The Death Penalty: Inhuman And Wrong

Since the times of King Hammurabi of Babylon back in the Eighteenth Century B.C. the death penalty has been around. For good or bad, the death penalty was created as a deterrent to end crime through brutal and painful executions such as burning alive, being impaled, drowning, and crucifixion. Over the years, the way the death penalty works has changed and even been abolished by many countries. In America however, the death penalty is a widely discussed issue with many supporters on both sides on whether or not it’s inhuman or necessary. To me, the death penalty is inhuman and wrong.

The death penalty has many issues with it concerning many aspects of how it operates and the full investigation done on each person. According to the Death Penalty

Information Center, since 1977 there have been 1414 recorded executions. While that number may not seem so big, a study done by PNAS.org has taken a look at past cases and through general statistics estimated that four percent of people on death row are innocent. Even if the chance of an innocent being executed is low, is it still right to continue with the death penalty?
There are many reasons for why innocent people are put on death row. A few of the reasons include being misidentified, sentenced due to improper science, and due to government misconduct. Misidentification is the biggest issue. The Innocence Project, a group of detectives, scientists, and more, take a look at cases with holes in them in order to try and prove the person innocent. “Eyewitness misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, playing a role in more than 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide” (Innocence Project). What is wrong with our justice system is that DNA isn’t even tested in some cases. In 1989, a man named Carlos DeLuna was executed for the crime he never committed because he looked very similar to the real criminal named Carlos Hernandez. Despite the proof of him being a different man, the prosecutors accused his identity as a fake identity and had him executed (Ed Pilkngton, theguardian). Cases like this are a huge issue in our society. Because of the lack of proper testing, a man was wrongfully executed.
Science is another major reason for people ending up on deaths row. Improper science is common in a lot of older cases. When analyzing evidence in cases for people facing a sentence, forensics scientists come in to supply a bulk of the proof for what happened. However, the science is sometimes done wrong or without validation which leads to people innocent people being charged. An example of this comes from Larry Peterson’s case where the scientist stated that pubic hairs matched the physical and microscopic characteristics as Larry’s. Even though the pubic hair isn’t solid evidence because hair can’t be tested and proven under a microscope. His case was moved to trial with the evidence marked as inconclusive. If science was correctly preformed, this man may still be free today (Innocence Project – Larry Peterson).
Beyond misidentification and lack of validated and correct science, is government misconduct, which a person is normally found guilty due to negligence or falsely and fraudulently by a government official or prosecutor.

Where some people are convicted due to honest mistakes, there are some agents out there who lie about their findings or hide certain evidence to cause the crime to look like the fault of the accused. In 1987, in the Case of Michael Morton. The prosecutors left out vital information during the trial. Even though the evidence found had proven his innocence, the withholding of key items and speculations of what they think happened were enough to land Michael Morton a conviction for the murder of his own wife who he never killed. Michal Morton was sentenced to life in prison because of the prosecution’s actions (Innocence Project – Michal

Morton).
Outside of Innocent people being convicted, the death penalty has other issues. Today, even with times moving forward, the death penalty is still racially biased. A study done by Brenda Bowser titled “Maryland Study Finds That Race And Geography Play Key Roles In the Death Penalty” points out the fact that in a state where the vast majority of people are white, over half the people inside the state’s death row are African American convicted of killing white Americans. The study shows that color plays a role in resulting in harsher punishments when killing a white man as opposed to another race. Punishments should not be based on the color of a person’s skin and the color of the person who was killed. Lack of equality in the justice system will continue to further harm the world then help because it isn’t deterring the men who would be convicted for their crimes, only hurting those who are different.
An example of bias in the justice system is shown in the case of George Stinny who was only fourteen years of age when he was executed for the murder of two white girls in South Carolina. He was arrested on the basis of being the last person to see the two girls and immediately was taken into custody with no parents or lawyer present to be questioned, and then after was rushed to court where after ten minutes of debate, in a two hour trial, the jury said he was guilty. George was executed by electrocution in a case where no evidence was given and the only thing in common was a Deep South all white trial and jury where racism was still highly prevalent (Lindsey Bever, Washington Post). The United States has come forward since his death in 1944, but racism is still large in the society today and as long as there is any bit of bias, there will always be harsh judgement for those who may have never done anything wrong. Racism is a huge issue in today’s rulings, making the death penalty more inhuman to those who are of different racial decent.
The death penalty through racism and the execution and imprisonment of innocents is a sickening feeling.

However, it is even sicker to think that the death penalty ignores issues that may exist within people. There are minimal protections for those with mental disabilities in the court of law. Where some states do significantly reduce sentences for those with mental illness, some states flat out ignore the issue and proceed with the case as if it were normal. Mental disabilities are something that should be considered due to the effects it can have in a crime and in a trial. In 1985, Eddie Joe Lloyd was convicted for the murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. Eddie at the time was in the hospital being treated for his mental illness when he saw some of the police cases. To assist the police Eddie Lloyd wrote letters to the police offering ways he felt could solve the murders including the one he was convicted for. The police went to Eddie and asked him to falsely confess for the murder to lure the real killer out of hiding by giving Eddie details only the murderer would have known (Innocence Project - Eddie Lloyd). Eddie’s mental state was completely ignored during trial and the case leading to him being convicted of the crime by a set

up.
Mental illnesses need to be recognized for many reasons other than competency issues and being more vulnerable to suggestion. Some people with mental illnesses may have never had a criminal intent during the time of their crime. “Most capital murder statutes require that the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant specifically intended to kill the victim” (Mental Illness and the Death Penalty, aclu.org). The fact that a person with mental illnesses is thrown in the same category as somebody with the intent to kill and that wholly knew what they were doing, is unfair and is an injustice.
Injustice is common in the death penalty. Some see it as arbitrary. Many people who stand a trial for deaths row are of a lower income and cannot afford an attorney. The cases they face are based on a few different variables such as politics, location, race, crime committed, and plea bargains. The defendant is always assigned an attorney if they cannot afford one, but the attorney assigned isn’t always the best suited for the case or might not provide as adequate of a defense compared to somebody that can afford one. Relating back to the case of Eddie Lloyd, who was convicted for murder by signing a confession to assist police. His attorney pulled out of the case eight days before trial and was assigned a new one. The new attorney provided no defense and lead to the quick conviction of Lloyd. While he was in death row, Eddie was assigned an appeal attorney to in response to Eddie’s claims to innocence replied that Lloyd was “guilty and should die” (Innocence Project – Eddie Lloyd). In Eddie’s case, he was assigned one of the normal attorneys a criminal would receive giving a subpar to almost no defense. The lack of fair trials is a major fault of the death penalty.
The death penalty in its current state is inhuman. Many people who end up on death row, weather guilty or not face unfair treatment in many aspects of the justice system. From being accused unfairly and without evidence and disregarding the mental state of a person, to facing a trial run by racism and politics with a subpar defense, the death penalty has lost its status as a deterrent and instead has become something to be feared by the everyday person.