The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for twelve years for something I did not do. From God 's dust I came and to dust I will return, so the Earth shall become my throne. (Bry, 2009)
These were the last words of Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed by lethal injection in the year 2004. He was accused of intentionally starting a fire in his house that killed his three daughters. In the year 2014, new evidence was found by the police force that shows an innocent man had been executed (Camerontoddwillingham.com, 2014). How many innocent men do you think have been executed because of this flawed system? Although capital punishment has been practiced for many years in the United States, it generates injustice in the judicial system. Capital punishment is inhumane, costly, and has taken the lives of those who are innocent. Something must be done to alter the system. There are two obvious solutions to this problem: (1) revise the law to standardize it; or, (2) abolish the law and find another punishment that is more ethical to replace it.
Among the 50 states in America, 32 of them still practice the death penalty. …show more content…
However, this is not true. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), an organization that conducts research about capital punishment, estimates that the extra cost of capital-punishment trials is $1.6 billion (Deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2014). In addition to that, since the year 1978, 140 out of 352 people have been found innocent and exonerated from death row. Additional statistics from the DPIC stated that Texas spends as much as $2.3 million per execution. This cost is much more expensive than imprisoning someone for 40 years which is $750,000 (Hoppe, 1992). How many millions of dollars do you think have been wasted during the process that moves the accused from trial to
These were the last words of Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed by lethal injection in the year 2004. He was accused of intentionally starting a fire in his house that killed his three daughters. In the year 2014, new evidence was found by the police force that shows an innocent man had been executed (Camerontoddwillingham.com, 2014). How many innocent men do you think have been executed because of this flawed system? Although capital punishment has been practiced for many years in the United States, it generates injustice in the judicial system. Capital punishment is inhumane, costly, and has taken the lives of those who are innocent. Something must be done to alter the system. There are two obvious solutions to this problem: (1) revise the law to standardize it; or, (2) abolish the law and find another punishment that is more ethical to replace it.
Among the 50 states in America, 32 of them still practice the death penalty. …show more content…
However, this is not true. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), an organization that conducts research about capital punishment, estimates that the extra cost of capital-punishment trials is $1.6 billion (Deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2014). In addition to that, since the year 1978, 140 out of 352 people have been found innocent and exonerated from death row. Additional statistics from the DPIC stated that Texas spends as much as $2.3 million per execution. This cost is much more expensive than imprisoning someone for 40 years which is $750,000 (Hoppe, 1992). How many millions of dollars do you think have been wasted during the process that moves the accused from trial to