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Essay Why The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

1001 Words5 Pages

Lena Baker, a poor African American female, was put to death by an all white, rich male jury for the murder of Ernest Knight. Ernest was a white rich man who hired Lena to be his personal maid who unfortunately abused his power towards her. He enslaved her, even though slavery was and still is illegal. He was killed in the early 1940’s by Lena Baker. The jury overlooked these details towards race, wealth, and defense and sentenced her to death in 1945. According to deathpenaltyinfo.org her case was very quick and simple, no actual time and effort was put into the case. This may have happened over 70 years ago, but nothing has changed. Innocents are still being put to death, and inequality are being brought upon those who do not deserve it in …show more content…

Doing such an absurd act alone is completely insane. Putting millions of dollars into death penalty only to find out 30 minutes before trial that the defendant is innocent is stupid, but that has happened a handful of times. Life without parole is not only a better option, but is not as costly and doesn’t involve as much effort. The government, adults, and non-profit organization put money into these trails when really, that’s unnecessary because according to the article “Death Penalty Should Be Abolished” the states actually cut funding for death penalty. They will test drugs on death row inmates, spending even more money, simply to abuse their power, they being the government. To sum this all up, the government is a wealthy and emotionless system towards death penalty. All the facts are laid out, but are overlooked by …show more content…

In a death penalty case though, the attorney has to have very amazing quality. But of course that’s not required because well, that just shows equality and no one gets that anymore. Some attorneys are unprepared for their case. Some will know nothing about the trial, or only have information that the media has already released previously. Stated by https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-representation , “ Almost all defendants in capital cases cannot afford their own attorneys.” This could be for numerous reasons such as he or she has been in prison for so many years they lack the money, or their money was taken from them. Some are even in their worse scenario, where their family refuses to lend them a hand. So they have to dig up every penny they have to afford a barely decent attorney who will decide their chance of living. Along with the terrible quality, comes their performance. Some attorneys will be hungover/drunk, unprepared, or asleep. According to https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-representation , 12% of death penalty cases betwen 1949-1999 were represented by attorneys who were later fired for their poor peformance. Its simple, attorneys need to have amazing quality for an amazing

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In other instances, like in Steven Truscott’s murder case, prosecutors pushed for the death penalty for the fourteen year old, as the death penalty would generate much more interest than life in prison. Truscott was later aquitted of the murder and the governement of Ontario awarded him 6.5 million in compensation.(Ontario Compensates Steven Truscott) When prosecutors push for a conviction for the purpose of getting a conviction and not the truth, a grave unjustice has been commited. Pushing for the death penalty and ignoring evidence of innocence causes courts to lose sight of the the truth. Our justice system must be reformed to prevent similar instances from happening in the future.

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Famous American cereal killer, John Wayne Gacy, had murdered and raped 33 adolescents, many of whom were teenagers, the justice system made sure this man could never do this again. The public is turning a blind eye to the many contributions the justice system makes, we should look at not only how we can reform, but how it contributes to society The justice system creates many contributions to society, such as the safety it provides for children and their chances of exploitation, the many instances where they convict dangerous individuals therefore creating a safer environment for the present and future of society, and the fact it provides all citizens of the public and private sectors, to have the right to a fair, speedy, and public trial,

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