by Muneerah B.

Created on: January 16, 2009

Eradicating Discrepancy

The death penalty is not working in our favor because of the many complex issues that it entails. Aside from moral obligations, capital punishment needs to be abolished for varied reasons. There are many disparities in implementing the law that makes it an unfair tool of justice and the penal systems that administer capital punishment are flawed in more ways than one.

A study by Amnesty International showed that ethnicity plays a direct role in influencing whether a criminal will be charged with the death sentence in the US. The race of the defendants, the race of the victims as well as the race of the members of the jury are considerable factors that greatly influence the death penalty sentence.

The law can be tricky when it comes to dealing with mentally challenged criminals. Even if the law decides to exempt a mentally challenged criminal from the death penalty, there's a possibility that criminals may fake mental incapability when they know they might face a death sentence. Furthermore psychiatric testimonies still carry a trace of uncertainty and are not completely credible.

Criminals who are likely to be sentenced to death sometimes do not get a fair and transparent trial to justify their crime. Evidence to charge convicting offenders for a crime that leads to execution should include DNA testing with highly sophisticated technology that leaves little room for mistake but sadly this is not always implemented.

The inhumane nature of putting convicts to death (such as electrocution, lethal injection, hanging, a firing squad and lethal gas) is a source of constant debate. It would be an improbable task to decide which form of execution ensures the quickest and most painless death and use that method as a standardized way of execution. In selected US states where criminals are allowed to choose their preferred method of execution, lethal injection is the favored option. Those who choose other methods usually do so to make a statement with their death.

There is also a lack of clarity about the type of crimes that are fit for death and such inconsistencies raises questions about the purpose of administering death in the name of justice. The disagreement about specific crimes that deserves death is a strong reason to abolish the death penalty altogether.

Unlike the European Union, the US lacks a unified stand on capital punishment. Abolishment or retention decisions are left to individual states instead. With the country's global influence, abolishing the death penalty could be a firm and clear stand for the rest of the world to model after.

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