The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The Founding Fathers wrote the 8th amendment to ensure no accused person receives a “cruel or unusual punishment.” However, the 8th amendment never truly defines what “cruel” or “unusual” is. The definition of cruel and unusual has been changing for centuries and even today, the Supreme Court has difficulty deciding whether the death penalty should be considered a cruel or unusual punishment.
In the case of Furman vs. Georgia in 1972, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision; however, four years later, the Supreme Court declared that the death penalty was constitutional under Gregg vs. Georgia and this decision has been upheld with some exceptions. Exceptions include insanity as determined in Ford vs. Wainwright in 1972 and retardedness as declared in Atkins vs. Georgia. Finally, in Roper vs. Simmons, the Supreme Court declared that a minor cannot be convicted of the death penalty. Regardless of the situation, the reality is that the death penalty should be abolished because of the problems of racism in America, ineffective lawyers, faulty forensic science and biased juries.
The death penalty has been proven unjust in the United States for many reasons.
Firstly, a study by the American Civil Liberties Union discovered that 12 defendants had been executed when their victims were black while 178 black defendants were given the death penalty when their victims were white. Such disparity shouldn’t exist when it comes to giving justice to those committing the same crime, but the reality is America has thrived upon systematic racism. The death penalty has become a perfect weapon to be used against people of color. This fact automatically violates the 14th amendment of the United States in which people of color defendants are not given equal protection of the laws as white defendants. In 1987, McCleskey v. Kemp tried to prove the racial bias for those on the death row, but the death penalty was upheld for
McCleskey.
The American criminal procedure system is ultimately tied to its lawyers. When a defendant has a bad lawyer, he or she can be convicted for a crime he did not commit. The result of an incompetent lawyer shouldn’t be the death penalty. However, an investigation by the Texas Defender Service discovered that, “‘Death row inmates today face a one-in-three chance of being executed without having the case properly investigated by a competent attorney and without having any claims of innocence or unfairness presented or heard. (Death Penalty Information Center).’”Additionally, wrongfully performed forensic science shouldn’t result in the defendant receiving a death penalty. The Innocence Project, for example discovered that those exonerated in the past years, “‘45% involved the misapplication of forensic science (John Oliver).’” Furthermore, a study determined that 4.1% of those put on death row are innocent (Time); in other words 120 Americans out of 3000 inmates are innocent. In another case out of 35 defendants who received the death penalty out of 33 were found innocent and only guilty because of false hair analysis (Time). Even one of the most prized part of America’s justice system - the juries can be proven to be faulty when there is racial bias. A study at Michigan State Law Review and the University of California revealed that when given a primarily white jury against a black defendant, there was a greater chance in which the jury would convict the defendant with a death sentence if he or she was black (Studies).
America is one of the few countries in the world that continues to use the death penalty, alongside North Korea, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. For a nation build on the foundations for democracy and equality, America has taken a few steps backwards. Though the American criminal procedure tries it best to determine justice, there are too many factors and faults in the death penalty cases specifically (bad forensics, bad lawyers, bad juries) that can result in the death of a innocent man. The possibility of an innocent man dying is a risk too grave to take; we are no longer living in the time of Hammurabi's “eye for an eye” policy; instead, America should focus on rehabilitation, parole and a chance for redemption. Currently, there are almost 3,000 people on the death row. There is a possibility that 120 of these people may be innocent. As a nation, it is up to decide what we truly stand for - saving lives or taking them.