One individual's death does not seem to be equal compensation for the horrific crimes committed by that individual. I have heard the suffering from those crimes, and I have felt the pain deeply in my heart. But I am starting to wonder if we have made mistakes in the name of righteousness/justice. I wonder if a sense of vindictiveness has overpowered faith in humanity. Is it really a judge's job to determine whether an individual has anything to contribute to society and if not, send him to the death chambers?
6 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty
1) The USA is unable to prevent accidental execution of innocent people. The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the 1970s, 119 people in 25 states have been released from death row based on new exculpatory evidence...some only minutes away from execution. How many innocents were not released? Illinois has been forced to temporarily suspend the death penalty in part because half of the criminals condemned to death row were innocent.
2) Capital Punishment does not deter crime. Studies have failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime. If you were about to murder someone would the threat of the death penalty stop you. It doesn't seem to have stopped anybody else either.
3) The death penalty is racist. African Americans are 12% of the U.S. population, but 42% of inmates on death row. Although Blacks constitute approximately 50 percent of murder victims each year, 80 percent of the victims in death penalty cases were white, and only 14 percent were Black. Of the over 18,000 executions that have taken place in this country’s history, only 42 involved a white person being punished for killing a Black person. According to Amnesty International, more than 20 percent of Black defendants executed since 1976 were convicted by all-white juries.
4) The death penalty penalizes the poor. If you can afford good legal representation, you
won’t end up on death row. Over 90 percent of defendants charged with capital crimes are impoverished and cannot afford an experienced criminal defense attorney. They are forced to use inexperienced, underpaid and over-worked lawyers. Many capital trials last less than a week— hardly enough time to present a good defense.
The results are predictable. It is clear that had O.J. Simpson been poor, he would now be on death row, innocent or guilty. *I was browsing through the profiles of those with scheduled executions this year in Texas. Most if not all of the inmates were young "laborers" when they committed their offenses.
5) Executions are carried out at a staggering cost to taxpayers. It costs more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life. A 1993 California study argues that each death penalty case costs at least $1.25 million more than a regular murder case and a sentence of life without possibility of parole.
6) The death penalty is "cruel and unusual punishment." In April 2005, in the British medical journal, "The Lancet," a team of medical researchers found serious flaws in how lethal injections were being administered, causing extreme suffering to the prisoners being executed. The report found “that in 43 of the 49 executed prisoners studied, the anesthetic administered during lethal injection was lower than required for surgery. In 43 percent of cases, drug levels were consistent with awareness.” Look at the case of Stanley Tookie Williams. Had an ordinary person (instead of the state of California) tortured Williams for 35 minutes in a death chamber, the murder would be considered unconstitutional. This is not to say that I think we should search for more "humane" ways to execute people. As the Campaign to End the Death Penalty states, "There is no right way to do the wrong thing."
For more info:
Campaign to End the Death Penalty: http://nodeathpenalty.org/content/index.php
Death Penalty Focus of California: http://www.deathpenalty.org/
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights: http://murdervictimsfamilies.org/
American Civil Liberties Union: http://aclu.org/
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