ty years ago. This decline creates a situation in which the death penalty ceases to be deterrent when the populace begins to think that one can get away with a crime and not be punished. Also, the less that the death sentence is used, the more it becomes unusual, thus coming in conflict with the eighth amendment. This is essentially a paradox, in which the less the death penalty is used, and the less society can legally use it. The end result is a punishment that ceases to deter any crime at all.
The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death - something that is rather permanent for humans, due to the concept of morality. This creates a major problem when " there continue to be many instances if innocent people being sentenced to death." (Tabak 38) In our legal system, there exist numerous ways in which justice might be poorly served for a recipient of the death sentence. Foremost is in the handling of his own defense counsel. In the event that a defendant is without counsel, a lawyer will be provided. "Attorney's appointed to represent indigent capital defendants frequently lack the qualities necessary to provide a competent defense and sometimes have exhibited such poor character that they have subsequently been disbarred." (Tabak 37) With payment caps or court determined sums of, for example, $5 an hour, there is not much incentive for a lawyer to spend a great deal of time representing a capital defendant. When you compare this to the prosecution, aided by the police, other law enforcement agencies, crime labs, state mental hospitals, various other scientific resources, prosecutors experienced in successfully handling capital cases, compulsory process, and grand juries- (Tabak 37), the defense that the court appointed counsel could offer is puny. If in fact, a properly recognized. Furthermore, why should he be punished for an injustice that was created by the court itself when it appointed the incapable lawyer?.
