It’s rare that we find ourselves asking how proficient the U.S. criminal justice system is. We generally trust the criminal courts to be efficient, effective, and fair. In theory, capital punishment has a rightful place among other criminal sentences; it is practical and just, right? In actuality, the death penalty does more harm than good. Rather than uphold American ideals of justice and liberty, the death penalty violates them. It is inconsistent, immoral, futile, and more costly compared to other major felony sentences. It’s time to question the process of the “ultimate” criminal punishment in the United States, and more importantly, its effects.
It’s possible that the saying, “an eye for an eye,” is a common belief among the American people.
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The Supreme Court eventually decided to hear his case, but he lost by a 4-3 vote, as they decided the new eyewitness testimonies were invalid. Many influential, powerful people implored for clemency on his behalf, including Pope Benedict XVI, Amnesty International, the National Lawyers’ Guild, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and the European Parliament. Despite these pleas, Davis was denied, and remained on death row. Though he maintained innocence the entire time, and had no physical evidence suggesting he’d committed the crime, Davis was executed on September 21st of …show more content…
It could be that, in the states where capital punishment is legal, the population of chief district attorneys are 98% white, with the remaining 2% are black or hispanic, as presented in a study conducted by law professor Jeffrey Pokorak of Suffolk University. In numbers, 1,794 of these decision-makers are white, and approximately 36 are black or hispanic, which supports the claim that the disproportionate number of chief district attorneys (making capital punishment decisions) are the cause of the racial