FREE ESSAY ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Death Penalty: Revised
During this class period today, seven adult men will be falsely accused of committing a
serious crime, carrying a penalty of capital punishment. This means approximately 51,000
adult men are falsely accused of committing serious crimes each year. This figure is
roughly the number of people who attended Super Bowl-Thirty-Three. Currently, there are
3,500 people on death row in thirty-eight states that support and carry out the death
penalty while only twelve states have outlawed it. At the same time, more than half the
countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Capital
punishment is very relevant to each member of society. It is not just a male only issue.
Every single one of us in this room has a father, brother, or significant others who
could be affected. Capital punishment in America is morally unjust and should be
eliminated because it is cruel and unusual; it kills innocent people; and it is used in a
discriminatory manner.
Sometimes criminals suffer more during their executions than is anticipated or planned.
People sentenced to death are certain to face one of the following methods of execution
still practiced today: firing squad, electric chair, lethal injection, gas chamber or
hanging. But, injecting with poisonous chemicals, smothering with toxic gases, and
electrocuting with high voltage are the preferred methods because bloody human tissues
are not strewn about, as with other methods, therefore those people assigned to scour the
execution site are less likely to experience psychological trauma. Although tidy, these
styles of killing rarely succeed on the first attempt; instead, prisoners regularly
suffer intense pain for long periods of time before expiring. According to Seideman, the
case of Scotty Sutton is one example of many bungled executions that take place every
month. While administering a lethal injection, all the executioner's attempts to find a
vein have failed. Scotty started moaning and heaving in agony signaling a partial dose
found his blood stream. Realizing the dose was not enough to end his life the executioner
tried several failed attempts in the neck area hoping to find a main artery. Meanwhile,
300 pound, Scotty is still breathing after five minutes into this botched execution. The
chemicals that were prepared and on hand have been seriously depleted. In a last ditch
effort, the executioner signaled for help and directed a prison staff member to cut away
a portion of the thick canvas jacket to expose an area of his chest to deliver a lethal
dose directly into his heart; moments later Scotty expired (3). Another example that is
equally as cruel as lethal injection is the gas chamber. This method of execution places
a prisoner in a cell that fills with cyanide gas. The symptoms of dying first start with
tears falling uncontrollably from the eyes. Then, snot and bodily fluids run unobstructed
from the nose. Also, puss dribbles out the mouth, and blisters form on the skin about the
face. Finally, breathing is restricted and the heart stops. This process can take eight
minutes that may seem like eight hours to the prisoner. Another account of inhumane
punishment comes from witnessing a prisoner's execution in the electric chair. Science
has not determined how long an electrocuted individual retains consciousness, but when
the switch is thrown, the body jerks, smoke frequently rises from the head, and there is
a smell of burning flesh (Seideman 4). For example, one case in May 1990, Jessie Tafero,
a Florida prisoner, gurgled and his head bobbed while ashes fell from it, for four
minutes (Seideman 5). Another case in July 1986, Kevin Barnes, an Alabama prisoner, took
three jolts of electricity and ten minutes before being pronounced dead (Seideman 5). In
the Chicago Tribune report on "Miscarriages of Justice," it was reported that since 1975
at least 381 innocent people have been convicted of capital crimes they did not commit
(Armstrong). Guilty criminals deserve to die for the horrible acts they commit, not
innocent people. The Death penalty practiced is far from humane; in fact, it is downright
torturous in many cases and Heaven forbid if we send an innocent person to death row.
Every time the state kills an innocent person, justice has failed; sympathy from our
hearts goes to families suffering from grief; then, the peoples' business is soon back to
normal. This tragic cycle will continue until capital punishment is outlawed.
