The Bottom Line: Innocence
A debatable issue in today's society is the death penalty. Should our nation obtain or refrain from this "cruel and unusual" punishment? It all comes down to people's social construction. People are socially constructed in their beliefs as to which side they stand on this issue. The people who are for the ultimate punishment of death for a heinous crime are socially constructed to believe that justice has taken place. For those people who are against the death penalty are socially constructed to believe that justice is not served by taking another human life even though a crime such as murder, aggravated assault, and kidnapping has been committed. Capital punishment is a tough issue to side with because of the fact that innocent lives are being taken according to recent research. The death penalty has been around since the beginning of time. However, the first available statistics in death penalty cases was in 1930 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. During the period 1930 to 1967 there were 3,859 people executed under civil jurisdiction in the United States. At the end of the 1960's, all but ten states had laws approving capital punishment. This resulted in moratori
I strongly support the death penalty; however, I do not feel that innocent people should take the fall for an atrocious crime. People who are proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, including DNA test that prove guilt, deserve to be put to death. There is no excuse for murder. Our criminal justice system needs to take the time and review each capital punishment case to make sure the people are guilty of the crime committed. If money is an excuse then funds to cover the costs needs to be set-aside for DNA testing for each case. We shouldn't abolish the death penalty; we just need to make sure the people put to death are guilty and not innocent. According to the article written by Barbara McCuen the death penalty should not end, but mended. People who are socially constructed to support the death penalty believe justice has been served. A recent poll according to Newsweek stated that 73 percent still support capital punishment. Heinous crimes still provoke calls for the strongest penalties. Families feel closure if their victim's assailant is put to death. Retribution, an "eye for an eye", plays a major part in this type of protocol. Jurors along with other jurors who convicted Graham are now stating that they believe that Graham might have been innocent. They claim that he did not receive a fair trial. When Grahams attorney showed them the "police statement from the eyewitness who said the suspect she saw had darker skin and his face was thinner than Grahams." The jurors now claim they wouldn't have found him guilty. In conclusion whichever side one takes on the death penalty debate depends on their decisions made by social constructions. It contains ones beliefs and values on which they were constructed to believe in society. If you look at how many states support the death penalty as a form of punishment one would see that most of our society supports capital punishment. There are currently 38 states with the death penalty leaving only 12 that do not. However out of those 38 states there are seven states that have not had an execution since 1976. A recent capital punishment case had brought a lot of attention to this type of punishment. Gary Graham received the death penalty for a 1981 killing of a man outside of a supermarket in Houston. He was put to death by leth
Some common words found in the essay are:
Barbara McCuen, Eighth Amendment, Line Innocence, George Ryan, Patrick Leahy, Rick Perry, Bible Graham, Corpus Christi, Gregg Georgia, death penalty, Gary Graham, capital punishment, death row, dna testing, socially constructed, people death, capital punishment laws, biological evidence, innocent people, believe justice, justice served, support death penalty, death row chance, innocent people death, cruel unusual punishment,
Approximate Word count = 1562
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
