Innocent Victims of Capital Punishment are Possible Try to imagine yourself being convicted of a crime you did not commit, and even worse being told you have die for that crime. This nightmare is actually a reality for some inmates on death row today. The death penalty should be abolished because the potential for even one death of an innocent man violates all principles of justice. "Can the justice system ever be 100 percent right? Not likely. Then how can it administer punishment that's 100 percent irreversible" ("Lock Up" 2)? "On October 23, 1989, the phone rang at Officer Gary McLaughlin's desk. He picked it up immediately answering, ‘State Police, Boston,’ from the other end of …show more content…
An innocent man was convicted of a crime he did not commit. Several reasons exist. First: Bennett had a previous arrest record and he seemed to fit the description of the killer. Second: the police were under pressure to solve the crime. And finally "above all, because the public was clamoring for some way to express its indignation (for the death of Mrs. Stuart), found Willie Bennett a plausible target"(Baird and Rosenbaum 97). Cases just like this one lead to innocent men found guilty with the potential of being put on death row. Today, there are over three thousand prisoners on death row. “Between 1972 and 1996, 68 death row inmates were released because proof of their innocence was found” (Acker, Bohm, and Lanier 232). Only after struggling with expensive lawyers and a harsh system of justice were Cusson 3 the majority of these prisoners finally able to receive a second chance. It is preposterous to think that of the three thousand prisoners on death row, all of them are guilty and deserve the death penalty. The death penalty is unfair for several reasons, one of them being that legal assistance for inmates on death row has become increasingly difficult to find. Prisoners on death row filing for appeal have little or no chance for receiving a fair second chance. "Most of the legal work is done for free, and even lawyers dedicated to making sure these prisoners receive all their legal rights cannot be expected to spend all of their time
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
While it may seem unlikely that many people would be convicted of a few of the latter crimes, there were nearly 3,000 people on death row in the last year. Of those 3,000 people, 117 were found to be innocent. It is predicted that at least 3% more of those sentenced would have been exonerated with enough time and resources.
The death penalty has been a controversial topic among society for ages. An issue often brought up when discussing the legality of capital punishment is wrongful convictions. Advocates of the death penalty say that, while wrongful convictions are an issue, those few cases do not outweigh the need for lawful execution of felons who are, without a doubt, guilty. On the other hand, the opponents argue that the death penalty is wrong from both a legal and moral standpoint, an ineffective form of punishment, and should, ultimately, be outlawed. With both advocates and challengers constantly debating on this topic, the death penalty and wrongful convictions continue to be hot buttons issues for Americans and people throughout the world.
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
It seems that the bias surfacing in today’s death penalty is of class. The most skilled defense attorneys cost a lot and without a proper lawyer, it’s difficult to lessen a lengthy sentence. According to Amnesty International, only about 5% of death row inmates could actually afford their own attorney. The court appointed lawyers lack experience, are overworked and underpaid. There have even been cases where these professionals turn up to the court date drunk or high. A favorite saying of those on death row goes, “Those without the capital get the
2.2 million people are currently incarcerated. A little over 1% of those people are on death row. Those 2,900 people are set to die because they have been convicted of a heinous crime by a jury of their peers who found their guilt to be beyond a reasonable doubt. A study which polls jurors found that eyewitness testimony is the most compelling evidence which leads a jury to convict (Kerr). But researchers and lawyers can attest that not all 2.2 million people who are currently incarcerated are guilty (Innocence). In some percentage of these cases, the eyewitnesses testifying must have been wrong.
