More than 200 people have been exonerated through DNA testing nationwide. But why do these wrongful convictions keep happening?

Kirk Bloodsworth was 22 when he spent eight years in prison, two of those on death row. He was wrongfully convicted. A 9-year old girl was raped and killed on July 25, 1984. Two boys had seen her walking with a man before she suddenly disappeared. The boys described the

69 The death penalty can lead to the death of innocent people. For example, “…According to a new study, serious errors occur in almost 70% of all trials leading to the death penalty…”(Leibman). This shows that if 100 people were put on death row, 70 would have serious mistakes in their

The Death Penalty The Death Penalty started in the eighteenth Century B.C. when it was established into the Code of King Hammurabi in Babylon, which codified the the Death Penalty for 25 different crimes.The Eighth Amendment states that the Death Penalty is considered a “cruel and unusual

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but what happens when an innocent man is killed in regards to a crime he never committed? It’s a mistake that can never be corrected. Wilbert Coffin was sent to jail and then killed for being wrongfully convicted of murdering a man in 1953. The death penalty will not only kill the guilty, but the innocent as well. The death penalty is wrong.

Seth, Great post! I just wanted to add to how long it actually takes for someone to be executed. Typically, an individual on death row spends over a decade waiting to be executed. Because of the of appeals process it extends the amount of time the inmate must await executions. Due to the extensive wait time a number of inmates never actually make it to execution they die of natural causes, suicide, or are killed by other inmates. However, without thorough appeals mistakes can be made and innocent people could be executed.

Recent studies show that the death penalty has sixty percent error rate, it means that 1in 25 given death penalty sentences are likely innocent. In the past 20 years, six innocents have been freed from the death row in Pennsylvania. Sometimes, an offender is executed and later the authorities found out that s/he was innocent. That’s what happened with Cameron Todd Willingham. In 1992 Texas, Willingham was accused to have intentionally set a fire that killed his three children. In 2004, he was executed. Later, the Texas Forensic Science Commission found that the evidence used against him wasn’t valid and the fire was accidental. As opposed to death penalty, life without parole protects offenders against wrongful executions. In fact, life without parole doesn’t put any lives at risk because during their incarceration, offenders can be free anytime if they are found to be

Every day innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit. In many cases there are people who were later found innocent but were put to death. David Spence is an example of an innocent man that was executed for a murder he did not commit. David Spence is an example of an innocent man that was executed for a murder he did not commit. David Spence was executed in 1997 for murdering three teenagers in 1982. Spence was convicted of raping, torturing, and murdering two 17 year old girls and murdering an 18 year old boy. As the original allegations go, Spence was hired by convenience store owner Muneer Deeb to kill one girl and he ended up killing these three teens by mistake. Muneer Deeb was charged and sentenced to death but later received a retrial and was acquitted. Authoritative sources even had serious doubt about Spence’s guilt. Although there was no clear physical evidence to link Spence to the crime prosecutors used bite marks that were found on one the girl 's body and matched it to Spence’s teeth. Even jailhouse witnesses were bribed into snitching on David Spence. Despite weak evidential support and jail mate testimonies, Spence was executed. (Bonner and Rimer, 2000) Situations like David Spence’s case lead me to disagree with capital punishment. I believe giving someone the death penalty is wrong because taking somebody’s life is something humans should not have control of.

There are numerous measurements that indicate the achievement of the death penalty. A few studies demonstrate a solid connection amongst's execution and the determent of violations, particularly kill. Such studies "propose that death penalty has a solid impediment impact, every execution results, by and large, in 18 less murders—with a room for give and take of give or take ten. Tests demonstrate that outcomes are not driven by harder sentencing laws." (Ellsworth 116). While this information is profoundly subjective and considers the national normal (rather than an area or city) it shows that viciousness is lessened. Albeit intense sentences that are forced for genuine non-capital violations are by and large greatly high, it is intriguing that

It has been proven that 1 out of every 10 people sentenced to death are actually innocent. Since 1976, 1300 people have been put to death and the statistic indicates that about 130 of them were innocent (Source 4). One hundred thirty lives ended unfairly, one hundred thirty families were affected without any justification, one hundred thirty people lost their one and only chance to live just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the right to life was violated 1300 times. When a person is killed, there is no way of bringing him or her back to life, while a person that is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole can be released of prison once his or her innocence is proven. As Freddie Lee Pitts, an exonerated prisoner said: “You can release an innocent man from prison, but you can’t release him from the grave” (Source 4) The United States of America cannot carry with the responsibility of killing an innocent person because there is nothing that can fix that mistake.

Although one might think that capital punishment leads to innocent deaths, this is completely false. People against capital punishment constantly claim that there have been numerous cases in which we have executed an innocent man. But the truth is that we do not have any records of ever executing an innocent man. The idea that innocent people can get executed on accident is highly false and inaccurate. Also, it is perceived that capital punishment takes away freedom

Human error can always cause problems and make mistakes. We trust our judicial system to handle these cases of the death penalty, but what if they make a mistake? Sentencing an innocent person to death is the worst possible outcome of the death penalty, but it still happens. Innocent people are potentially executed by our government on a regular basis as 4% of death row inmates are innocent (Oliver). This is a substantially high number considering the circumstances. Since the early 1970s, more than 150 people sentenced to death have been exonerated (Berman). This statistic shows that our judicial system makes mistakes that could have been extremely bad. Most people believe, even if they are for the death penalty, that there is some risk of this horrible mistake. How could one live with oneself knowing that they possibly kill innocent people? A Pew Research Center poll recorded that seven out of ten Americans feel there is still some risk an innocent person will be put to death (Berman). If