The Pros And Cons Of Death Row Inmates

The illusion of death row inmates fitting a cookie cutter description is not true. Inmates on death row come from various socio-economic backgrounds and careers. Not all death row inmates are guilty. In 2004, the state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham for allegedly setting his home on fire, killing his three daughters. However, it was the work of the Innocence Project (Garland, September, 13, 2010) proving the forensic and informant attested in court was invalid and just not true; hence, an innocent man was executed. In 2010, 14000 homicides occurred but only 106 death sentences were imposed (Garland, September, 13, 2010). In countries like Singapore (Garland, September, 13, 2010) a drug trafficker will hang “swiftly and often.” This measure of punishment is meant to deter the crime but implement retributive punishment and Singapore does not share their law enforcement statistics (Garland, September, 13, 2010). Cunningham & Vigen (2002) found when describing profiles for inmates on death row, the intellectual, reading ability and psychological defects are the stifling setbacks to inmates participating in their appeals. As has been shown (Cunningham & Vigen, 2002) demographically, the states with the highest number of death row inmates are California (607), …show more content…
Another problem is the lack of support for those death row inmates who suffer from trauma developmental histories, neurological abnormalities as time and care have been overlooked. Cunningham & Vigen (2002) found appropriate testing before a trial took place could have eased the sanctions imposed on inmates. Finally, most inmates on death row are African American hence, the racially biased implementation of the death penalty, either by race of offender or race of victim is a historical yet, continuing social policy