Death Penalty: Injustice In The United States

The United States of American is a civilized society that promotes freedom, justice, and peace. Once as a primitive culture, great injustices where bestowed upon others during times of war and slavery. As a nation, it was recognized that injustice and bias was not the moral standard of this great nation and laws were enacted to protect society. However, as a civilized society the use of capital punishment is still a viable sentence for criminals who perpetrate heinous acts against others resulting in their death. The death penalty is from the darkest times of American history when prejudice ruled this great nation. (Rachels RTD 192) How as a great nation can America justify the use of capital punishment and promote justice for all? Capital punishment is seen as retribution for the victims of crime and their families. Kant and Aquinas believed that humans are rational beings, with dignity, and one who commits murder in turn deserves to die. (Rachels RTD 182) It can be argued that those who commit murder deserve the same punishment. Why should …show more content…
However, in today’s society it seems the risk that an innocent being convicted and executed is acceptable in order to protect the vast majority of the public and bring about justice. The law and use of capital punishment is not wrong, but the misuse of the law is what leads to false convictions and racial bias. (Rachels RTD 188) It would seem that factors including the personal preferences and politics of some prosecutors and lack of resources resulting in inadequate legal representation are a greater determining factor in death sentence convictions than the heinous acts criminals commit. (Rachels RTD 199-200) There is no justice for the victims or their loved ones when political agendas and personal preferences of court appointed servants take precedence over retributive and deterrent