FREE ESSAY ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

John H. Whitehead
Professor Roth
English 128 Whitehead 1
1 December, 1999
A Moratorium on The Death Penalty Should Be Enacted In Illinois
Due to the recent releases of newly exonerated Death Row inmates, 
individuals and organizations are calling for a moratorium- a cooling off 
period for state executions. The cases of just a few inmates makes it 
apparent that this would be a necessary step to save innocent lives.
After 17 years in prison, Illinois Death Row inmate Anthony Porter was 
released from jail after a judge threw out his murder conviction following 
the introduction of new evidence. This reversal of fortune came just two 
days before Porter was to be executed. As reported in USA Today, Porter's 
release was the result of investigative research as conducted by a 
Northwestern University professor and students. The evidence gathered 
suggested that Porter had been wrongly convicted.
Were these new revelations and the subsequent release of Porter a lucky 
break or a freak occurrence? Not likely, reports DeWayne Wickham, also of 
USA Today. He points out that since the reinstatement of the death penalty 
in the United States in 1976, of those sentenced to death, 490 people have 
been executed while 76 have been freed from Death Row. This calculates into 
one innocent person being released from Death Row for every six individuals 
that were executed. This figure correlates with the 1996 U.S. Department of 
Justice report that indicates that over a 7-year period, beginning in 1989, 
when DNA evidence in various cases was tested, 26% of primary suspects were 
exonerated. This has led some to conclude that a similar percentage of 
inmates presently serving time behind bars may have been wrongly convicted 
prior to the advent of forensic DNA typing.
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Amnesty International, in its 1998 report Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the 
Death Penalty, supports the American Bar Association's call for a death 
penalty moratorium. Michelle Stevens, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, 
reported that in 1998 Illinois State Representative Coy Pugh (D-Chicago) 
introduced a resolution calling for a bi-partisan panel to study the death 
penalty in Illinois. During the study all executions would be postponed. 
This proposal was initially killed but revived following the recent 
releases.
Yet, this call for a moratorium on the death penalty is not the first time 
that state executions have been opposed. Throughout its history capital 
punishment has been opposed on many premises. In discussion forums across 
the world many individuals often cite deterrence of crime as a viable 
defense of capital punishment. However, comprehensive studies, including the 
1994 FBI Uniform crime Report, indicate that capital punishment does not 
serve as a deterrent to crime. According to the American Civil Liberties 
Union, the death penalty not only does not deter crime- among states that 
have either abolished or instituted the death penalty crime and murder rates 
have remained unchanged. Additionally, Eric Pooley of Time magazine, in his 
research, reports that no proof exists to substantiate claims that capital 
punishment discourages crime by anyone other than the criminals whom are 
executed. Glenn Lammi, of the Washington Legal Foundation is quoted as 
saying that there are no convincing studies [connecting] the death penalty 
and the crime rate.
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In the absence of persuasive studies linking capital punishment and crime 
rates, who better to turn to than the individuals who walk the thin blue 
line- law enforcement officials may be better equipped to address this 
subject. Time magazine reports that 67% of polled police chiefs also did not 
believe that the death penalty deters [crime such as] homicide.
According to a 1994 Government Accounting Office report (GAO) substantial 
evidence indicates that courts have been unfair in death sentencing. The 
1990 GAO report, summarizing numerous capital punishment studies, confirmed 
a consistent pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the 
charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty. The GAO also 
revealed that those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to 
Death Row than those who murdered blacks. According to the Death Penalty 
Information Center (DPIC) nearly 40% of those executed since 1976 have been 
black although blacks only comprise 12% of the U.S. population. And in just 
about every death penalty case, the race of the victim was white. The DPIC 
goes on to report that in the previous year, 89% of the death sentences 
involved victims whom were white. U.S News and World Report writer Ted Gest 
reinforces his concept. He writes that on Death Row race really does matter. 
He points out that on Death Row whites and minorities are represented 
roughly equally.
