Imagine a room where 25 people are assembled and assumed to be responsible for heinous crimes, yet one is completely innocent. However, all of them end up being executed by the US government. Was it really worth killing an innocent person to get the rest? Unfortunately, this is not merely imagination; it is the bitter reality behind the death penalty (Tribe). Although the death penalty has been around for most of American history, it is an outdated process. Many nations in Europe and the Americas have opted to cease the death penalty. Capital punishment in the United States needs to be abolished because it kills innocent people, costs much more than life in prison, and is unconstitutional.
The death penalty has been around since the birth of
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Arridy only had an IQ of 46, which meant he had the mind of a 6 year old, and was unable to comprehend his sentence. In 1936, he was convicted of killing a 15-year old girl and sentenced to death. Although he could not understand execution was upcoming, he was still put to death. Because of cases like Arridy’s, it was made illegal to execute mentally challenged people in 2002. It was found unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment as "cruel and unusual punishment.” Although Arridy’s story is unfortunate, it gets even worse when it was discovered that Arridy was completely innocent. When arrested, Arridy immediately confessed to Sheriff Caroll, but it was full of contradictions. He had been coerced by the police to confess. For example, Ariddy stated he used a blunt weapon, when the murder tool was really an axe. Furthermore, Arridy claimed he acted alone, but police arrested Frank Aguilar about 2 weeks later for the same murder. Ariddy then gave a second confession, but Aguilar claimed he never met Ariddy in his life ("GOV. RITTER GRANTS"). Despite the lack of evidence Ariddy was even at the crime scene, both were sentenced to