Innocence And The Death Penalty Analysis

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

To date, since 1989, there have been over 1700 exonerations, or convicts proven innocent, in the United States (“The National Registry of Exonerations”). Recently, there’s been about 10 a month (Pelley). A 2014 study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences claims that 4.1% of people sentenced to death are innocent. It goes on to state that: “With an error rate at trial over 4%, it is all but certain that several of the 1,320 defendants executed since 1977 were innocent.” Furthermore, because capital cases are examined more thoroughly than others, the error rate is

The American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due process of law and of equal protection under the law. Furthermore, we believe that the state should not give itself the right to kill human beings – especially when it kills with premeditation and ceremony, in the name of the law or in the name of its people, and when it does so in an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion.

The first thing that used to run through my mind when I heard that someone had been sentenced to death was the word: guilty. David Wayne Spence and David Junior Brown are only a few of the many that were executed by the judicial system, and later found innocent. There is no way to truly know how many innocent people were executed; because once an execution is carried out most cases are shut. Could a fabricated eye witness testimony play a role in a defendant receiving capital punishment? I know race does. I want to become a forensic psychologist, and a part of my job will be assisting judges with sentences in the court room. There is this question that has been bothering me for awhile now, and I would like to know, how has the United States judicial system addressed the problem of innocent death-row inmates being executed?

There are many cases in which people spent years in prison for the crimes they did not commit. Death penalty is permanent and cannot be undone. Many people have been proven innocence after the execution is carried out. If an innocent criminal has received a life sentence then he has the opportunity to be proven innocence in future with more advance investigation. For example in U.S as of September 11, 273 people including 17 death row inmates were exonerated by doing DNA testing. The use of DNA testing helps to confirm if a person is innocent and not sentence him to death. Likewise, in near future with more advance technologies someone can be proven

In order to properly discuss this topic, the paper has been separated into three main parts which include: DNA evidence, death row, and the Innocence Project. The section regarding DNA evidence starts out with what exactly is DNA and why it is so important to science, forensic science, and then gets further into detail of how it became completely admissible in court cases. The second section being discussed is the death penalty in the United States and has one subsection. It begins with basic information on the death penalty and statistics of conviction, wrongful and not, and what causes people to be wrongfully convicted. The subsection for the death penalty section discusses just a few wrongful conviction cases; what went wrong that these people were wrongly convicted and did they ever get a chance to plead for their innocence after being sent away to death row. The third and final portion discusses the newer and very important program called the Innocence project, explaining what it is they do and how it has helped people.

In the past two decades, over half of the death penalty trials have contained constitutional errors, and five percent of those people were exonerated during retrial proving the faults of the current system. As Leahy stated, “ We have cast iron scientific proof that a significant number of people sentenced to death in America in the late twentieth century have been absolutely, undeniably innocent.” This goes to show that one out of three cases that are successful is simply not good enough. Cases in which DNA testing has proven inmates innocence shows that the system is not perfect, and when it comes to a person’s life, there is no room for constitutional violations. There is another problem in death penalty trials, the lawyers. In too many cases defendants have been assigned lawyers who were later disbarred, suspended or are fresh out of law school with little to no experience. Finding quality lawyers who can handle a death penalty trial appropriately to do it pro bono, or for little pay is hard. This is why Leahy came up with the “Innocence Protection Act” to provide funding in order to give defendants accurate representation in death penalty trials

We are living in a time where modern technology plays a major factor in forensic science. According to the Lincoln Journal Star of Nebraska, inaccurate evidence from a crime lab concluded that the death penalty cannot be trusted in the taking of a human life. I strongly believe that forensic evidence should be tested again by a valid independent agency before an execution is carried out. Due to past experience of phony evidence, sloppiness, untrustworthy of science and tampering with evidence, innocent people has been executed without allowing the chance of due process. Studies also found and compared 110 death penalty cases with the race and gender of the victims. It concluded that the death penalty was most likely to be allocated for homicides

Many people continue to languish in jails all over the word while others have since faced capital punishment as a result of wrongful convictions. It is from this premise that innovation through DNA analysis has come to provide the much needed relief in correcting these errors. While there are many factors related to wrongful convictions, miscarriage of justice stands as the main culprit with many of these cases being faced with lack of conclusive or efficient investigations. There are several factors that come out as the main factors in contributing to miscarriage of justice such as false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, outdated evidence collection methods, snitches, incompetent lawyers and government misconduct among others.

