Brian Keith Terrell. That name probably doesn’t ring any bells for any of you. That’s because he is one out of the hundreds of innocent people that have been killed through capital punishment. And not only that, but he was my son. Among one of the most controversial issues in society, questions frequently pop up regarding the ethics concerning the death penalty. Today, I Barbara Terrell, will inform you all on why the death penalty should be abolished.

My son was put to death for the 1992 murder of 70-year-old John Watson. But no hard evidence had proven he was at the scene of the crime and two testimonies were later found to be inaccurate. Yet on the 9th of December at 12:52 pm, my son took his last breath. And, as the woman who brought him into this world, I was completely and utterly torn apart as the realisation dawned on me like a tonne of bricks, that his short life had an abrupt end.

Unfortunately, my son isn’t the only person that had been condemned to this undeserved ending. A study has shown that every 1 in 25 people sentenced to death in the US is innocent. What’s more, the death penalty is irreversible. In contrast to conventional punishments, capital punishment is absolutely final. The court or the executioner cannot give back a life, so why should they be able to take it? So “justice” is served? I completely understand the grief that victims’ families have to go through, but the unfortunate reality is; the death of the offender will not make the pain of