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"The question with which we must deal is not whether a substantial proportion of American citizens would today, if polled, opine that capital punishment is barbarously cruel, but whether they would find it to be so in light of all information presently available. " -Justice Thurgood Marshall In general, death is something none of us want, in fact it is something we don't even like to think about. When death takes place naturally, it is a process beyond our control to stop, but where death is willfully and deliberately brought about, it is very unfortunate. Of course, within our legal systems there are said to be certain reasons and purposes for employing the death penalty. It is used to punish offenders, to prevent them ever repeating their misdeed and to deter others.
However, if we examine the situation more carefully, we will find that these are not the real solutions. There are many arguments for and against capital punishment, and some even from the same religious references. Either way, it is a moral issue that has been plaguing many societies as early as recorded history, and has been questioned in recent history and in contemporary society. With the advent of DNA identification, more elaborate legal cases, and mass communication: more and more convicted felons have been freed from death row.
Studies comparing states with and without capital punishment now proves the ineffectiveness of such a threat. As long as humans make mistakes, and as long as the judicial system is fraught with errors, there is no way of knowing how many death row prisoners received a fair trial, let alone know how many innocent people are on death row or have already been judicially murdered. Today, in many societies very little importance is placed on education or the development of human values through social programs and entertainment. In fact, if we take television programming as an example, violence, including killing, is regarded as having a high entertainment value. This is indicative of how misguided we have become.
Conflict theorists would argue that the same minority of people who control a society's ideological hegemony are the same people who rationalize and instigate the killing of people who generally come from opposite backgrounds. U. S. Senator Ross Feingold recently introduced a bill to abolish the federal death penalty and called on all states that impose the death penalty to cease the practice. He said that it is time for America to leave the death penalty behind with the 20 th century and take a hard look at our justice system, declaring: "With each new death penalty statue enacted and each execution carried out, our executive, judicial, and legislative branches at both the state and federal level add to a culture of violence and killing. " Human beings are not violent by nature. Unlike lions and tigers, they are not naturally equipped to kill with sharp teeth and claws.
The basic nature of every sentient being is pure, that the deeper nature of mind is something pure. Human beings become violent because of negative thoughts, which arise as a result of their environment and circumstances. Legal executions came early to America, when British soldiers hanged Nathan Hale in 1776 for spying during the Revolutionary War. After colonists gained independence, pioneers ventured west and the tradition of executions traveled with them, but they soon took on a new meaning.
Revenge and justice became a necessity to early settlers loo ing for order in a nation of disarray. Two hundred years later, in a more civilized and refined era, emotional opposition to the death penalty flourished, and in 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that state executions were unconstitutional. A moratorium on capital punishment began, but it was short-lived as the American cry for justice persuaded legislators to lift the ban in 1976. Since 1973, 95 people in 22 states have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence.
But more innocent, as well as guilty are being killed by a government that is still uncertain with the righteousness and aptness of execution. A long struggle with the death penalty continues as the voices of abolitionists scream to be heard. There is much for abolitionists to argue these days, and some political figures, like Illinois' Governor George Ryan through his recent moratorium, are listening. Most indigent defendants suffer from grossly inadequate legal representation.
The US. General Accounting Office has found a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in charging, sentencing and imposition of the death penalty (General Accounting Office Report, February 1990). Many states continue to execute people who are either mentally ill or mentally retarded or who were under age 18 at the time of their crimes or both. And it is important to remember; sentencing a person to death is not cheap. Texas, with over 430 people on death row, spends an estimated $ 2. 3 million per case, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years (Death Penalty Information Center 2000 a). Unfairness and mistakes in the application of the death penalty are undermining public confidence in the criminal justice system and fueling the call for a moratorium.
The average of murder rates per 100, 000 population in 1999 among death penalty states was 5. 5, whereas the average of murder rates among non-death penalty states was only 3. 6. This clearly is an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences that has been withheld from the publics attention. The consequences of the abolishment of capital homicide have had positive affects that supersede common stereotypes for crime prevention. In addition, the death penalty is disproportionately and unfairly applied to minorities. That is, race has been shown to be a major determining factor in the imposition of the death penalty. Racial minorities are being prosecuted under federal death penalty law far beyond their proportion in the general population or the population of criminal offenders.
