Jennifer Fuentes

English 11

Ms. Grissom

10/13/21

The Evaluation of Death Row

Death row is a topic where people debate whether or not it is ethical. The majority of

people believe death penalty sends a message to all of society, especially children, that violence

is an accetable way of solving problems in spite of a non-alternative life imprisonment. Since

technology is advancing, more methods are being distinguished from guilty to innocence like

DNA testing. Death row inmates are tested psychologically to understand their behavior

characteristics.

Test results should provide an additional base for the shaping of treatment programs which are

designed to meet the needs of inmates who are facing confinement and the prospect of death

(Panton.1) An inmate can still be released and lead a meaningful life if found innocent, but if the

government think its right to have this heightened level of brutality and violence, then it must be

okay?

The death penalty can be defined as the legal practice of executing a person who has

broken the laws of society in certain ways. While waiting to be put into execution, there is a

place in prison that houses inmates waiting for execution which can take years after receiving the

original sentence; this is called death row. Recent changes in North Carolina legal statues make it

mandatory to award death sentence to all persons convicted of first degree burgalry, rape, and

murder. (Panton.1) The U.S. supreme court upheld the constitutionally of the death penalty as

punishment for murder which leads to many things in denial to society and people against this.
Many would agree that allowing someone to die is worse from a formal standpoint than lying to

save him. In fact, death row inmates are denied getting help from lawyers in seeking review of

their cases. This came to denial in the case of a man who was sentenced to death for killing a

Texas highway patrolman in 1976. He wrote to the court asking to appoint a lawyer for him to

prepare a petition of certiorari, which is ordering a lower court to deliver its record so a higher

court can review it. However, the Supreme court refused to appoint lawyers for purposes of filing

petitions for certiorari because they have no desire to change the interpretation of modern

law.(ABA.1)

In order for a death row inmate to be distinguished guilty or innocent, Psychiatrists

evaluate death row inmates competency to be executed. Death row inmates are tested

psychologically and provide an understanding of their behavioral characteristics and if they are

mentally ill. (Panton.1) If the inmate is discovered to be found metally ill, there can be a

possibility to prevent execution which their attorney will defend to avoid this criteria of being

sentenced to death. A mental illness a death row inmate could only help by the time of the

offense or at the time of trial. Forensic psychiatric testing is an additional training and/or

experience related to various interfaces of mental health or mental illness with the law. This can

be quite lucrative, with fees ranging from $200 to $400 per hour. (Freeman.2)

Death row is widely opposed by many people across America because it is argued to be

immoral, a form of torute, economically biased. It is a topic where people debate whether or not

it is ethical. It is also argued that if killing is wrong, then the government should not use it as a

form of punishment. The founding father of psychiatry, Benjamin Rush, believes that the death

penalty leads to an increased brutalism in society. (Freeman.2) However, the expense of keeping

a person who is convicted of a major crime behind bars is very costly and supporters of death
penalty think that the overall cost is more expensive than an execution, which is widely opposed

by the people who are against capital punishment. The death penalty is unbeneficial to society

due to the waste of taxpayer funds and the lack of no public safety benefit. As a result, it is said

that is costs U.S. taxpayers between $50 million and $90 million dollars more per year

(depending on the jurisdiction) to prosecute death penalty cases than life sentences. (Freeman.3)

Ways of helping death row inmates including dedicating time and effort of doing comprehensive

evaluations is reducing fees if the defense budget is tight. (Freeman.3)It has also been stated by a

former Northeastern university student, William J. Bowers, that capital punishment rarely is

applied when blacks murder blacks. However, he found no death sentence for whites who killed

blacks, it is more frequently applied when blacks kill whites.(ABA. 2) The implication is that

racism on juries is as much related to the victim of crime as it is to the criminal. (ABA.2)

In conclusion, death row is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there

are many supporters of it, there is also a large amount of opposition, and some who support the

death penalty in certain cases. An execution-- or the threat of one-- inflicts terrible physical and

psychological cruelty. Any society which executes offenders is committing the same violence it

condemns, showing society the brutal ways the government has in response to a crime someone

has commited.

When a person commits a crime, we expect justice in return. The question is how far will

that justice go? Should life be taken away from the convicted criminal? Or should she/he spend

the rest of their life in isolation from society? Capital punishment violates the most fundamental

human right, the right to live. Being sentenced to death after being convicted of a crime is

unethical and non- beneficial to society. It is a biased practice of capital crime, there is no
harsher punishment than death itself. To act with the exact intent to cause someone's death, rather

than to protect others from their aggression is immoral.

