The United States is a unique country because it allows individual states to decide whether or not they wish to invoke capital punishment. Most foreign nations have a policy on capital punishment that applies to the whole country. The U.S also is one of a handful of countries, which still executes people and there are around 3,000 people on death row, more than any time in U.S. history. (Hood 25,26) Both political parties in the U.S. have started a "get tough" policy, which means more executions and also means something has to be done soon to end this practice.

There have been many problems with the death penalty and one that is still evident and very controversial is that it's racist. The death penalty was even abolished for four years because capital punishment had many racial issues. African Americans have seen and felt the racism of the judicial system pertaining to

The death penalty has been a gross failure. Beyond its horror and incivility, it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the criminals. The recurrent spectacle of publicly sanctioned killing has cheapened human life and dignity. The truth is that the death penalty is racist, ineffective and kills the innocent. Its time to take a stand against this barbaric practice and stop this outlet for the bloodlust of the American people.

Whether someone is sentenced to life or death can depend more on their lawyer than on the crime. A defendant who cannot afford an experienced and competent lawyer is more likely to be sentenced to death than someone who can. What if OJ Simpson wasn't famous or rich? Would he be in jail or even be on death row today? The fact is that many arrested for capital crimes are poor or cannot afford a Johnny Cochran or a slew of experienced criminal defense attorneys. Instead they are forced to use inexperienced, poorly paid, court-appointed attorneys. For example in Mississippi defense attorneys are paid a flat rate of 1,000 dollars, which is about 5 dollars an hour. What kind of motivation do these lawyers have, they lose money if they try to do a good job and money is going to be cut back even more.

Contrary to popular belief, the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to crime. "Expert after expert and study after study have emphasized and emphasized the lack of correlation between the threat of the death penalty and the occurrence of violent crime"(Meador 69). Also in a nationwide survey from our very own law enforcement, it states that the death penalty is ranked last as a way to reduce violent crime. It seems like it should deter crime but do criminals think of the punishment before they commit such a crime? Most murders are not planned and happen without any thought, and the consequences aren't processed before committing such a crime that would deserve the death penalty.

Another and most disturbing fac

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Approximate Word count = 1326
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)