Capital Punishment should be abolished
Capital Punishment should be abolished in the United States. Capital punishment in the United States of America is a practice that dates back to early English Common law,whereby offenders who were charged with capital offences were subject to mandatory death sentencing.However there has been a decline in the number of executions in America since 1973,where the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.(Pickup, 2017). This paper highlights the reasons why capital punishment should be abolished
No Deterrence
Death warrant should be abolished as it does not serve the intended purpose of punishment which is to deter criminals. This can be attributed toCanada’s statistics on murder cases that have steadily declined as of2016 since capital punishmentwas abolished in 1976.(Amnesty, 2019). Abolitionof capital punishment will play a big role in reducing crime rates within the United States, thus abolishing capital punishment would mean less crimes.
Wrong Conviction
Human error by the jury is another reason capital punishment should be abolished, since legalized killing is irreparable in the case of wrong conviction. Human error is unavoidable this can be evidenced by a group of twenty people who have been vindicated from death based on new DNA evidence of their innocence.(Garret,2017) Therefore, abolition of death sentences will make sure that people who are not guilty do not suffer irreparable damage.
Race Issue
Death Penalty should be abolished because it is discriminatory on the basis of race and social status. A study of death penalty conducted in Texas shows that the legalized killing system is an outgrowth of the racist since among the 4,220 prisoners executed in the United States 53% were black.(The American Civil Liberties Union, 2020)Therefore abolishing capital punishment would guarantee a reduction in racial discrimination with regards to sentencing and punishment.
References
Amnesty (2019). Five Reasons to Abolish the Death Penaltyhttps://www.amnesty.org.au/5-reasons-abolish-death-penalty/
Garret, B. (2017).End of Its Rope. England: Harvard University Press
The American Civil Liberties Union, (2020). The Case Against The Death Penalty https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
Pickup, O. (2017).Should The US Death Penalty Still Exist?