In the spring of 2000, a team of lawyers and criminologists headed by Prof. James Liebman released the first phase of their study on the death penalty in the United States. The study showed that the American system of capital punishment was "riddled" with unfairness and incompetence, with serious errors erupting with alarming frequency at every stage of the process. In February of 2002, the second phase was released examining the causes for the frequent mistakes in death penalty cases, and possible solutions to remedy the situation. Researchers identified three main errors that often lead to erroneous convictions: incompetent legal counsel, police officers or prosecutors who suppressed evidence and judges who gave jurors the wrong instructions. The study also suggested that the errors that permeate throughout the system also leave killers at large, exacerbate suffering, waste tax dollars and deprive citizens of the high quality of justice, which they expect and deserve. !.
In conclusion, the study found that "the more often officials use the death penalty, the wider the range of crimes to which it is applied, and the more it is imposed for offenses that are not highly aggravated, the greater the risk of capital convictions and sentences will be seriously flawed." The article implies that the emergence of new studies, such as Prof. Liebman's, discredit capital punishment as a flawless and effective system and will lead to a dramatic drop in pro-death penalty supporters, and eventually the reformation of the current capital punishment laws.
The Flawed System of Capital Punishment in the United States.
Capital punishment in the United States has been one of the most controversial issues over the past two and a half decades. Currently, 38 states enact capital punishment in response to the most "heinous of crimes". In previous years, the American public based their views strictly on the deterrent effects and cost effectiveness of the death penalty.
It stands for the total abolition of the death penalty but allows states parties to retain the death penalty in time of war. ... Some states have already abolished the death penalty. ... Some people think the death penalty is fair. ... The death penalty is a global issue. ... The death penalty isn't a way to prevent crime. ...
Currently, there have been over 1,000 deaths due to the death penalty since 1976 (Death Penalty Information Center). ... There are many different forms of execution used in the death penalty. ... Three years later in 2009, New Mexico repealed the death penalty. ... The death penalty gives most people a sense of security in many states. ... The Catholic religion is the religion most against the death penalty. ...
I am against the death penalty. ... "A new survey by the New York Times found that states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty" ("Facts" 6). ... My last reason for my opposition to the death penalty is its constitutionality, whether or not the death penalty should be legal. ... "The Death Penalty on Trial." ... "Debating the Death Penalty." ...
The Old Testament clearly calls for the death penalty on many occasions. ... In the case of the death penalty, an individual kills another human being and he is punished for it by death. ... Statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center (1997) show that the death penalty does not really deter crime. When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states without it, the majority of the death penalty states show murder rates higher than non-death penalty states. ... In 1996, death penalty states averaged a rate of 7.1 criminal homicides per 100,000, while non-death pen...
(Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Website) The main argument that advocates for the death penalty have is that the death penalty deters crime, that the threat of execution is enough to make criminals think twice about committing a capital crime. ... Clearly, by the time he has decided to commit his crime, he has already disregarded other forms of punishment besides the death penalty, such as lengthy imprisonment. ... Also, states that do not have a death penalty experience lower number of murders each year than that of the states who do. ... (Death Penalty Information Ce...
After the Supreme Court made this ruling, states reviewed their death penalty laws. ... The death penalty contradicts the whole idea of human rights. ... Supporters of the death penalty believe that the death penalty helps keep the crime and murder rate down, but that is not so. States with death penalty laws do not have lower crime or rates than states that with death penalty laws. ... If the death penalty is not "cruel and unusual punishment" then what is? ...
-Contact Death Penalty Focus. ... -Start a Death Penalty Focus chapter at your school. ... -Attend national conferences on death penalty organizing. ... What Teachers Can Do -Use the Death Penalty Information Center's curriculum for educators in your classroom! ... Death Penalty Focus can help you find many excellent speakers. ...
One way people are being deprived of their rights is the use of the death penalty. The death penalty is often used to kill people who have committed murder. ... The death penalty is not a surefire way to punish criminals. ... Jury members may avoid the death penalty for this very reason. ... If the death penalty does not deter crime, why should there have a death penalty? ...
DEATH PENALTY The death penalty has existed as long as humans have existed. ... There have been many comparisons of crime rates of death penalty states to non-death penalty states. ... Michigan, Ohio and Illinois all have the death penalty. ... In 1994, the average murder rate in death penalty states of a population of 100,00 was 8.0, for a non-death penalty state, 4.4. ... In 1976 Canada got rid of the death penalty. ...
The death penalty protects society because if the murderers are executed, they are no longer on the streets (The Death Penalty). ... Studies show that by increasing the death penalty by one percent, it would prevent one hundred and five murders (The Death Penalty). ... Why the society defends the death penalty. ... Arguments of those who oppose the death penalty. ... Concluding thoughts of reinstating the death penalty....