The United States ranks fifth in the world for the number of prisoners we execute. Ahead of us is a communist dictatorship, two Islamic theocracies, and Iraq. In this paper, you will learn exactly why we cannot continue executing our prisoners, besides the fact that punishing our citizens the way a communist dictator punishes theirs is a flat-out disgrace to our country’s principles.
As of July 2015, 101 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes in law, and 140 had for all crimes in law or practice. However, the United States still holds over 40 federal crimes eligible for the death penalty. Since 1927, 37 people have been executed for federal crimes in the US, and since 1988, 75 have been sentenced to the death row. We live …show more content…
But the question of capital punishment is not if these people deserve to die, it is if the government should have the power to kill its own citizens and prisoners. As you will see below, the system we use to prosecute criminals with the death penalty is absolutely corrupt, completely violating the constitution. No corrupt system should ever have the power to take away lives.
The Eighth Amendment to the constitution is written, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The death penalty violates this and here is why:
The race and gender of the defendant and the prosecution largely determine the outcome of being charged with capital punishment. As a study found, “Over 75% of murder victims in cases resulting in an execution were white, even though nationally only 50% of murder victims generally are white.” An even more alarming statistic shows us that as of October 2014, only 1.88% of those on the death row were women. Race and gender are huge factors in determining the sentence of a death penalty, as we can clearly see, which means the death punishment is unusual, violating the constitution, the document that holds our country
As of July 2015, 101 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes in law, and 140 had for all crimes in law or practice. However, the United States still holds over 40 federal crimes eligible for the death penalty. Since 1927, 37 people have been executed for federal crimes in the US, and since 1988, 75 have been sentenced to the death row. We live …show more content…
But the question of capital punishment is not if these people deserve to die, it is if the government should have the power to kill its own citizens and prisoners. As you will see below, the system we use to prosecute criminals with the death penalty is absolutely corrupt, completely violating the constitution. No corrupt system should ever have the power to take away lives.
The Eighth Amendment to the constitution is written, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The death penalty violates this and here is why:
The race and gender of the defendant and the prosecution largely determine the outcome of being charged with capital punishment. As a study found, “Over 75% of murder victims in cases resulting in an execution were white, even though nationally only 50% of murder victims generally are white.” An even more alarming statistic shows us that as of October 2014, only 1.88% of those on the death row were women. Race and gender are huge factors in determining the sentence of a death penalty, as we can clearly see, which means the death punishment is unusual, violating the constitution, the document that holds our country