If one of your family members were convicted of murder, but they were completely innocent and were still put to death, how would you feel? What if weeks later after the death of that family member someone proved them innocent? That would make it worse! The death penalty has been shown to be a very discriminate consequence. People whom are poorly educated, minorities, females, or relatively young are more likely to be executed than people with the opposite characteristics. Capital Punishment is also a violation of the 8th Amendment, ".nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Being hung, shot with a lethal compound, or being electrocuted is definitely cruel and unusual. If a person is guilty and is sentenced to death, they never get to feel pain or guilt for the crime they have committed. Feeling the guilt would become worse a punishment than death. The Death Penalty can also burn a hole into the taxpayers" wallets because it can be quite expensive. The United States is the only Western industrialized nation that still practices capital punishment. I guess everyone else has more sense about the subject than our country. Most of all the death penalty doesn't deter crime!.
Since 1990, thirty-three people have been released from death row when they were proven innocent. More then half of these releases have occurred within 72 hours of their execution. DNA testing has proved that some people were not guilty after execution. Having such an unreliable outcome can cause a person that's completely innocent to die. After they are dead, you can't make up for killing them. Another point, which is almost always over-looked, is the agony family and friends of the criminals" go through leading up to the execution. Believing your loved one could commit such a crime is unbearable.
The discrimination among prisoners on death row is completely appalling. Just because someone may be African American or poor does not give the state the right to punish him or her different than they would a white wealthy person.
