Ms. Hood
English 11
19 December 2011
Capital Punishment More and more people that are convicted of a crime are found innocent within the prison system every year. Guilty people can and do go free while the innocent are sometimes convicted. Why is this? Capital punishment was influenced by the British. It influenced America’s use of the death penalty more than any other country. When the Europeans came to the new world they brought the practice of capital punishment. The Supreme Court had ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972 because it violated the eighth amendment, it was cruel and unusual punishment, but in 1976 it was reinstated in the United States. Within the United States, there is a lot of controversy about whether capital punishment is just or not. In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, Jefferson, who is one of the main characters, had an unjust conviction and was put on death row. Putting someone on death row is not right, especially if the person could be innocent; The family of that victim suffers as well, and it also sends the wrong message out to people. To begin with, there have been numerous cases cited, where the convicted person on death row was found innocent. According to BalancedPolitics.org, there are numerous cases where DNA testing showed people who were innocent was put on death row by the government. Is this right? Before you sentence someone and you put them on death row, Shouldn’t the accuser have all the evidence needed? Are judicial system is not perfect but, it does not take a “perfect person” to realize that putting someone on death row is just wrong. The thought of killing someone that could be innocent is very disturbing. When that person is executed and the judicial system finds that, that person was innocent, then what? By mistakenly killing someone that was innocent makes are judicial system look bad. Although, as mentioned before are judicial system is not perfect we can’t just take that risk. When taking the life of someone innocent you can’t just forget about it, especially knowing you just killed someone that had nothing to do with the crime and you just let a bad person go free. According to the article, “Illinois Abolishes Death Penalty” (1) Pat Quinn said, “We cannot have a death penalty system in our state which kills innocent…” The death penalty is useless and it doesn’t bring that person back to life if the person is found innocent. That person is gone and never will come back. By putting someone on death row it causes the detainee’s family to suffer. They suffer from seeing their loved one put to death by the state. Think, if it was your loved one put on death row how would you feel or how would it affect you? The time is limited between the accused and the family. Knowing that your loved one will be put to death is very stressful. It can bring on depression and all types of health related problems. Having to go through such a thing especially if it’s a mothers child put on death row is painful. It’s easy for us to understand the pain associated with the loss of a love one, but to walk in their footsteps one can only imagine. Some people believe that by using the death penalty justice is being served. Is this really true? Is justice really being served? Some people think the punishment should fit the crime. So, If the person killed someone they should get what they
