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the flaws in capital punishment
capital punishment in the justice system
the case for and against capital punishment
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Innocent Victims of Capital Punishment are Possible
Try to imagine yourself being convicted of a crime you did not commit, and even worse being told you have die for that crime. This nightmare is actually a reality for some inmates on death row today. The death penalty should be abolished because the potential for even one death of an innocent man violates all principles of justice. "Can the justice system ever be 100 percent right? Not likely. Then how can it administer punishment that's 100 percent irreversible" ("Lock Up" 2)?
"On October 23, 1989, the phone rang at Officer Gary McLaughlin's desk. He picked it up immediately answering, ‘State Police, Boston,’ from the other end of the line he heard a man's voice: "My wife's been shot. I've been shot” (Baird and Rosenbaum 95). Charles Stuart and his wife had been shot leaving Stuart critically wounded and his wife dead. The police were under considerable pressure to solve the crime. Charles Stuart gave a rough description of the gunman. He was described as being 6 feet tall, about thirty years old, and black.
Two weeks after the murder of Charles Stuart’s wife,
police in Boston arrested Willie Bennett for a traffic
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violation. "Bennett, who had a previous criminal record, was a thirty-nine year old black man. Potentially a suspect the police showed a picture of Bennett to Stuart and also arranged a line-up for Stuart to view. "Stuart promptly fingered Bennett as the man who looked 'most like' the killer of his wife"(Baird and Rosenbaum 96). Bennett was later arranged on murder charges and would face the death penalty. Fortunately for Willie Bennett, on the morning of January 5, 1990, Charles Stu...
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... even for a crime is ok.
The impact on the families of the condemned prisoners
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and the homicide victims creates considerable amounts of stress. The criminal justice system offers death to the
family of the victim and, in turn, destroys the defendant’s family. The families of the defendant are often ignored.
Capitol punishment is a final sentence. There is no room for a mistake because once the execution is carried out there is no going back. Looking back, we see that the potential for innocent men to die exists, inmates must struggle to receive a fair trial, and that our society will suffer because of those who seek vengeance. Capitol punishment should be abolished. In the end, we must ask our selves one question. Is the potential to detour murder or get even with a killer enough of a reason to sacrifice even one innocent man’s life?
Curtis McGhee was charged for the murder of John Schweer who worked as a security guard at a car dealership. Even though there were various suspects after the crime McGhee was charged based on a false statement, which was made by Kevin Hughes. Kevin Hughes was under police investigation for a stolen car ring, however while he was under police investigations the detectives pressured and instructed Hughes to confess, and Hughes stated that he, Harrington, and McGhee attempted to steal a car where Schweer used to work, and when he came to check Harrington shot him with a shotgun.
Fitzroy Cohen, a close friend of the appellant, was shot four times on the evening of November 25th, 1991. A drug dealer named Mark Bailey shot him in the lobby of his apartment building. The appellant, Lawrence Hibbert, accompanied Bailey during the incident. Cohen survived the shooting and Hibbert was charged with attempted murder, as a party to the offence. At trial, the appellant testified that on the night of the shooting he had unexpectedly ran into Baily, who indicated to him that he was armed with a handgun and ordered the appellant to take him to Cohen’s apartment. When Hibbert refused, Bailey punched him in the face several times. The appellant stated that he feared for his life and believed that Bailey would shoot him if he did not cooperate with him. Bailey drove the appellant to a telephone booth, where t...
The case involved a line of duty shooting that took place between Illinois Officer Mary Redmond and suspect Ricky Allen, whom Redmond fatally wounded, and revolved around the family’s excessive force complaint, which they filed on the grounds that the witness testimony differed from Redmond’s account. [1]
The man and woman had been laid out side-by-side next to a crab-apple tree. The man had a hat covering his face and the woman’s head rested on the man’s right arm. Torn bits of paper lay between the bodies (later found to be love letters between the two). A calling card was propped up against one of the man’s shoes. The killer or killers had taken the time to arrange the bodies after they were dead.” (MacGowan.) The murderer had set the dead bodies in such a way that it looked like they were just enjoying the beautiful day in the sun. There were torn love letters between them and the man’s face was covered by a hat. Mary S. Hartman wrote a quote from Mr. Hamborszky, “"Mrs. Hall is a very cool woman. She has changed very much lately, and I am very much afraid that she will do me bodily harm." Was Hamborszky lying? We'll never know. He vanished on the eve of the trial in 1926.” (Hartman.) Mr. Hamborszky once said "Mrs. Hall is a very cool woman. She has changed very much lately, and I am very much afraid that she will do me bodily harm". We didn’t know if he was lying or not because he then disappeared the eve of the trial. Mary S. Hartman once said in her article, “By now, all the principals in this celebrated affair are long dead. There is no telling whether the truth of the identity of the murderer or murderers will ever be uncovered, but the documents themselves have many other truths to tell
Even though there was a complete lack of physical evidence against Steve Titus and the victim’s initial description of the perpetrator did not match him, he was convicted based on the eyewitness testimony given by the victim. Titus was cleared of his charges before sentencing due to the actual perpetrator being caught and positively identified (Loftus & Ketcham, 1991). This case is a prime example of how pressure from the police and relative judgement conceptualization can attribute to misidentifications.
