Essay Why The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

The death penalty should be abolished in the rest of the states that it remains legal in. “The death penalty is the ultimate irreversible denial of human rights.”(Insert Citation) The U.S.A is one of the only nine countries in the world to have carried out an execution every year, in the years 2009 and 2013. The other countries that still carry out the death penalty are Bangladesh, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen. There are a few reasons as to why it should be abolished. The first reason would be race issues. The reason race is an important reason for it to be abolished is because the races can only recognize differences in their own race vs other races. The second reason as to why the death penalty should be abolished is due to mental illness. People with a mental illness who are put on death row are at a disadvantage because, at the time they committed the crime they aren’t always fully cognitive. The third reason as to why the death penalty should be abolished is because of DNA exonerations. With new technologies old death row inmates are being …show more content…
Although it shouldn’t be an excuse to get away with murder or assault, people who have actual mental illness they should not be executed. Since 1983 over 60 people with mental illness or retardation have been executed in the United States. But, there are some states that have passed legislations or proposed the ideas for legislations that make the execution of someone with mental retardation or just mental illness exempt from being executed. For example Connecticut, it is the only state that has passed actual legislation that exempts people who suffer mental illness from being sentenced to death. Other states have suggested such legislation but none of them have passed them, Indiana for example considered passing a legislation like this in 2009 but they didn’t make any moves to further it after