Death Penalty Should NOT Be Allowed To Continue In The American Legal System
Human life is undeniably priceless. For this reason, crimes that take or endanger human lives are seen as being so severe and receive penalties of such great magnitude. As heinous and heartless as these crimes can be, Capital punishment should not be a part of the American justice system. Although Capital punishment is constitutional and has been practiced in the United States, dating as far back as to the 1790s, that does not make it ethical nor does it alter the fact that in the past four decades the death penalty has claimed 1,448 American lives. The death penalty should not be allowed to continue in the American legal system as it is unpractical, inhumane, and unjust.
First and foremost, the death penalty is impractical because of
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The death penalties lawfulness teeters on a thin line in accordance with United State’s constitution. The death penalty mostly comes into contention with The Fourteenth Amendment which states “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” While this amendment states the death penalty is legal under certain situations, it is ambiguous because what can be considered “due process” is not clearly defined. So, while this document is a powerful piece of legislation in American history, it is not a moral compass by any means, nor does it give concrete information about what justice is. Additionally, the same argument can be made of Hammurabi’s Code, the origin of justifying revenge as being an eye for an eye trade. However, in this ancient Babylonian law as well as the earliest known Capital punishment, one eye was not necessarily equal to another. Infact, criminals would often receive completely different punishments depending on their social standing, race and gender. Similarly, in the 1970s, the Supreme Court was concerned that the application of the death penalty had become discriminatory in its application” and as a result overturned hundreds of death sentences(Blomberg). Yet today, the death Penalty is just as unjust. Approximately 2% of perpetrators who commit crimes that are punishable by death penalty actually receive the death penalty. While the cases themselves may seem arbitrary those accused who are put on death row follow some shocking trends. According to a 1998 report “In 96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both” ( Baldus). And according to an Appeals court judge “ Over 99% of the people on death
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