"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.

Still, many people are wrongfully executed and put into a death sentence row because an error of judgements and stereotypes based on a race especially for African Americans. “New research found that almost four percent of U.S. capital punishment sentences are wrongful convictions, almost double the number of people set free, meaning around 120 of the roughly 3,000 inmates on death row in America are not guilty” . It is ironic though, killing innocent people can be attributed to murder and the government is doing the same thing as other convicted criminals who were put into a death row. Example for a wrongful conviction, “Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for murdering his three young daughters by setting his house on fire”. But, after his execution multiple fire science experts reviewed the case and “released a report admitting that Willingham’s conviction was based on flawed science” . Willingham was b wrongfully convicted by the government because of their mistake. Wrongful execution was common before technology was developed. It was hard to find the evidence and people made mistakes during the investigation. If there was no Death Penalty, Willingham might have been still alive claiming for his

The death penalty is a corrupt form of legal justice. For example, “…Defendants in about one-third of the Texas cases were represented at trial by an attorney who had been or later was suspended or otherwise sanctioned…”(Leibman). This use of fraudulent attorneys in a case can lead to enough inaccuracies in the evidence to wrongfully execute a person. This action is against the constitutional right given to us of equal justice for all. In addition, “…One of you two is gonna hang for this. Since you're the nigger, you're elected…”(Texas Police Officer). A Texas police officer said this to 2 men, one black and one white that were connected to the murder of a 17-year-old girl. Race plays a big part in the sentence of guilty or innocent. However, supporters of the death penalty claim “…that it enforces the laws by issuing strict punishment to the offenders…”(President George Bush). The death

According to a 1987 study published in the Stanford Law Review, at least 23 non-culpable individuals have been executed from 1900 to 1987, which is more than one innocent execution every four years. These miscarriages of justice are often due to evidence that was not discovered or made available until after the execution. Although recent scientific improvements, such as forensic DNA evidence, have enabled investigators to more accurately pinpoint guilt in a suspect, no current amount of scientific or technological advancement can completely guarantee that errors will never be made. In an issue such as the death penalty, where the stakes are so high – human life – any margin of error, no matter how minuscule, is unacceptable.

The issue of capital punishment is a difficult one and the opinions are as diverse as the people giving them. The death penalty exists in 38 states and those that have it spend enormous amounts of tax payer dollars to engage the justice system in what is a long and drawn out series of court dates and appeals that are lasting years. In addition, the trials and appeals of those on Death Row will have attorneys, prosecutors, experts and judges with more experience creating a major strain on the budget and manpower of the state. Nationally there is no study identifying the cost associated with the Death Penalty, but each state uses their state laws and pay scales in determining the cost of the Death Penalty. Prior to the Death Penalty being abolished New York has spent millions of dollars on Death Penalty cases and the result was there were no executions. Those in favor of the death penalty believe that the cost associated with incarcerating an individual for life will far outweigh those associated with the Death Penalty, due to old age, medical issues, food and other essentials needed to keep one alive. This would be true if the Death Penalty was a swift method of justice. The monies spent on Death Penalty cases could be far better spent on local budgets and programs that are evidenced based and proven to provide needed services, such as law enforcement, drug treatment and youth programs.

“Since 1973, more than 155 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence” (the death penalty information center). The lives of many innocent people are being put at risk when prosecutors would “think” that a person have committed a certain crime and he/she is guilty for it, without even having enough evidence that points out they did it. This shows that our justice system is not as strong as we think it is. The death penalty is irreversible. Once a