The Issue Of Capital Punishment

The death penalty ?cruel and unusual punishment.? At one time in history around six hundred people were executed, and in those six-hundred eighty of them were innocent but still executed (Thomas 2). Many

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

“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

"More than 4,500 people have been executed in the United States since 1930. There is no way of knowing how many have been executed in U.S. history because executions were often local affairs, with no central agency keeping track of them (Maloney, 1999)." Over 4,500 people were executed and this doesn't even include the unreported deaths. Decades ago, death penalty cases were not even to be reported in many times. For many years, people have been rationalize themselves for death penalty as " an eye for an eye"(2010).This "eye for an eye" statement is no longer giving any excuses for killing humans. The controversial idea of whether humans are rational enough to decide someone's life or death has been questioned. Humans absolutely don't have

There has been cases in which people have been executed but then proven innocent. On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, despite claims that he was innocent. Graham was 17 when he was charged with the 1981 robbery and shooting of Bobby Lambert outside a Houston supermarket. He was convicted primarily on the testimony of one witness, Bernadine Skillern, who said she saw the killer's face for a few seconds through her car windshield, from a distance of 30-40 feet away. Two other witnesses, both who worked at the grocery store and said they got a good look at the assailant, said Graham was not the killer but were never interviewed by Graham's court appointed attorney, Ronald Mock, and were not called to testify at trial. Three of the jurors who voted to convict Graham signed affidavits saying they would have voted differently had all of the evidence been available.(source) When people are tried for the death penalty, it is because they have killed someone. They are being killed, for killing someone. That is just hypocritical and morally wrong. Why would we kill someone for killing someone? When the death penalty is dragged one, families of the victims have to keep reliving the tragedy that they went thru for upwards of twenty years. "The continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives," wrote the Richards, who

While, innocent people are being sentenced to jail time and put on death row because of errors in the criminal justice system. It has been frequently argued that the death penalty leads to a failure and misuse of justice by wrongfully executing an innocent person. Many people have been announced innocent victims of the death penalty. Improper procedure may also result in unfair executions. Since 1973, more than 150 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. California being the state with the biggest amount of death row prisoners since April (2015) with 746.

Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man or woman who might accidentally get an execution sentence. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year by the hands of heartless murderers. There are more murderers out there than people who are wrongly convicted, and that is what we must remember.

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).

In the United States there have been more than 1,420 prisoners executed since 1976. There are many forms of execution such as hanging, death by firing squad, lethal injection, and electrocution, but the execution that is frequently used compared to the others is lethal injection. More than 85 percent of the prisoners that have been executed since 1976 were put to their death by lethal injection. How many of those people that were put to death could actually be innocent? Everybody makes mistakes even police officers, judges, lawyers, and jurors. Nobody wants to make the mistake of killing an innocent person. After a prisoner is executed there is no way to bring them back to life and apologize for keeping them in a prison and killing them for

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.

Transition: Now that I have talked about the excessive cost of execution, lets talk about the people who have been wrongfully executed due to false evidence.

In life there is always going to be something that is flawed with the death penalty. The reason being is because of human error. Human error happens a lot and sometimes it

The example of Claude Jones, who was put to death was just one of the many innocent executions that had happened. As mentioned by Pema Levy, who is a journalist for the Newsweek," A new study believes the figure of innocent executions happens in about 1 in every 25 people or 4.1 percent." To some people this percentage might seem really low, however, it is actually a significant amount. If you think about it again, 1 in every 25 people gets falsely convicted, and this is just not fair. No one should ever be falsely convicted and be put to death for that. There is no humanity in that. Every person deserves to live, especially the people who have not even committed a

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.