In June 2000, Thomas Provezano was executed. Provezano had been found to have a large amount of certain mental illnesses called schizophrenia. His family hired a lawyer who then asked for extra time on Provezano’s case so that he may be examined by a psychiatrist to see if he truly did have a mental illness. Although there was solid evidence that he was in fact was mentally ill, he was sentenced to lethal injection and died in June 2000 (Swig, National Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty). This is one of the most popular cases against capital punishment to those who are mentally ill. Those who are mentally ill are no longer allowed to be sentenced due to the fact that they may not be in the right state of mind to clearly defend themselves and what their case might …show more content…
There are currently only 19 states that do not allow capital punishment (Editor of Death Penalty Information Center). Today, there have been many cases where those who are sentenced have been exonerated due to the fact that their conviction could have been wrong. “Between 1973 and this year, 144 people have been exonerated” (Berman and Barnes, The Death Penalty Information Center). Taxpayers spend extra money to continue allowing capital punishment. The costs of preparing an preforming capital punishment are much higher than convicting someone to life in prison. No one has the right to intentionally kill someone. Many people do not know that capital punishment can be racially biased. Statistically, 76% of victims sentenced to the death penalty are white while 15% of those sentenced were black (Editor of Death Penalty Information Center). These statistics can show how racially biased people are to capital punishment and the harm it may bring to