Shona Moore

The Death Penalty

The death penalty should not be used in the United States in any Circumstances. It is cruel and unusual punishment, It is ineffective, and by killing another human being you are negatively effecting an entire family. We have rights as Americans and the death penatly goes against our eighth amendment rights. Criminals should have to sit in jail and suffer rather than be put to death in a cruel and unusual manner. As Americans it is not our right to decide when a person should die. The death penalty should never be used no matter how serious the crime. On May 2, 2000, the State of Arkansas put 28 year-old Christina Riggs to death for killing her two children. The execution method was lethal injection. According to a witness, the executioners planned to administer the shot through veins in her elbows, but when they had trouble finding one, Riggs gave them permission to inject through her hands. A confessed murderer, Riggs had admitted to smothering her two children when potassium chloride failed to kill them. While Riggs at first attributed the murders to depression, the prosecution argued that she had killed her children because they had become an inconvenience to her lifestyle. Witnesses had seen Riggs singing karaoke on several nights prior to her children's deaths. In 1967, a moratorium was placed on the death penalty as the Supreme Court debated its constitutionality. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment, which protects Americans from "cruel and unusual" punishment - largely because it was determined not to be applied fairly. In 1976 the Court ruled that, in certain cases, the death

penalty was a legitimate punishment, and now, it is practiced in all but 13 states and the District of Columbia. Since 1977, 611 people have been executed in the United States. In the last year, executions in the U.S. have been carried out at an increasing rate, with more than half of the executions since 1976 having occurred in the last five years.

Our criminal justice system has no basis for deciding whether an individual deserves or does not deserve to live. Because the death penalty is the one punishment that can never be reversed, it is always unjust - our courts should be proven incapable of error before using it. Despite one being carried out every 3.5 days - the current rate of executions in the U.S. - a plague of violent crime continues, proving that the death penalty is not working as a deterrent either. The death penalty is just one more way to get revenge in a society that is already consumed with violence. Many countries have already abolished the penalty. The United States, which has always taken a strong stand for fairness in criminal justice systems, should join those nations in denouncing capital punishment(speakout.com).

Daryl Renard Atkins started on the path to death row on August 16, 1996, when he and his friend William Jones abducted and robbed Eric Nesbitt with a semiautomatic handgun. The pair took all the money Nesbitt had on his person, then drove him to an automated teller machine (ATM). While there, they were caught on camera forcing him to withdraw more money. After getting the additional money, they drove Nesbitt to an isolated location and killed him by shooting him eight times.

Atkins was convicted of abduction, armed robbery, and capital murder and sentenced to death. Both Jones and Atkins testified in the guilt phase of the Atkins' trial. They each confirmed the incident, but differed on who actually shot and killed Nesbitt.

Jones, whose testimony was more coherent and credible to the jury than the mentally retarded Atkins, led the jury to convict Atkins and blame him for the shooting.

During the penalty phase of the trial, the state introduced victim-impact evidence and proved two aggravating circumstances to push for the death penalty. The state proved to the jury that Atkins posed a future danger because of his prior felony convictions. In addition, the state called four victims of earlier robberies and assaults to testify against Atkins. Also, the state proved the vileness of the offense by pointing to the pictures of the deceased's body and the autopsy report, which were part of the initial trial record.

Dr. Evan Nelson, a forensic psychologist, testified in the penalty phase that based on his evaluation of Atkins, he was mildly mentally retarded. He testified that after reviewing Atkins school and court records plus administering a standard intelligence test, Atkins had a full scale IQ of 59 and was functioning somewhere between the ages of 9 and 12.

Based on this testimony, the jury sentenced Atkins to death, but the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a second sentencing hearing because the trial court used a misleading verdict form. At the second sentencing hearing, the same forensic psychologist testified, but additional testimony was added for the state by expert witness Dr. Stanton Samenow, who said that Atkins was not mentally retarded, but was of average intelligence, at least and diagnosable as having antisocial personality disorder. The jury again sentenced Atkins to death.

After the second sentencing hearing, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the imposition of the death penalty. Atkins did not argue before the Virginia Supreme Court that his sentence was disproportionate to penalties imposed for similar crimes in Virginia, but he did contend that he is mentally retarded and thus cannot be sentenced to death.

The Virginia Supreme Court rejected his appeal, saying it was not willing to commute Atkins' sentence of death to life imprisonment merely because of his IQ score. Two Virginia justices dissented, saying that they rejected Dr. Samenow's opinion that Atkins possesses average intelligence as incredulous as a matter of law, and concluded that the imposition of the sentence of death upon a criminal defendant who has the mental age of a child between the ages of 9 and 12 is excessive. In their dissent, they said it is indefensible to conclude that individuals who are mentally retarded are not to some degree less culpable for their criminal acts. By definition, such individuals have substantial limitations not shared by the general population. A moral and civilized society diminishes itself if its system of justice does not afford recognition and consideration of those limitations in a meaningful way(infoplease.com).

The death penalty should never be used in any country or state in the world. It is never okay to kill another human being for their actions. Making them sit in jail and suffer makes much more sense. The thought of being in jail for the rest of your life is much more intimidating that being put to death.

Word count: 1,137

Works Cited

Haney, Elissa. Info Please. March 23, 2010. 3/15/10 <www.infoplease.com>.

mVestal, Christine. Speak Out. 3/12/10. 3/15/10 <www.speakout.com>.