Andrea Gomez D

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Andrea Gomez

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ENGL-1301-OBDR1

16 April 2021

Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

There has been a heated debate on the laws regarding the death penalty and how offenders accused of capital crimes, murder, or treason are handled in courts in the U.S. Some sources have argued in support of the current death penalty laws, while some have recommended adjustments to the laws. In the United States, the death penalty has been in existence since the 1970s. There are reports that over 8500 people have been executed in the U.S for criminals such as treason, murder, rape, and robbery with violence since the 1970s (Schweizer, 12). Capital punishment is considered legal punishment to alleviate first-degree murder in the United States. However, there are arguments that there is not enough evidence to guarantee murder as a form of punishment. The death penalty has received much criticism because it violates the Biblical concepts against the offender's killing. The change in the Constitution against the persecution of criminals sentenced to death by beheading them is evidence of various transformations in the criminal justice system. This paper will present arguments on the need to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Some of the arguments that will form the basis of this discussion include causes of death sentence to families, the equitability of the process, and the validity and credibility of evidence used to convict the offenders.

According to Schweizer and Beck the death penalty should be abolished because it causes families' trauma. They further argue that capital punishment causes trauma, stigma, and grief in convicted individuals' families. Schweizer and Beck further argues that “When an individual enters the death row, family members undergo extensive trauma, stigma, and grief." The survey conducted on 50 families of offenders convicted of the death penalty to determine challenges they face found that 30 families undergo traumatic situations, ten families suffer from stigma, and 25 suffer from grief. According to the survey, the death penalty has adverse effects on families, and it should be abolished to protect families from these sufferings. The reports tabled by the American Psychiatric Association showed that families of individuals convicted of a death sentence are more associated with mental illnesses. The report showed that five percent of mental illnesses recorded in the U.S are from families of individuals on a death sentence. Based on these arguments, there has been a move to abolish the death sentence because it subjects families to trauma, stigma, and grief.

The afflicted families have also been found to experience trauma and stigma caused by death sentencing. There are claims that the death penalty does not bring closure to the families who win cases. According to deathpenalty.org, “Studies suggest that the death penalty does not bring closure to the afflicted families and it interferes with their healing process. The families who win cases are equally affected as the families of the offenders who are sentenced to death. According to Amnesty International, the death sentence should be abolished because it interferes with the healing process of afflicted families. Amnesty International claims that instead of helping afflicted families recover, it inflicts harm to the families by contributing to their grief, stress, and stigma. Based on these arguments, the death penalty should be abolished because it affects all the people involved by causing trauma. 

There are claims that the death sentence is administered unequally. The death penalty in the USA report shows that the death sentence targets minority groups. Racial profiling makes the Blacks experience unequal administration of death sentences in terms of the magnitude of the trials they are taken to determine the cases. Liptak, a reporter at The New York Times, reported a study that concluded that “defendants convicted of killing white victims were executed at a rate 17 times greater than those convicted of killing Black victims.” This allegation aligns with the findings of Stetler, which shows that Blacks accused of killing whites through stand-your-ground principles are 82 times more likely to be convicted than whites who are charged with killing Blacks for self-defense principles. The stand-your-ground law has been severally reported to favor whites over blacks, and this leads to the high conviction of blacks with a death sentence than whites. The unfair administration of the death sentence is an indication that the death penalty should be abolished.

The analysis of race and the death penalty shows that the death penalty promotes racism. Reports indicate that most cases involving the death penalty have a pattern of either race of victim or race of the defendant. Meranze have shown that judges are biased when administering death penalty sentencing. According to Meranze, the death penalty should be abolished because criminal justice does not administer justice equally. The death penalty promotes racial discrimination; hence it should be abolished because it is not administered equally.

‘Skipping a beat’: Voices of prisoners on death row argues that minority groups are side-lined in the ruling on the death penalty regardless of the evidence they present. Other reports have shown that over 80 percent of people on death row were convicted in cases involving white victims. Based on these allegations, there has been a move to criticize the death penalty for overlooking evidence. 

Howells argues that prosecutors determine the cases that end up getting death sentencing regardless of the evidence's magnitude. Some allegations have been rooted in the fact that influential people are protected from the death sentence. The move to criticize death sentencing is based on the unfair administration of the process on race.

In summary, the death sentencing is not a fair way of administering justice because prosecutors and judges always ignore available evidence.

The opponents have argued that the death penalty has reduced crime in the U.S since there are over 2500 prisoners who are currently facing execution. The level of capital offenses, including murder, robbery with violence, rape, and treason, has greatly declined in the United States. The death penalty in the USA found that crime has greatly declined in hotspot areas due to the fear of the death penalty for capital offenses. These allegations have shown that a reduced number of criminals have led to fewer offenses in society, making society safe.

The Amnesty International report shows that the death penalty does not deter crime. The ideas presented in this paper, including the effect of the death penalty on families, unfair administration, and lack of emphasis on the presented evidence, show that the death penalty should be abandoned. The death penalty promotes racism and mental illnesses to defendants and plaintiffs; therefore, it should be abolished. Besides, it undermines democracy by promoting racial discrimination. The death penalty has not achieved the desired outcome of deterring crime; hence it should be abolished. 

This paper has presented various claims to determine why the death penalty should be abolished, including the effect of the death penalty on families, unfair administration, and lack of emphasis on the evidence presented. This paper found that the death penalty causes trauma to both plaintiff’s and the defendant’s families. Also, this paper has discussed how the death penalty promotes racism. This paper has identified that if death penalties are abolished, people will get a fair trial because judges will rely on existing evidence to sentence offenders.