Chad Bernstein

Mrs. Flowers

10 H Literature

April 16, 2018

The Futile Nature of Capital Punishment

In court, arguably the most controversial topic is the death penalty. According to the

Death Penalty Information Center, the death penalty or capital punishment is in place in 31

states. Most of the time, the prisoner executed has commited murder and is sometimes allowed to

pick the way in which they die. The most popular ways are lethal injection and the electric chair,

but other states have gas chambers, and even allow the death row prisoners to be hung.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, exonerations have saved 161 of the 1472

people on death row since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. This being

said, the death penalty does not allow enough time to prove their innocence and sanctions the

inmate to not pay the price for the actions.

There have been many cases where the prisoner has a claim of innocence, yet they are

still executed. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been numerous

accounts of inmates being executed while there is still some evidence that shows their innocence.

Accordingly, the death penalty doesn’t allow enough time for the courts to make sure that there

is no way that the prisoner is innocent. For example, the Death Penalty Information Center

provides information about the case of Larry Griffin. He was convicted of a drive by shooting

that killed 1^ Numbers under 10 should be spelled out completely person and injured another. He

was executed in 1995, but in 2005, the person who was injured in the shooting claimed that

Griffin had no involvement in the shooting. According to this example, it is obvious that a set
date in which someone will die doesn’t allow the court to be 100% certain that the criminal is

guilty of the crime they are assumed to of committed.

Another reason that the death penalty is futile is that the prisoner is not going to suffer.

According to ProCon, in 2013, the average death row inmate was held for 15 years and 5 months

before being executed. That is nothing compared to the other prisoners with life sentences. The

death penalty offers these hardened prisoners have a painless and easy way out without living the

rest of their life in prison. It would be a much harsher punishment for someone to serve life

without parole. Additionally, ProCon states that only 1.3% of the 2,979 prisoners on death row

are actually executed. They mostly serve life after being taken off death row.

Although the death row inmates seem like they would be watched carefully until they are

executed, there are numerous instances where inmates escape prison, but they have always been

found and executed. This shows a flaw in eliminating capital punishment: the prisoners could

successfully escape prison, which would endanger the public. This is what would lead some to

believe that executing people accused of murder should be executed , so they can’t escape and

cause any more harm to society. Consequently, as previously stated, death row inmates are

usually held for about 15 and a half years before being executed, which is more than enough time

to escape prison.

The death penalty allows dangerous criminals and easy way out without them suffering.

This is why the death penalty does nothing to ensure that a criminal pays for their actions. This

allows life in prison without parole to be a more suitable sentence for the prisoner, since they

will rot in prison till the day they die. The death penalty doesn’t allow inmates with claims of

innocence to be retried to make sure that they are actually guilty. This has led to some inmates

being executed without being able to try to prove their innocence once again in court. In
conclusion, the death penalty doesn’t allow the prisoner to suffer and pay the price for their

actions and doesn’t give the prisoner enough time to prove their innocence if they really are

innocent.