For an extensive amount of time, there have been many debates on if the death penalty should exist or not. For some, people believe that there are alternative ways to deal with inmates who have done serious crimes. Many of these people feel that the death penalty is too harsh and can come with many negative effects, such as with the Bart Whitaker case. Alternative penalties suggested can vary from placing inmates in rehabilitation facilities to life in prison. On the other hand, many of us believe that if one did a crime that results in another person’s life taken away, they should have their own taken away as well. Now the government has allowed for states to decide whether the death penalty should be used or not. The death penalty is legal
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Bart Whitaker is a man who planned to kill his entire family. He ended going through with this plot, killing his brother and mother, while leaving his father shot in the arm. After a few years he was convicted of murder and put on death row. Forwarding to 2018, he was supposed to be put to death by lethal injection. But a near thirty minutes came before his execution came, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbot granted him clemency, and lessened his sentence to life in prison with no parole. He felt as his sentencing was too cruel, knowing that he wasn’t the actual person who gunned his family down at the scene. Clemency for people on death row doesn’t occur too often, but now people are beginning to feel as the death sentence is too harsh. Many people also believe that the death penalty shouldn’t exist because there are people in our world with mental illnesses and disabilities, which judges and lawyers take advantage of when convicting people of such crimes. “Such disorders often heighten the possibility of a wrongful conviction or death sentence because the accused does not have access to resources to properly navigate the justice system. A civilized society forfeits its moral authority by executing people with mental or intellectual disabilities”. There is also a very high risk that a person that is convicted of the death sentence can be falsely accused and really be innocent the entire
Bart Whitaker is a man who planned to kill his entire family. He ended going through with this plot, killing his brother and mother, while leaving his father shot in the arm. After a few years he was convicted of murder and put on death row. Forwarding to 2018, he was supposed to be put to death by lethal injection. But a near thirty minutes came before his execution came, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbot granted him clemency, and lessened his sentence to life in prison with no parole. He felt as his sentencing was too cruel, knowing that he wasn’t the actual person who gunned his family down at the scene. Clemency for people on death row doesn’t occur too often, but now people are beginning to feel as the death sentence is too harsh. Many people also believe that the death penalty shouldn’t exist because there are people in our world with mental illnesses and disabilities, which judges and lawyers take advantage of when convicting people of such crimes. “Such disorders often heighten the possibility of a wrongful conviction or death sentence because the accused does not have access to resources to properly navigate the justice system. A civilized society forfeits its moral authority by executing people with mental or intellectual disabilities”. There is also a very high risk that a person that is convicted of the death sentence can be falsely accused and really be innocent the entire