Two Completely Different Views on the Death Penalty

Two Completely Different Views on the Death Penalty

These are the feelings that Amnesty International USA has toward the death penalty:

They believe that the death penalty is the ultimate and irreversible denial of human rights. By working toward the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty looked to discontinue the cycle of violence created by a system consumed with economic and racial bias and corrupted by human error. The death penalty is a violation of human rights. More than half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

The USA is executing criminals who have been diagnosed with mental illness. In 1986, in Ford v Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that the execution of the insane violates the Constitution’s ban on "cruel and unusual punishments." It is impossible to know how many of those executed suffered from mental problems, but estimates go as far as 10%. The execution of those with mental illness is clearly forbidden by law in literally every country in the world. Despite these standards, the USA continues to execute people with clinically-labeled mental illnesses.

Another reason Amnesty is against the death penalty is because, it can claims the lives of innocent people. Since 1973, more than 115 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions. Just in 2003 alone, 10 innocent defendants were released from death row. Some factors that can lead to wrongful convictions are: inadequate legal representation, police and prosecutorial misconduct, perjured testimony and mistaken eyewitness testimony, racial prejudice, jailhouse snitch testimony, suppression and/or misinterpretation of mitigating evidence, and community/political pressure to solve a case. All these factors can lead to the killings of many innocent people in the USA.

There are numerous more reasons why amnesty is against the death penalty but, it will not all fit into this 4 page paper. A couple more that I failed to mention, are listed as statements made by amnesty international:

• The Death Penalty Defies International Standards.

• The Death Penalty is Racially Biased.

• The Death Penalty is Arbitrary and Unfair.

• The Death Penalty Costs More.

• The Death Penalty Violates the Rights of Foreign Nationals.

• The Death Penalty Can Never be Voluntary.

• The Death Penalty is not a Deterrent.

• The Federal Death Penalty is Overreaching.

Around 124 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. On average, in the past decade more than three countries a year have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Despite international human rights standards, some nations still execute people. Around the world, the death penalty is used as a tool of political repression and a means to forever silence political opponents or eliminate politically "troublesome" individuals. They believe that we need to take a stand against the death penalty, it’s morally wrong and should be abolished.

These are the feelings of www.prodeathpenalty.com toward the death penalty:

The death penalty debate in the U.S. is dominated by the misleading voice of the anti-death penalty movement. The culture of lies and