Capital punishment is not an effective punishment or deterrent for murder or any crime for various reasons. To many prisoners, being detained in a prison is much more of a punishment than death as is it a constant, conscious deprivation of liberty and rights. This idea is represented though US Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who claimed after dropping his appeals against his death sentence that he would rather die than...
After the Supreme Court decision, Sam Sheppard’s lawyer “… went on to represent many high-profile clients, including the Boston Strangler, Patty Hearst and O.J. Simpson” (History Channel). The Supreme Court case remains as one of the most controversial decisions to this day. When Sam Sheppard left the prison, the possibility of a murderer on the loose began. To this day, nobody knows who killed Marylin Reese Sheppard. But the Supreme Court case changed many ideas in future legal trials and cases. A person cannot be tried in the press without evidence used to prove the suspect’s
According to, “Murder on a Sunday Morning”, Brenton Butler was accused of a murder of Mary Ann Stephens. During the trial, there has been some moral and corrupt evidence to prove whether this “suspect” was guilty or not. Many logical pieces of evidence were provided during the trial such as, photographs of the clothing that was worn by Mr. Butler to observe whether Mr. Stephens could identify it – and proving that Mr. Butler was accused because of his race. There has been biased argumentation during this trial such as identifying racial profiling (African-American), another eye-witness name Mr. Stevens discovered a bag of Mary Ann Stephens near the garbage, been accused by the police for “taking the gun” out of bag – but failed to fingerprint
Capital punishment is an age-old practice. It has been used in civilizations for millennia, and will continue to be used for millennia to come. Whether used for the right or wrong reasons, capital punishment is unmistakable in its various forms. From hangings, to firing squads, to lethal injections, capital punishment and the associated proceeding have evolved over time. There have been many arguments against capital punishment, many of which still hold true. As capital punishment has evolved over time, however, many of the most valid arguments have been proven all but null. Capital punishment still has its ethical and moral concerns, but as it has evolved over time these concerns have not necessarily become less valid, but fewer in number when specifically addressing capital punishment. The proceedings that come hand-in-hand with capital punishment, however, have become increasingly more rigorous and controversial and are the main focus of most capital punishment concerns.
Capital punishment is a hotly debated topic in the United States, it has and will continue to be a controversial social issue. Arguments from each viewpoint are valid, but the view with the most reasons and well thought out arguments is that of those against capital punishment. It is faulty in its ways of executing innocent people. Unethical and immoral, when it is not used fairly. It causes some to take discriminatory actions towards African Americans and the mentally ill. Capital punishment is costly, it is practically destroying the United States economy. Lastly, it is a violation of our humanitarian rights. We should not resort to such harsh methods of punishment when there are other perfectly good ways to punish those who have done wrong. With the abolition of capital punishment, we can end a cycle of violence.
...ctims who are at risk. Capitol punishment is an appropriate consequence for murdering someone. Will life in prison ensure they will not kill again? No. Will life in prison prevent a lawyer from finding a loophole to release them back in public? No. Only the death penalty can assure that. It may not give victims families just but it is a start.
One of the major problems many have with capital punishment is the cost. Death penalty trials are very complicated with many important parts, and as a result the death penalty is extremely expensive. Studies have shown that a “death-penalty trial costs $1 million more than one in which prosecutors seek life without parole (Barnes 1 of 2).” Duke University studied North Carolina’s death penalty and found that the state spent more, $2.1 million dollars more, on a death penalty case than a case seeking a life sentence (Barnes 1 of 2). Between 1995 and 2004, New York spent over $170 million dollars without executing a single prisoner (Costs 3 of 5). Death row prisoners are deemed dangerous to society and other prisoners, and so they are classified as maximum custody. This means that they are kept in a cell by themselves. Keeping prisoners on death row costs $90,000 more per year than regular confinement due to single cell housing and the extra guards that are needed in those prisons (Barnes 2 of 2). Security for the death row inmates is greatly increased which adds about 100,000 dollars to the cost of incarcerating each death row prisoner (Williams 1 of 2). California’s 714 capital prisoners cost $184 million more per year than those sentenced to life without parole. Capital crime cases have many aspects which increases the cost. Qualified lawyers are needed to work on these cases, and due to the limited amount of capable attorneys, the prisoners are forced to wait to have an attorney assigned to their case (Williams 2 of 2). These special state appointed attorneys cost the state up to $300,000 to represent each death row inmate on appeal (Williams 1 of 2). The long wait drives up the cost of the case along with the increase of time ...
In the beginning of Chapter 7, Lewis Vaughn challenges us with the question “Is it permissible for a society to put one of its members to death for committing a serious crime?” (Page 348). When people commit crimes no matter how bad, they should still be given rights. That being said opposing of the death penalty doesn’t overthrow the fact the victims did indeed break the law. Stephen Nathanson argues for this position, “those who commit terrible crimes still deserve some level of decent treatment simply because they remain living, functioning human beings”. He suggests that “by renouncing the use of death as punishment, we express and reaffirm our belief in the inalienable, unforfeitable core of human dignity” (Page 354).
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
The use of capital punishment has progressively become problematic since the very first day it was put into practice. There are many great arguments both for and against capital punishment, but in my opinion the benefits of capital punishment outweigh any possible negative aspects. Although capital punishment sounds extreme, sometimes it is necessary when people execute extreme crimes. I would like to argue that in certain situations the use of capital punishment is morally acceptable.