The disparity in allocation of the death penalty preempted the American Bar 
Association, in it's 1997 article The Task Ahead; Reconciling Justice with 
Politics, to
call for jurisdictions that exercise capital punishment to refrain from its 
use until fairness
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and due process could be assured. The ABA further called for the examination 
of procedures and practices for each state.
State and federal justices have also spoken out against capital punishment 
according to Jack Callahan of the Rochester Institute of Technology. To 
point out an instance, Callahan cites U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry 
Blackmun as declaring that he henceforth opposes the death penalty on the 
bases of the failure of the death penalty experiment. Blackmun, is further 
cited to state that the [potential] execution of an innocent individual 
comes perilously to simple murder. Justice Clarence Thomas is cited as 
having stated that the possibility of perjured testimony...mistaken testimony 
and human error remain all to real. We have no way of judging how many 
innocent people have been executed but we can be certain that there were 
some.
The United Nations, during an April 3rd 1997 press briefing, announced that 
its Commission on Human Rights had voted overwhelmingly to abolish the death 
penalty. The resolution called on member states that still maintained the 
death penalty to restrict the number of offenses for which the death penalty 
could be imposed and to consider abolishing executions completely. This 
opposition to the death penalty intertwined with new revelations all 
highlights the fact that innocent people are being wrongly sent to Death 
Row.
I had, said he, come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which allow, my 
dear Watson, how dangerous is always is to reason from insufficient data.' 
Said Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of the Speckled 
Band.
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Since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States, 490 
people have been executed while 76 have been freed from Death Row, DeWayne 
Wickham of USA Today points out. The Death Penalty Information Center's 1997 
report on Innocence and the Death Penalty attributes these releases to 
scientific advancements such as DNA testing and journalistic investigations.
Numerous factors such as overzealous prosecutors, deliberate actions of 
police, inadequate counsel, convictions based solely upon questionable 
eyewitness reports, laboratory error and unreliable evidence have all 
resulted in innocent individuals being sent to Death Row. This strengthens 
the call for a death penalty moratorium in Illinois.
Inadequate counsel is a major contributing factor that has landed the 
innocent on Death Row, according to Ted Gest of the US News and World 
Report. According to Gest courts in southern states, the location of most 
American executions, are only able to find poorly paid lawyers for many 
defendants. Attorneys diligent enough to input 500-1000 hours in a death 
penalty case must often work [well] below minimum wage. According to Amnesty 
International, the average salary of court appointed lawyers was $11.70 per 
hour. The 1996 National Institute of Justice also cites inadequate counsel, 
specifically in failing to consult competent scientific experts, as a 
contributing factor to the dilemma of individuals being false sentenced to 
Death Row.
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According to the National Institute of Justice, prior to the advent of DNA 
typing
courts were forced to rely on less reliable types of evidence such as blood 
typing and eyewitness accounts. Blood typing, it is reported by the National 
Institute of Justice, has
oftentimes yielded completely erroneous results. This logically indicates 
the possibility that individuals may have been erroneously convicted based 
upon this evidence.
According to the National Institute of Justice 1996 report, courts relying 
solely upon eyewitness accounts wrongly convicted individuals in 28 
documented cases. DNA evidence later cleared these individuals. In this 
report, Supreme Court Justice Brennen in the United States vs. Wade, 12 was 
quoted as saying that The vagaries of eyewitness identification are well 
known; the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken 
identification. Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a noted critic of the reliability of 
eyewitness testimony noted that witnesses are susceptible to intentional or 
unintentional suggestions from police. She explains that there is pressure 
on the part of witnesses to see the crime solved. This susceptibility may 
contribute to false eyewitness identifications.
In assessing physical evidence, the National Institute of Justice indicated 
that the common practice of blood typing, as the primary source of 
indicating guilt, is faulty in its unreliability. The deterioration of the 
genetic material in blood typing procedures could yield completely erroneous 
results. This logically implicates the possibility that individuals may have 
been erroneously convicted based upon this form of evidence. In cases where 
new DNA forensic was tested, 26% of primary suspects in similar cases
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were exonerated. This has led some to conclude that a similar percentage of 
inmates many have been wrongly convicted prior to the advent of forensic DNA 
typing.
