1 of 14

Ban it

Write now Article Tools

When examining capital punishment, I came across a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." After reading the quote, I asked myself the following questions to see if the death penalty is justified or not. Is the system just and applied fairly? If the death penalty is a deterrent to future murders, are the states that enforce capital punishment with the lowest murder rates? If a Society is going to put a condemned a person to death, has it done everything to ensure that person was given every avenue to prove innocence and is in fact 100% guilty? What is the world's view of capital punishment? What example do we set for our children by executing criminals? After seeking answers to these questions, I have come to following conclusion. This great Nation does become blind with vengeance when seeking capital punishment. It is because of this blindness, the death penalty should be banned.

I will explain how I came to this conclusion by examining each of the above mentioned questions in detail.

IS THE DEATH PENALTY APPLIED FAIRLY?

Most defendants in capital punishment cases are poor and uneducated. Approximately 90% of those condemned were given court-appointed attorneys. These attorneys are inexperienced in capitol trials and have very limited budgets to prepare for their case. They are pitted against an experienced prosecutor who has a vast amount of financial resources to ensure a guilty verdict. This is not a fair and just fight. A victory by a prosecutor in a death penalty case is considered a stepping stone in their career.

Being poor is not the only factor that determines if the death penalty is going to be pursued. A 2000 Federal Death Penalty study found that a 80% of the cases submitted for the death penalty involved minorities as defendants. A 2007 American Bar Association study of African-American death row inmates sentenced in Philadelphia, stated one third of them would have received a life sentence if they were not African-American.

80% of those executed since 1976, murdered a white victim. This number is extremely large since there has been approximately an even amount of black and white murder victims during that period. Also, 80% of the executions have taken place in the South. When you consider all of these high proportion segments of certain classes of society that are on death row, you cannot say capitol punishment is applied fairly. Race of the perpetrator, race of the victim, location

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Should the United States ban the death penalty??
We want to hear your view. Write now!