Argument 2:
The death penalty should be repealed because of the experimental and illegally bought drugs that are used on inmates which can fail and cause slow, painful, and illegal deaths for inmates.
– Lethal injection is a composition of three drugs. The first drug is an anesthetic. The second drug paralyzes the inmate using pancuronium bromide. The third drug is potassium chloride to stop the heart. Various drugs are making lethal injection less possible because they can no longer being sold to states. This creates the sometimes use of only a one or two drug combination being used.
– States have been illegally buying drugs from black market dealers such as in Alabama when an inmate was killed by an experimental combination of drugs that were then confiscated by the DEA. For example, Georgia started buying the drug out of London because of the rejection from the American manufacturer.
– Experimental killing have caused brutal death for inmates on death row. In 2014 there were 3 killings by experimental combinations of drugs. In Ohio, Dennis McGuire croaked, gasped for air, and choked for 10 minutes after being the first to receive two drugs. In Oklahoma Clayton Lockett received a new drug. He was seen clenching his jaw, gasping for air and wincing. After observers saw this happening they called off the execution and closed the curtains to the execution room. Later they declared Lockett as dead by heart attack. Joseph wood in Arizona was given new drugs and after the injection it took him two hours to die as witnesses viewed him snorting and gasping for air over 600 times over the course of two hours before his death.
– Georgia changed their drug usage when the US single manufacturer stopped selling sodium thiopental. The company, Hospira, declared that they were not interested in selling a drug that would be used for execution. As a result, Georgia went on to buy drugs from a manufacturer in London. These drugs were confiscated by the DEA after reports of inmates appearing to have painful deaths.
Argument 1:
The death penalty is bias towards people of color and people of less economic status. This effects the attorneys that can support the case and possibly make the outcome of a case unfair towards the suspect.
– “It is no coincidence that 99% of prisoners on death row are indigent and are disproportionately people of color. More than 120 people who have been sentenced to death have subsequently been proved innocent. How many more innocent people may have been executed because they could not afford adequate defense counsel?” (Alice Mosley).
– In 1972 congress deemed the death penalty unconstitutional due to the fact it was biased to people of color and the poor. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, the court has not come closer to an unbiased courtroom.
– Since 2000, the Department of Justice has found that 70 percent of prisoners on death penalty are people of color. During that time, it was shown that there was an equal number of black and white homicides.
– US attorneys were twice as likely to represent a person of color killing a white person than a person of color killed another person of color. Often prosecutors would also exclude people of color to be on the jury during the trial. Thus creating a bias that had been deemed unconstitutional in the 70s already.
– Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg said that “she has never seen a well-represented defendant for a trial towards death row.” Capital punishment attorneys have been payed as little as five bucks an hour. At this rate the attorney is obviously not giving equal representation in the court room.
– 65 percent of all black people on death row have been convicted of killing a white man. In Alabama 65 percent of murders are of black people and yet 73 percent of the people on death row have been convicted of killing a white person. At the same time none of Alabama’s 19 appellate court judges are black and only 1 of 42 district attorneys is black. Meaning Alabama has excluded black individuals in their court system. This means that a black defendant will have to face only the opinion of white jurors and judge.
– The biggest flaw in the system is the failure for the court to provide appropriate representation for the people facing death row and the death penalty. There have been cases in which the attorney slept during the trial. Others have shown up to the trial drunk or without any of the proper work or preparation for the defendant.
Rebuttal One:
Despite the fact that prisons are too crowded. The death penalty should not be a solution for overcrowded jails and is also costing tax payers much more than life imprisonment.
– Ted Strickland a democrat, said that no death penalty would allow new funds to add 500 police officers and cure 10,000 addicted patients. Not only to prevent more prime but to also save more people.
– In the 2000s it was found that in Ohio, there were 191 people on death row and their cases dated back to 1984. The largest death row is in California at 660. The cost of litigation for death row costs tax payers is 22 million. Not only is death row still crowded on slow in most states but it is also expensive for tax payers.
Rebuttal Two:
The death penalty should not be used because despite the fact that the prisoner has committed a capital crime, with the poor representations and bias in the court room it is too easy to make the mistake of having innocent people on death row.
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“For every nine people who have been executed, we've actually identified one innocent person who's been exonerated and released from death row. A kind of astonishing error rate — one out of nine people innocent. I mean, it's fascinating. In aviation, we would never let people fly on airplanes if for every nine planes that took off one would crash.” (Bryan Stevenson).
– ‘"I used to think before I worked in prisons that although innocent people could be convicted that it was very highly unlikely that someone [innocent] would be on Death Row," said Strickland, who delayed the scheduled executions of three inmates shortly after taking office in January.”’ (Ted Strickland).
Death Penalty as a Statement, Not a System
For every nine people who have been executed, we've actually identified one innocent person who's been exonerated and released from death row. A kind of astonishing error rate — one out of nine people innocent. I mean, it's fascinating. In aviation, we would never let people fly on airplanes if for every nine planes that took off one would crash. This a statement by leading lawyer Bryan Stevenson during his Ted Talk titled “We need to talk about injustice.” This Ted talk addressed Stevenson’s experiences representing children and people of color in court. The death penalty dates back to eighteenth century BC. Now in 2017 although the death penalty has steered away from the guillotine and public hangings the death penalty is still a corrupt system. In the United States the options for executions include hanging, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and most common, being lethal injection. Today, the lethal methods of the death penalty are unreliable and expensive. In 1972 the death penalty was deemed unconstitutional due to bias of people of color and low socioeconomic status. In 1976 the death penalty was reinstated but no changes towards such biases has been made. Since 2000, the Department of Justice has found that 70 percent of prisoners on death penalty are people of color. During that time, there was an equal number of black and white homicides. This bias, is also costing tax payers too much money. Life imprisonment is much less money than the 1.26 million dollars that is required to support an inmates jury on death row. Innocent lives are at risk at the cost of our own dollars, ultimately creating a system full of uncertainty and bias not only for the inmates but also the citizens of our country.