Persuasive Essay On The Death Penalty

Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row defendants (77%) have been executed for killing white victims, even though African-Americans make up about half of all homicide victims. Since 1973 140 have been released from death row throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. In this same time period, more than 1,200 people have been executed. Almost all death row inmates could not afford their own attorney at trial. Local politics, the location of the crime, plea bargaining, and pure chance affect the process and make it a lottery of who lives or dies. 28 foreign nationals have been executed in the United States in 1988. Virtually, none have been informed, upon arrest, of their right to communicate with their consular representative.

Many proponents of the death penalty argue that it deters criminals from killing. However, research does not support the idea that the possibility of receiving the death penalty deters criminals from committing murder. In fact, studies by the Death Penalty Information Center show that murder rates tend to be higher in the South (where the imposition of the death penalty is the highest) compared to the Northeast United States (where the death penalty is less commonly applied). So, is the Death Penalty and Capital Punishment really making a difference? Or is it just “legalized” cold-blooded murder? As innocence projects across the country can attest to, the criminal justice system does not always get it right – even for the most heinous of crimes. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 150 exonerations of death row inmates since 1973. Unfortunately, the system is not perfect, and sometimes people are wrongfully convicted. This means we as a society run the risk of executing an innocent person as long as the death penalty is in