Should Death Penalty Be Abolished - Essay Example

Death Penalty Introduction The death penalty has been a matter of great controversy in the US. Many call it a denial of human rights and against the dignity of mankind. Currently, over two-thirds of nations of the world have abolished capital punishment and many are on the way. In the US, many states still continue with death penalty laws. Supreme Court suspended capital punishment during the period 1972-76; however, that was resurrected after that. The paper explores why capital punishment should be abolished. US Death Penalty History The below-mentioned table depicts death execution history in the last few decades in the US.

The year 1930-39 1940-49 1950-59 1960-69 1970-79 1980-89 1990-99 2000-4/12008 DP 1690 1284 717 161 003 117 518 501 Source: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm Total 4958 It can be seen from the above table that death penalty was certainly on the decline until at least 1980 in US; however, in subsequent decades it went up considerably. It would be further interesting to see how these executions are distributed radially. Race Whites Blacks Hispanic Native American Asian Numbers (%) 630 (57%) 377 (34%) 076 (07%) 014 (01%) 008 (01%) Source: http://www.

clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm Death Penalty and Racial Bias Amnesty International (2010) runs a campaign to remove the death penalty in the USA by going through individual cases of injustice. The organization exposes the flawed nature of capital punishment conviction and the absurdity involved with it and argues strongly to abolish the death penalty. According to them, the death penalty is absurd and cruel. The organization gives an example of Brandon Rhode being put to death just a few days after his life was saved.

Often, the death penalty is not authorized on proven guilt. Serious doubts were raised about the guilt of Troy Davis; however, he remained on death row. Quoting the case of Teresa Lewis in Virginia while she was awarded the death penalty but the person who masterminded the crime did not get the penalty. In the case of Reggie Clemons convicted for the murder of two white women in St. Louis, four federal judges charged the prosecutor's conduct as ‘boorish and abusive’. Clemons alleged police brutality during interrogation.

The political pressure led to the police and prosecutor misconduct and speaks about the racial bias in this case. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland granted clemency to Kevin Keith because some doubt still remained about her crime. This is an indication of changing times (Amnesty, 2010). Does the Death Penalty Act as a Deterrent? There is a great deal of debate that capital punishment works as a deterrent for heinous crimes like murder. Lamperti (2011) argues and concludes that capital punishment does not create any deterrent effect and reduce the rates of homicides.

Lamperti further argues that many countries such as England in 1973, Canada in 1976, France in 1981, Italy in 1994, Spain in 1995, and Australia in 1985 have abolished capital punishment from their soil for the simple reason that the death penalty in no way works as a deterrent. A study done by United Nations indicates that there is no correlation between the existence of the death penalty and lower rates of crime. Several States Abolish the Death Penalty Recently, Connecticut has taken a decision to abolish the death penalty after evidence from a comprehensive study that death sentences are executed haphazardly without establishing the gravity of crimes.

Following Connecticut now many states such as Kansas, Florida, Kentucky, California, Georgia, and Washington have started taking repeal measures on the death penalty laws. The states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Oregon have also started reviewing the death penalty laws. Cost versus Benefits In an editorial review by the New York Times, the paper states that the cost of the death penalty is enormous as is evidenced by the spending of roughly $4 billion on the execution of 13 death penalties. The proponents of the death penalty in the State of California now declare that there is no visible benefit or it serves no purpose in continuing with it.

The paper categorically mentions that racial bias permeates death penalty cases. Minority defendants have a greater chance of the death penalty if the victims are whites. If seen from the population perspective, blacks constitute only 12.6 percent of the population but 35 percent of the convicts receiving the death penalty are from blacks. The reason could be insufficient counsel support and major blunders from court-assigned lawyers. The paper quotes the American Law Institute which opines that the system cannot fix the issue as it is not possible to rid the system free of racial or class biases.

Finally, the paper takes a strong position that the death penalty should be abolished throughout the United States (The New York Times, 2012). Conclusion There is no doubt that the death penalty serves no useful purpose. It neither acts as a deterrent nor any other social purpose. Racial and class bias coupled with political interference denies justice to the innocent which goes against basic human rights. More and more states are on the way to abolishing capital punishment and that augurs well for mankind.