There are several reasons why the death penalty should not be an option for the

punishment of felons, and one reason will be that it does not deter crime effectively. Opponents

to the death penalty argue that detterence can be achieved by incarcerating offender for life

without the possibility of parole. (Mallicoat.1) If the death penalty were, in fact, an effective

deterrent, murder rates would increase when it is abolished and decline when it is restored. Based

on data from from Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI) on murder rates by state, states without

the death penalty consistently have lower murder rates than states with the death penalty, proving

that it is not an effective deterrent to crime. (Mallicoat.1) The controversy is raised over how one

can take the life of a criminal, and is, therefore, committing the same crime. The government and

criminal justice system is granting the right to kill someone only with legal backing. It is a

disproportionate response when compared to other sentencing philosophies, as the American

system does not rape rapists or steal from thieves. Many argue that criminal justice policies

should not be based on retributive position because revenge is an emotional, rather than a

reasonable response. (Mallicoat.1) Innocent people are often killed in the search for retribution,

and that “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” (Mclaughlin.9)

Some people think that in order for justice to be served and for order to be restored to

the community, society requires the execution of offenders as payment for their crimes.

(Mallicoat.1) Proponents of the death penalty argue that it provides both specific and general

deterrence. Not only do executions prevent convicted murderers from killing again, but the belief

is that if murderes are executed, other potential murderes will think twice before committing

murder, for fear of losing their own lives. Logically, no one would commit a murder, if one knew
he/she was to be executed. Deterrence is a psychological process, the inhibition of criminal

behavior by fear, especially punishment. Therefore, if an offender does not believe that a real risk

is present, there will be no deterrence. Deterrence theory assumes that offenders are thinking

individuals who rationally consider the potential consequences of their actions before

committing them. (Mallicoat.1) Capital punishment supporters also argue that is it the cheapest

way of eliminating horrific criminals from society as compared to life imprisonment, which is a

greater expense to taxpayers. (Mallicoat.1)

Despite this information, the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment because it

deprives the offender of his/her humanity. According to the Fifth Amendment in the United

States Bill of Rights, a person is not supposed to be deprived of their liberties. (McLaughlin.20)

Abolishing the death penalty will not only put the country at par with others that uphold human

rights and dignity, it will save the coutry a lot more money that could be used to assist the

families of murder victims. As early as the 1980s, people on both sides of the death penalty

debate started to become aware of the costs involved in capital punishment compared to life

imprisonment. (Mclaughlin.14) In fact, a median death penalty case costs $1.26 million which is

irrationaly expensive and ineffective. (Mclaughlin.1) The focus on the costs of the death penalty

have been more aware because the anti-death penalty movement helped bring the issue to the

publics attention. By emphasizing the costs and inefficiencies of capital punishment, advocates

have helped convice state lawmakers that ending the death penalty is in the states best interest.

(Mclaughlin.1) There have always been cases of executions on innocent people. No matter how

developed a justice system is, it will always remain susceptible to human failure. Since 1973,

186 former death-row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges related to the wrongful

convictions that had put them on death row. (Mclaughlin.8) The death penalty is often used in
disproportinal manner against the poor, minorites and members of racial, ethnic, politcal and

religious groups. (Freeman.2) For instance, African Americans make up around 13% of the

population in the United States, but the percentage of death row prisoners who are black are

around 50%. (Freeman.3) This demonstrates that there is a higher possibility for a black person

to be executed than for a white person. These disadvantages should be the motivation for

governments of all countries to make the death penalty illegal.

Even as capital punishment remains as a subject of debate, raising issues such as

retribution, deterrence, innocence, and discrimination, it remains a component of the American

criminal justice system. Nothing good comes of hate, and nothing good can ever come from

capital punishment. It cannot continue to be accepted by a nation that claims to have liberty and

justice for all. While some people claim that the practice acts as a deterrent to individuals who

may want to commit serious crimes, it has been observed that scientific evidence to support this

assertion is inconclusive and should not be taken as true. Therefore, the death penalty should be

abolished because it is cruel and does not serve the purpose for which it was meant for.
 Works Cited

Freeman, Scott A. “Objectivity Versus Beneficence in a Death Row Evaluation.” Ethics & Behavior, vol.

12, no. 3, July 2002, pp. 295–298.

Panton, James H. “Personality Characteristics of Death-Row Prison Inmates.” Journal of Clinical

Psychology, vol. 32, no. 2, Apr. 1976, pp.

“Death-Row Inmates Still Lack Legal Aid: Supreme Court Still Refuses to Appoint Lawyers for Certiorari

Gap.” American Bar Association Journal, vol. 64, no. 7, July 1978, p. 951.

Mallicoat, Stacy L. “Capital Punishment.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2021. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=t6o&AN=95342752.

McLaughlin, Jolie. “The Price of Justice: Interest-Convergence, Cost, and the Anti-Death Penalty

Movement.” Northwestern University Law Review, vol. 108, no. 2, Winter 2014, pp. 675–710.
EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=96185056.