Problems With The Death Penalty Essay

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Problems with the Death Penalty

To begin with, I will be telling you information that shows that the death

penalty is unfair, cruel, and very wasteful. To start with, I will prove to you how

poor people are not getting the correct representation they deserve. Nextly, I will

tell you about how the innocent have been accused of horrible crimes they didn't

commit and even in some cases how they were almost killed and how some have been

killed. Finally, I will show you how the death penalty is a waste of money and how

the money could be being used in a more positive manner.

Firstly, when you think of capital punishment attorneys you probably think

about the image of the O.J. Simpson trial with his slick defense team nicknamed

"The Dream Team" or the "L.A. Law Men." However, yes you can get these

defense lawyers if you are rich. But, For the ninety percent of the people that aren't

rich and can't afford their own attorney. They have the right to have an attorney

assigned to them. Thanks to the Sixth Amendament, "In all criminal prosecution,

the accused shall...have the assistance of counsel for his defense." Now three

decades later we have court appointed counsel, the standards for representation

have varied drastically. For instance, often time the state allows the judge to pick

the attorneys. Very often, these attorneys are picked not on the basis of experience

or merit, but because they will cause the least resistance at trial. Often the

defendants counsel will meet the defendant for the first time at the arraignment, at

which the all-important decision to plead guilty or not guilty is made. Many capital

defendants are given attorneys who fail to investigate, who fall asleep during trial or

come into court drunk. Some are barely out of law school, or say nothing when their

clients life is on the line. Also, a survey was done in 1991 and it showed that fourty

percent of countries that have populations exceeding 100,000 people face major

budgetary problems. All of them have been forced to cut resources required for

equal justice to prevail. Even Supreme Court justices say "There probably has

never been a wider gulf between the need for legal services and the provision of

those services. There is a great deal to be concerned about, or even ashamed of,"

stated Justice O'Connor. Others with in adequate counsels have already been

exucuted or remain on death row. Far too often, people mostly poor, are given the

death penalty not because they commited the worst crimes, but because they had the

worst lawyers. In addition, I will now tell you a story that truely shows how poorly

the defense lawyers are.

Lloyd Schlup was accused of murder. His attorney did nothing to prepare

for trial, his attorney assumed that the case would be thrown out beforehand. But

when the case was announced for trial it was too late for him to prepare. Llyod's

defense attorney was appointed to him by the judge. His attorney put on no defense.

Despite the enormous amount of evidence that would prove him innocent, this

included a video tape and eyewitnesses proving that he was nowhere near the scene

of crime. His attorney never enterviewed any of the twenty eyewitnesses who saw

the murder. Llyod Schlup came within an hour of his exucution. But the attorney

he hired got the charges dropped and he was set free. Schlup's first attorney visited

him twice for a total of seventy-five minutes before the trial. Unlike the daily visits

by Robert Shapiro to O.J. Simpson. In conclusion, "Those that got the capital don't

get the punishment." Abu-Jammal.

To begin, many innocent people have been accused and died, but a few luckly

ones have been saved. In 1995 George Bush signed into a new law called the

"Speedy Death Bill", which means once you have been convicted of a murder and

have got the death penalty even if you are innocent, your days are numbered you

have eight years until you die. For many people that would have been proven

innocent in the past they would now be dead if that law was in affect. They would

have been wrongly convicted and would have died. On the contrary, a new poll was

taken and fifty eight percent of the voters are in fear that the death penalty might

allow an innocent person to be killed by a lethal injection, litterally fired to death in

an electric chair, or asphyxiated by poisonous gases. It has been documented that

over four houndred cases of innocent people that have been accused of rape, murder,

and other serious offenses subject to a possible death sentence. Since 1970, at least

fifty-nine prisoners have been released from death row based on evidence of their

innocence. "It is an untolerable fact that our judicial system, like human beings who

administer it, is fallible. But, most Republicans and many Democrats are saying,

"Cut the budget- chop thier heads off," Bradley. However, "Is it better to risk

saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one." says Voltaire. In addition,

I will now tell you a couple of stories about innocent people that would have been put

to death under the "Speedy Death Bill."

To start with, in 1984, a nine-year-old girl, was brutally raped and murdered....

Books:
Title: Racism, Injustice, and The Death Penalty Legallynching
Auther: Rev. Jesse Jackson
Pages: ( 42-58 ) & ( 59-79 ) & ( 127-133 )
Title: The Penalty of Death
Auther: Richard O. Lempert
Pages: ( 61-65 )
Title: The Death Penalty is Morally Unjust
Auther: Helen Prejean
Pages: ( 55-59 )
Internet Site: www.essential.org/dpic/dpic7.html
Direct Quotes:
Name: O' Connor, Sandra Day
Place of Quote: In "Poor Not Getting Right Representation"
Profession: Supreme Court Justice
Name: Abu-Jamal, Mumia
Place of Quote: In "Poor Not Getting Right Representation"
Profession: Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate
Name: Bradley, Clarence
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Profession: Death Row Inmate
Name: Voltaire
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Name: Bloodsworth, Kirk
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Profession: Wrongly Accused Inmate
Name: McMillan, Walter
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Profession: Wrongly Accused Inmate
Name: Morales, Dan
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Profession: Attorney General
Name: Wagner, Eugene
Place of Quote: In "Murder of an Innocent"
Profession: Michigan Attorney
Name: Hards, Justen
Place of Quote: Last Line "Final Thought"
Justen Hards You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/89048/problems-with-the-death-penalty>

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