There are many injustices that plague the United States Justice System. The death penalty is a prime example of this. A major problem associated with the death penalty is the unavoidable fact that potentially innocent people are being executed. Researchers estimate that over 340 executed inmates, could have been exonerated; which means that over 340 people were wrongfully killed! With the arrival of DNA testing in the mid 80’s, by 1992, 17 death row inmates in the US where acquitted and released. The sad fact remains that all capital punishment cases don’t have DNA evidence, in fact many do not. It is terrifying to contemplate that whether a person lives or dies can be determined based on eyewitness testimony. The innocence Project researchers report that 73% of 239 convictions reversed because of DNA, were based on eyewitness testimony. The only effective way of using the death penalty is to ensure the certainty of guilt amongst the inmates on death row; which is inherently unrealistic or impossible. The injustice does not stop there. Approximately 3% of all executions are botched, meaning that the inmate was conscious, in excruciating pain, or the death was prolonged beyond the intended speed. In cases like Allen Lee Davis’ or Romell Broom, the death penalty is proven to be an inhumane way to punish inmates. The American Civil Liberties Union believes “the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the
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
Every single death row inmates face executions there have been cases that many innocent individuals is waiting to be executed or has been executed. Research lead by Samul Gross, a professor at the University of Michigan Law school stated that “At least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent” (Capital Punishment). But not all men and woman run the same faith; there have been many cases where inmates on death row get a second opportunity in life and get exonerated from death row. For example “As of today, 150 individuals have been exonerated from death row” (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). Another significant factor that there is a lot of innocent people on death row it has to do with a false eyewitness and authorities pressuring victims. For example, Kirk Bloodsworth from Maryland who was convicted of a crime he didn't commit in 1984, he was sent to death row by a “false eyewitness identification.” (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty). How about the case of Ruben Cantu a 17-year-old who has never convicted of crimes. On till he was framed with a capital murder case that took place on November 8, 1984, and sentenced of the murderer. One of the victims and only survivor of the crime gave his statement that Cantu was the killer, he was pressured by the authorities to place Cantu in the scene of the crime. “He
People have been released from death rows throughout America due to the evidence of wrongful conviction. Wrongful execution occurs when someone innocent is put to death by capital punishment. Many people are claimed to be innocent victims of the death penalty. Newly available DNA evidence has allowed to exoneration or release of more than seventeen death row prisoners since 1992. DNA evidence is only available in about a fraction of capital cases. The Death Penalty Information Center has released and published a list of prisoners that have been executed but possibly innocent. This is
Specifically, “The current emphasis on faster executions, less resources for the defense, and an expansion in the number of death cases mean that the execution of innocent people is inevitable. The increasing number of innocent defendants being found on death row is a clear sign that our process for sentencing people to death is fraught with fundamental errors--errors which cannot be remedied once an execution occurs” (Dieter). The court system is justified in wanting to move cases along and clear the endless backlog on their dockets but not at the possible expense of an innocent person being wrongly convicted. Death penalty cases are long, drawn out and expensive trials. The defendant usually does not have the necessary financial means to afford a high priced law firm and a lengthy case. This is not fair to the defendant who can not afford decent representation. If that is the case, they would ultimately get assigned a court appointed attorney who may be overworked and underpaid will only perform the necessary amount of work to represent his client. The defendant will suffer if their attorney does not sufficiently argue about the evidence presented. In brief, “False convictions … are extremely difficult to detect after the
The American judicial system is not perfect, and its flaws sometimes bare adversely on the people of this society. For instance, just because someone is labeled a criminal, does not always necessitate the fact that they are a criminal. Brian Gilmore argues this point when he mentioned that within the past 30 years, 102 innocent individuals have been acquitted from death row in America. He says that those individuals were either not released due to legal technicalities or because evidence was lost. “These men and women did not commit their crimes. Yet somehow, they were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die, and some came awfully close to execution” Gilmore claimed. Unfortunately, it seems as though mistakes such as this one occur far too often; then, they eventually go unnoticed as we forget that those people, criminals or not, are human just like us. Considering the large window of feasible error associated with the death penalty, it is best that Americans make every effort to eliminate the intentional practice of capital punishment on criminals.
In recent years, the Supreme Court has made it more difficult for death row prisoners to file appeals. Nearly 3 of 4 Americans’ support the death sentence as a form of punishment. The other third has condemned it and their list of claims against it is long. Opponents challenge proponents on issues of deterrence, economics, fallibility, and
..... Click the link for more information. and fewer keep trying until they succeed. Few death-row prisoners insist that all appeals on their behalf be dropped. Few convicted murderers sentenced to life in prison declare that they wish they had been sentenced instead to execution. Few if any death-row prisoners refuse executive clemencyexecutive clemency n. the
Some of those who support the death penalty base their argument on the fact that it is a cost-effective alternative to life imprisonment. However, it may be more costly to execute an inmate than to have that person serve a life sentence (Amnesty International, 1987). A 1982 study in New York concluded that the average capital murder trial and the first stage of appeals costs U.S. tax-payers 1.8 million dollars (Bohm, 1987). It is estimated that this is less than it would cost to incarcerate someone for one hundred years. Other sources estimate that it can cost up to 2.2 million dollars to obtain and carry out a death sentence (Johnson, 1990). The principal factor in this cost is the appeals process, which lasts an average of ten years and is deemed necessary to reduce the likelihood of the execution of an innocent person.