FREE ESSAY ON PROTECTING THE INNOCENT

PROTECTING THE INNOCENT

Amy York
April 24, 2000 
Protecting the Innocent 
Capital punishment should be abolished in the United States. There may have been a time
when capital punishment was needed and acceptable, but that time is far behind us. The
concepts and beliefs supporting capital punishment are outdated and have no place in our
modern society. There is no longer a need to perform executions to maintain a safe
society. 
There are two opposing viewpoints on the issue of capital punishment, and both present
strong arguments with valid points. One side maintains that capital punishment is an
ethical response to crime, and the opposing side believes capital punishment is not an
ethical legal action. Undeniably capital punishment does offer some advantages to our
society, such as deterrence and incapacitation. However both of these can be gained
without the death penalty. There is no proof that the death penalty is a deterrent to
criminals, and incapacitation can be achieved by sentencing offenders to life in prison.

A common misconception is that executing an offender costs less than life long
imprisonment. 
The cost of apparatus and maintenance of the procedures attending the death penalty,
including death row and the endless appeals and legal machinery, far outweighs the
expense of maintaining in prison the tiny fraction of criminals who would otherwise be
slain (Draper 46). 
A report issued in1998 by the Judicial Conference of the United States found the cost of
sentencing a defendant to the death penalty is higher than imprisoning the accused for
life. This is due to the high cost of providing representation in federal death penalty
cases (www.uscourts.gov/dpenalty.htm). Cases involving the death penalty take longer to
prosecute and therefore have higher costs than other cases. The state is usually
responsible for paying the accused legal fees, as most cannot afford a lawyer. Some legal
firms do handle capital punishment cases pro bono but the majority of defendants are
unable to obtain legal representation on their own. 
The death penalty was abolished in the United States from 1972 to 1976 after the Supreme
Court ruled it cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violated the 8'th Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution. When new execution methods were introduced the decision was
reversed (www.brittanica.com). However even if the death penalty is no longer considered
cruel and unusual, it is still unethical. 
Our legal system is not infallible, mistakes occur daily within this system. When errors
are made regarding capital punishment, the risk of ending innocent lives becomes a very
real possibility. During the past century many innocent persons have been given the death
penalty. Many of these people spend years on death row only to later be exonerated. The
House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights issued a report in October of 1993
listing 48 persons who had been released from death row between 1973 and 1993 due to new
evidence that proved their innocence (www.un.org). However recently President Clinton has
signed a law that limits death row prisoners to one habeas corpus appeal within one year
of conviction (www.whitehouse.gov). Many of the innocent people released from death row
during the last decade would have been executed were this law in effect.
When you read facts and figures concerning death penalty convictions it is easy to
disassociate yourself from the convicted. When faces go along with the written name it
becomes harder not too feel something for these people. The majority of society will
never know anyone sentenced to death row. This makes it safe to be a supporter of capital
punishment. I believe that if these same supporters were to watch an execution it would
become harder to support. I know that just thinking of the innocent people who have had
years of their lives stolen away from them is enough to make me oppose the death penalty.

Many of the supporters of capital punishment believe that murderers and sex offenders
have nothing to offer society and do not deserve to live. However this is not necessarily
true. This point of view is partially correct because there is usually no chance for
rehabilitation. However people who commit the most heinous of crimes can be useful to all
of society. We have the resources to study these individuals and find out what happened
to make them commit these acts. When we gain knowledge of thought patterns leading to
criminal activity our society is given the opportunity to prevent more crimes like these
from taking place. 
Our country is known as a champion of human rights. But we seem to be forgetting the
principles and ideals that founded our nation and made our country what it is today. Why
do we need to be not only the judge but also the executioner? Our society knows that
murder is wrong and unethical. And yet our country contains a criminal justice system
that supports vengeance instead of rehabilitation or incapacitation. 
The expression an eye for an eye is often used in association with the death penalty. But
this expression implies an equality of behavior. Many times a criminal who commits a
murder does so because they do not possess the same rational thought process that the
rest of society possesses. Since the re-establishment of capital punishment in 1976, 34
mentally retarded inmates have been executed (www.nodeathpenalty.com). These people are
unable to process thought and understand consequences in the same way that a healthy mind
would. How can our nation rationalize the execution of these people? 
Another contributing factor to the unethical nature of capital punishment is the racial
disparities associated with death penalty cases. In 1997 The Economic and Social Council
of United Nations conducted an investigation of executions within the United States. The
investigation was prompted by reports of discriminatory and arbitrary use of the death
penalty and a lack of adequate defense during trail (www.unhchr.ch.gov). The United
Nations investigation revealed that African Americans are 43% of the death row
population, but only 12% of the United States population. Since 1976 only 10 executions
involved a white defendant who had killed a black victim (www.unhchr.ch.gov). 
Principles and ethics have a place in our society. And while we strive to maintain ethics
in the business community and other parts of society, our criminal justice system no
longer supports ethics. Vengeance and discrimination have no place in our criminal
justice system. Our society does not have the right to take a life for any reason. The
technology in our society is rapidly advancing. New discoveries are made in science and
medicine daily. And yet we have not taken the time to advance our sense of ethics and
principles. We are losing what made our county unique so many years ago. Capital
punishment needs to be left in the past where it was created. 
Works Cited 
Capital Punishment. Britannica Online. 04 April 2000.
(http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/index/1/0,8377,12071100.html) 
Draper, Thomas. Capital Punishment. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1985. 
Federal Judiciary Subcommittee on Defender Services. Recommendations Concerning the Cost
and Quality of Defense Representation. 01 May 1999.
(http://www.uscourts.gov/dpenalty/1cover.htm). 
No Death Penalty Organization. Five Reasons Why You Should Oppose the Death Penalty. 29
March 2000. (http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/fivereasons.html).
United Nations Economic and Social Council. Report of the Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial or Arbitrary Executions. 22 January 1998.
(http://www.unhchr.ch.org/hurdoca.html). 
United Nations Organization. Home Page. 29 March 2000. (www.un.org/rights.html). 
White House Office of the Press Secretary. Clinton Administration Plan to Expand
Community Policing and Reduce Gun Violence. 11 August 1993.
(http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2r.text). 
Bibliography
Works Cited 
Capital Punishment. Britannica Online. 04 April 2000.
(http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/index/1/0,8377,12071100.html) 
Draper, Thomas. Capital Punishment. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1985. 
Federal Judiciary Subcommittee on Defender Services. Recommendations Concerning the Cost
and Quality of Defense Representation. 01 May 1999.
(http://www.uscourts.gov/dpenalty/1cover.htm). 
No Death Penalty Organization. Five Reasons Why You Should Oppose the Death Penalty. 29
March 2000. (http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/fivereasons.html).
United Nations Economic and Social Council. Report of the Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial or Arbitrary Executions. 22 January 1998.
(http://www.unhchr.ch.org/hurdoca.html). 
United Nations Organization. Home Page. 29 March 2000. (www.un.org/rights.html). 
White House Office of the Press Secretary. Clinton Administration Plan to Expand
Community Policing and Reduce Gun Violence. 11 August 1993.
(http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2r.text).