Occasionally killing an innocent person while in the process of trying to kill guilty
criminals is unacceptable. The Chicago Tribune conducted a study and analyzed thousands
of court records from across the country to find some disturbing news. Research has
revealed that, with impunity, prosecutors across the country have violated their oaths
and the law, committing the worst kinds of deceptions in the most serious of cases
(Armstrong 1). Hiding or presenting false evidence was the prosecutor's strategy to
deceive the courts and win their case; they knew they would not get punished. Armstrong
reports, "they have prosecuted black men, hiding evidence that the real killers were
white. They have prosecuted a wife, hiding evidence her husband committed suicide. They
have prosecuted parents, hiding evidence their daughter was killed by wild dogs"
(Armstrong). Studies show, since 1975 at least 381 innocent people have had their
conviction thrown out (Armstrong 2). Dishonest lawyers who represent our justice system
should be held accountable for the deaths of those innocent people convicted of crimes
they did not commit. A report released by the Chicago Tribune points out that recent
advances in DNA technology have stirred the hopes of many prisoners that may be innocent
and looking for a loop hole in getting another chance to appeal. As a result, 1000 new
cases crowd the courts, and 75 of which are death row prisoners (Armstrong 5). Verneal
Jimerson of Illinois and Kirk Bloodsworth of Maryland, both were later exonerated by DNA
tests, but not before spending 5 years in prison (Armstrong). Capital punishment is prone
to killing innocent people. A court error can be corrected with a pardon but a pardon
after death is not valued to anyone (Seideman 2).
Race is an important factor in determining who is sentenced to die. When dealing with
race, statistics are important because they provide facts that are unbiased and
indisputable. Martin Luther King said, "sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust on
its application" (King 159). Meaning intentions are good but its outcome is unjust. With
capital punishment, the statistics present the big picture by revealing that biased
judgments were made along racial lines and therefore must be examined first. Then, each
court case is examined to enumerate the evidence that supports our conclusion drawn from
the statistics. For example, statistics shows that, during 1997-1998 the population of
our country was 252.7 million. 72.9 percent of this amount was white, yet whites
accounted for only 49.1 percent of prison inmates, while blacks who accounted for only
15.3 percent of the entire population, accounted for 47.3 percent of prison inmates. The
statistics are similar for the population on death row and executions (Cabana 1). These
statistics suggest a racial problem does exist but is not enough to make a claim. Each
case is now examined; the evidence that supports the claim is enumerated; the result is a
well thought out explanation of the problem. For example, after carefully studying the
statistics the General Accounting Office released a report in 1990 that insists the race
of the victim in capital murder cases influenced whether prosecutors would pursue the
death penalty or not. In particular, it insists that, a black man who kills a white
person is 11 times more likely to receive the death penalty than a white man who kills a
black person (Fernando 1). 
In simpler terms, the law does not stand for torture or racism; instead, it honors due
process and equal justice for all. The law promises we punish criminals but fails to
eliminate wrongful convictions. It is not necessary to kill someone as punishment because
when the person is dead, you are not punishing him; you are punishing only the people who
love him. These victims would benefit far more if the funds used for appeals were
diverted to the provisions of counseling and other assistance. Racism continues to play
an unacceptable role in capital punishment. In death penalty cases the race of the victim
is much more important than the prior criminal record of the defender or the actual
circumstances of the crime. More than half of those on death row are people of color,
although they represent about six percent of the U.S. population, about forty percent of
those on death row are African American. On the basis of race, the death penalty still
discriminates against minorities; therefore, our principles of justice and fairness are
being selectively applied. Currently in America we have not a system of justice, but
injustice.
Works Cited
KING, LUTHER, MARTIN, JR. Letter from Birmingham Jail. A WORLD OF IDEAS: 
Essential Readings for College Writers. LEE A. JACOBUS, 1998.
Armstrong, Ken, (1999, January 10- creation date). The Verdict: Dishonor. Accessed: 
March 7, 1999. *http//sun.soci.niu.edu/~critcrim/wrong/tribpros10.html*
Seideman, David, (1998, June17-last updated). Executions and Suffering Accessed: 
March 17, 1999. *http://ethics/ucsd.edu/death.penalty.html
Fernando, Javier, (1994, April-creation date). American Justice in America Accessed: 
March 10, 1999. *http://www.miamicity.com/miami/literadeath.html*
Cabana, Don, (1998- copyright). Death Penalty Statistics Accessed: March 20, 1999 
*http://www.theelectricchair.com/stats.htm*