Analysis of prosecutions under the federal death penalty provisions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 reveals that 89 % of the defendants selected for capital prosecution have been either African-American or Mexican-American. There is also some evidence that Black defendants are more likely to face execution as compared to Whites in the same legal circumstances. While the justice system seems to be convicting more minorities, the application of the death penalty is almost exclusively used against the lower class. Namely, the people being tried for capital crimes are mostly poor, working class individuals who are undereducated and underemployed.
Rich, upper class people are not accused of, let alone convicted of, capital murder because they can afford high paid, expert lawyers who can effectively protect their client's constitutional rights against the powers of the state. Because the poor cannot afford to pay for an attorney, the state provides one for them. The overwork and low pay of these public defenders tends to attract attorneys of dubious skill and limited experience; this amounts to ineffective legal work, which means that the accused will most likely receive an unfair trial, conviction, and death sentence. Thus, without the ability to hire private attorneys like the rich, the law violates the constitutional rights of the working class poor because the ineffectiveness of low paid, inexperienced state-appointed attorneys subverts the defendant's rights in ways that do not affect wealthy defendants who can afford to hire private lawyers. Innocent people end up on death row because police sometimes falsely claim a confession or withhold evidence suggesting innocence; other times they coach witnesses, convincing witnesses they are identifying the right man. In other cases, the police manufacture evidence or plant false evidence; frequently they bribe false witnesses to claim a confession or give other false testimony.
In exchange, snitches receive their freedom, having their own charges dismissed or reduced. More than fifteen million Americans suffer from either acute or serious mental illness. To add to the list of injustices, untreated mental illness is a factor in countless episodes of public violence. A noted study of 30 mass murderers found that 67 percent had clear psychotic symptoms or signs of psychosis at the time of the crimes. Research for diagnosing and treating disorders has proven that brain impairments partly drive people's criminally violent behavior, along with other factors such as poverty, neglect and troubled upbringings. With treatment, even the most severely mentally ill are no more violent than anyone else.
Yet mental illness remains among the most under funded, misunderstood, and poorly treated of all diseases. Consequently, because of the social stigma that is attached to mental illness, our culture condemns hundreds of mentally ill people to the ritualized horrors of America's death chambers -- regardless of the fact that mental disorders are not character flaws but are legitimate illnesses that respond to specific treatments just like other medical disorders. The guarantees in the Bill of Rights are not minor inconveniences, which judges and prosecutors can simply dismiss, as a person's constitutional rights are the democratic foundation of our republic. Thus, when a life is at stake, nothing less than vigilant adherence to the Constitution will do. Clearly, the process for accusing, convicting and sentencing people to death is fraught with fundamental errors errors that cannot be remedied once an execution has taken place.
This is a step in the right direction: The Innocence Protection Act of 2001 has been introduced in the U. S. House as H. R. 912 by Reps.
Ray La Hood (R-IL) and William Delahunt (D-MA). Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have sponsored the Senate version of the bill, S. 486. This important legislation would provide critical new safeguards in capital cases by: Allowing prisoners on death row to request DNA testing on evidence from their case that is in the government's possession. Providing mechanisms to guarantee that everyone has access to a professional and experienced lawyer. Requiring states to inform juries of all sentencing options, including the option to sentence a defendant to life imprisonment without parole.
The death penalty fulfills a preventive function, but it is also very clearly a form of revenge. It is an especially severe form of punishment because it is so final. The human life is ended and the executed person is deprived of the opportunity to change, to restore the harm done or compensate for it. Too often the "liberal" thinkers of America see religious leaders speak out for a pro-life stance, and label the arguments for the abolishment of execution as conventional and out of touch with reality.
But societal leaders have now spoken out and have turned some heads. Lately, many stereotypes or prejudgments of the impact of capital punishment have been dismissed and the humanity behind such arguments is witnessed. As a leading global society, America has the responsibility make civilized decisions and understand that such choices are a reflection of its society's ideals and values.
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Research essay sample on Death Penalty States General Accounting Office
