Capital Punishment: Abolity Of The Death Penalty

“If it bleeds, it leads,” is the motto of many mainstream media outlets as stories of murder and rape fill the headlines and bylines. Interest in these topics tends to build up and generate discussion, especially when it comes to the morality of the transgressor’s sentence and possible capital punishment. People take different sides of the issue, with one side saying that the death penalty is justified because it is a deterrent against further murders. However, the current system of capital punishment is stricken with flaws and should be abolished because it preys on minorities and has a unacceptable record of killing innocent people.
America is known for its racial history and tensions that divide the country to this day and is also known as the only western country that still upholds the death penalty. In an investigation done by the United Nations, UN investigator of human rights Bacre Waly Ndiae said that the death sentence is characteristically racist and, “particularly serious in southern states, such as Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas, known as the 'death penalty belt” (“Capital Punishment around the …show more content…
Killing people for their crimes is wrong, but killing the wrong person is an even more heinous crime. Prosecutors, judges, and jurors can all be subject to bias and different forms of prejudice, no matter how thoroughly vetted they are. In this case, the ramification of their human errors serves no balance of justice. People make mistakes, and lives should not be at stake for their blunders. Ten percent of people who have committed capital crimes have been exonerated due to technological advances in the field of forensics (Dieter). However, these advancements have only occurred in the last ten years, which means possibly hundreds of innocent lives were lost before the advent of DNA