Why We Don't Need The Death Penalty

The United States is behind only China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in the number of executions per year. It's time for the archaic practice to end.

This is Kirk Noble Bloodsworth

In 1984, he was just a normal guy. Until the police came and arrested him for the sexual assault, rape, and first-degree premeditated murder of a nine year-old girl. He was tried and convicted based on eyewitness evidence in 1985 and was sentenced to death. On re-trial, the same verdict and sentence were handed down.

CNN / Via Junkin, Tim. Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2005. Print.

The only problem is that Kirk Noble Bloodsworth did not rape and girl a young girl. Kirk Bloodsworth is completely innocent. He was convicted on faulty eyewitness evidence.

In 1992, Bloodsworth pushed to have the evidence tested for DNA and compared to his genetic profile. Against all odds, the evidence was still intact. Although his death sentence had been commuted to two life sentences, Bloodsworth is recognized as the first American death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA evidence, having been released from custody in 1993.

There are many reasons why the United States should abolish the death penalty.

It is more expensive to kill a person than it is to imprison them for life

The common misconception among the American population is that it is more expensive to house a criminal for life than it is to execute them. However, the opposite is true. Between the higher cost associated with trying a capital punishment case, automatic appeals and State Habeas Corpus Petitions, Federal Habeas Corpus Appeals, and higher cost of death row incarceration, capital punishment can be 48% more expensive than a life sentence. ACLU Colorado even did a cost analysis, shown below.

Colorado ACLU / Via "Costs of the Death Penalty." DPIC. http://N.p., http://n.d. Web. 19 July 2014.

There is no deterring effect to the general public

Deterrence is the idea that a punishment is so bad that the general public will avoid a crime as to not risk the penalty involved. While it seems like capital punishment would be the perfect deterrent, the reality is that is has little to no effect on crime rates. A majority of criminal justice experts agree that the death penalty has no sway on homicide rates, and statistics prove that they are correct. Data compiled over the decade has shown little difference in the murder rate in states with the death penalty in comparison to states that have abolished the death penalty. In 2011, states with the death penalty had a homicide rate of 4.89 per 100,000 people, while states without the death penalty had a rate of 4.13 per 100,000 people. That's not a considerable difference.

There is no humane way to administering death/Botched executions are far too prevelant

Via "How Often Are Executions Botched?" DataLab. http://N.p., http://n.d. Web. 20 July 2014, Koniaris, Leonidas G., Kenneth W. Goodman, Jeremy Sugarman, Uzoezi Ozomaro, Jonathan Sheldon, and Teresa A. Zimmers. "Ethical Implications of Modifying Lethal Injecti

The most common method of execution is lethal injection, which is thought to be the most humane way to kill a person. However, recent research into the mechanism of lethal injection has shown that it is highly likely that inmates actually suffer extreme pain. Historically, the US Courts have judged methods against “evolving standards of decency,” and prohibited punishments that involve “the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.”

Recently, Clayton Lockett, a death row inmate in Oklahoma, died a very painful death due to complications during his execution. While this may seem like a one time event, researchers have uncovered that 3 percent of executions in the United States are botched, with lethal injection having a higher botching rate than any other method.

Futhermore, other, even less humane methods are still on the books in many states. Due to a shortage in the drugs used in lethal injection, several states have return to these other methods.

Lethal Injection
1209 killed since 1976
Used by 35 states + U.S. Military and U.S. Government

Electrocution
158 killed since 1976
Used by 8 states

Gas Chamber
11 killed since 1976
Used by 3 states

Hanging
3 killed since 1976
Used by 3 states

Firing Squad
3 killed since 1976
Used by 2 states

Most of our contemporaries/allies have abolished capital punishment

Wikipedia / Via "http://U.S. Murder Rate Higher than Nearly All Other Developed Countries: FBI Data." http://U.S. Murder Rate Higher than Nearly All Other Developed Countries: FBI Data. http://N.p., http://n.d. Web. 20 July 2014.

A majority of Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Australia have all abandoned capital punishment practices. According the data compiled by the FBI, the US murder rate is higher than almost all other developed countries. For example, in 2012 the murder rate in the US was 4.7 murders per 100,000 people; this is compared to 0.8 in Germany, 1.0 in Australia 1.1 in France and 1.2 in Britain.

And finally....

Even one wrongly executed innocent man is too many.

The Innocent Project has spent the past 20 years working to exonerate those who have been wrongly convicted. Since the project began, 317 convicted individuals have been released, exonerated of the crimes they were convicted of. The average time served was 13 ½ years. 18 of these individuals were sentences to die. There is no exact figure on how many innocent people have been put to death before DNA evidence became more prevalent. Even now, it is estimated that at least 4% of the death row population is innocent and will die because there is little evidence that can be tested, DNA testing has been blocked by the courts, or the courts refuse to hear the new evidence available and are relying solely on a jury's verdict. There is no such thing as being 100% sure in a conviction. Even one innocent man executed is one too many.

Via Junkin, Tim. Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2005. Print.

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