The death penalty policy in the United States of America’s courts is an issue that continues to draw a wide range of diverse points of view. Such opinions are anchored in some strange realities; the United States of America’s justice system’s policy of death penalty depicts. For example, the United States of America remains the only country in the industrial West to retain capital punishment ( Steiker & Steiker, 2019 , p. 360 ). Indeed, the outlandish portrayals of the US here relates to the notion that several countries in the world, especially the American peers, have found the practice of the death penalty an outmoded practice. As well, the death penalty policy has also drawn condemnation within the United States of America, with an increasing number of people supporting is abolition ( Steiker & Steiker, 2019 , p. 360 ). In that light, the United States of America’s justice system should drop the policy of the death penalty since it has several undesirable effects.
The first argument against the policy is that killing fellow human beings is an immoral and cruel act. For some people, the law of the killing offender is in itself an offense; hence, the people conducting the Court ordered killings should also be punished. At the same time, some critics of the policy argue that human beings cannot create life; thus, they are equally unqualified to take other people's lives ( Yelderman et al., 2018, p. 117 ). Mainly, the group consists of some people who believe in the divine power in taking or giving life to people. Accordingly, they view the form of punishment as an immorality that goes against the doctrines on death and life. The other immorality angle that the process of dying death is often painful for the convicts. Illustratively, there have been some convicted people failing to die immediately; hence, causing them much anguish ( Jensen, 2017, p. 800 ). Indeed, in this framework, the inherent torture that the capital punishment may result means that it is cruelty that should be avoided Essentially, these illustrations point at the underscoring of the notion that the acts of subjecting people to death is immoral since
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Second, capital punishment has chances of condemning innocent people to death. The statement relates to previous incidences of people being found guilty after having been sentenced to death in some cases in the United States of America ( Norris et al., 2017, p . 598 ). At the same time, there have been some people who are only exonerated from death penalty crimes after being found innocent as a result of confessions of false evidence. Sadly, in some cases, such admissions have taken place after the falsely accused have been killed as per their court rulings. Admittedly, such incidences have been witnessed even though the US judicial system has been trying to ensure that the due process is followed before capital punishments are passed. To corroborate the assertion, the CourtCourt in the USA has imposed heightened protection for in dealing with capital cases in the country that includes the adherence to 'super due process for death' ( Steiker & Steiker, 2019 , p. 389 ). Essentially, such measures have been put in place to deal with some cases of wrongful convictions, which is a concern to the Americans. Thus, there is the inherent failure in the judiciary to ensure that the innocent are not subjected to death. In that light, abolishing the policy of death sentence will be appropriate.
The third related matter is that the death penalty has been accused of perpetuating racism. Indeed, one of the most noticeable problems in the US is the discrimination of people based on their skin color. The Americans have had a long and infamous history of the people of color being discriminated against right from the time of slavery ( Cholbi & Madva, 2018, p . 521 ). Thus, there have been some concerted efforts that have been made for many years to deal with the issue. However, studies have painted a sad picture of the American judicial system involving itself in the promotion of this illegal act yet is supposed to fight felony. For illustration, Cholbi & Madva, 2018 ( 2018, p. 524 ) indicates that there is a higher probability of black people being condemned to death than the whites for the same nature of crimes they commit. Fundamentally, these incidences have been appreciated as some of how racism has been institutionalized in the US by various governmental organs. In summary, the overt or covert promotion of racism through the death sentence bolsters the need for it to be eliminated in the country.
The last supporting illustration for the abolishment of the practice relates to some of the points that the proponents of the method have raised in its support. They are those who argue that the death penalty can help warn would-be criminals against the dangers of committing crimes, for it may lead to their death ( Yelderman et al., 2018 , p. 106 ). However, this assertion fails to take into account the cases of some people being wrongly accused and condemned to death. Correspondingly, some advocates of the death sentencing argue that the activity is a punishment mandated by the US Constitution; hence, it is legal. However, this postulation fails to consider the pieces of evidence of the same constitution failing to provide an efficient judicial process to help prevent cases of unfair sentencing of people to death. The other argument is that since the capital offenses are often acts of serious immoralities, it is right to have them get any form of punishment that is equivalent to their 'sins.' Still, the supposition is fallacious regarding the already underscored cases of wrongful convictions, among others. Therefore, the erroneous nature of the points that support the death penalty, in this case, underlines the need for its abolishing as a form of punishment in the US.
To conclude, the US justice system should drop the policy of the death penalty because of its negative implications. For example, it goes against the doctrine of people lacking the mandate to kill fellow human beings. Second, capital punishment shows a weakness in the possibility of condemning innocent people to death based on some evidence of wrongful convictions in the past. Third, some reports link the death penalty to the execution of the illegal act of racism based on the odd number of black people receiving the judgment. Lastly, the practice should be obliterated since some of the reasons for its continuation are overtly disputable. In summary, the United States of America should remove the death sentence policy from its judicial system since it is detrimental to society as illustrated in this essay.
References
Cholbi, M., & Madva, A. (2018). Black Lives Matter and the call for death penalty abolition. Ethics , 128 (3), 517-544. https://doi.org/10.1086/695988
Jensen, C. (2017). What I think about when I think about being an intellectual. Reclaiming the Public Sphere , 62 (781), 781-804. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137398758.0012
Norris, R. J., Bonventre, C. L., Redlich, A. D., Acker, J. R., & Lowe, C. (2017). Preventing wrongful convictions: An analysis of state investigation reforms. Criminal Justice Policy Review , 30 (4), 597-626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403416687359
Steiker, C. S., & Steiker, J. M. (2019). The American death penalty. New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal , 22 (4), 359-390. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2019.22.4.359
Yelderman, L. A., West, M. P., & Miller, M. K. (2018). Death penalty decision-making: Fundamentalist beliefs and the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Legal and Criminological Psychology , 24 (1), 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12141