DNA testing, though a conduit for exoneration in these cases has also been 
challenged and the courts in at least one case have been refused to admit 
analyzed laboratory results because the lab failed to reveal its testing 
methods. Such an omission can prevent replication of the results and may 
result in an innocent person being wrongly convicted.
The deliberate misconduct of the prosecutor's scientific experts has been an 
issue in a number of cases in which formerly convicted individuals were 
later exonerated. The NIJ reported that the West Virginian Supreme Court 
indicted Fred Zain, a forensic scientist for perjury. This following his 
failure to disclose information relating to the high unliklihood that fluid 
samples could have come from the defendant. The subsequent investigation 
resulted in the courts declaring Zain's testimony, in more than 130 cases 
inadmissible.
Technical issues aside, the violence and barbarity of executions is 
considered by some as a justification to end capital punishment. Some 
American states continue to utilize such methods as death by electrocution, 
hanging, gas chambers and firing squads. Many question the humanity of these 
procedures.
Let's take a look at exactly what most execution methods entail. Hanging, a 
method of execution that dates back to the American colonial times, is 
described in the official hanging protocol as developed for the state of 
Delaware (Execution by Hanging, 1990).The official procedure for handing 
involves the inmate being dropped a distance
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and being stopped by a rope fasten around the neck, the force of this 
drop-and-stop method breaks the bones of the neck, thus severing the spinal 
cord. This causes the inmate to become unconscious, and at this point, 
strangle to death due to lack of oxygen. The individual should be brain dead 
within six minutes and heart dead in about eight. The report indicates that 
the individual may experience pain-briefly. However, an error in the hanging 
procedure could possibly result in instances where the spinal cord is not 
severed and the inmate is conscious during strangulation. A drop of too far 
a distance will result in the decapitation of the subject.
In gas chamber executions, a cyanide pellet is placed in a container below 
the inmate's seat. A switch is thrown and the cyanide reacting with a 
sulfuric acid solution releases lethal gas. The inmate is denied air and 
thus suffocates. The time that elapses from the time that the prisoner is 
restrained to death is about 38 minutes, though it is believed that death 
occurs 6-18 minutes after the gas is released.
According to the 1997 sate of Florida Corrections Commissions Annual Report 
Michael Radelet, chairman of the University of Florida sociology department 
has documented 22 cases where executions have been botched. For example, 
officials in Mississippi were forced to clear the room eight minutes into 
the execution of Jimmy Lee Gray after his desperate gasps for air repulsed 
witnesses. David Bruck, a writer for the New Republic, reported that Lee 
died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas chamber-while 
reporters counted his moans.
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Also documented is the case of John Evans. According to Radelet, after the 
first jolt of electricity, sparks and flames shot from the electrodes that 
were attached to Evan's leg. The electrode then caught fire. Smoke and 
sparks shot from underneath the hood that was attached to his head. Soon, 
Evan's flesh began to smoke and burn. Doctors rushed in, discovered a 
heartbeat and applied additional jolts. This continued for an additional 14 
minutes despite the pleas of Evan's attorney.
Lethal injection heralded by some as a more humane method of execution also 
has its share of problems. It was reported by Michael Radelet that in a 1989 
Texas execution, inmate Stephen McCoy had such a violent reaction to the 
drugs (i.e. heaving, coughing, gasping) that a male witness fainted- 
crashing into and knocking over another witness. In Texas, December 1988, 
Raymond Landry was pronounced dead 40 minutes after being strapped to the 
table. Two minutes into his execution the syringe came out of his vein 
spraying deadly chemicals across the room towards the witnesses of the 
execution. The U.S. Court of Appeals in 1983 made the observation that 
...Lethal injection poses a serious risk of cruel, protracted death...even a 
slight error of dosage or administration can leave a prisoner conscious but 
paralyzed while dying...a sentient witness to his or her own asphyxiation.
Many individuals in defense of the death penalty give the argument that a 
life sentence as compared to execution is a waste of taxpayer money. 
However, numerous studies have shown that the cost of execution far exceeds 
the cost of life imprisonment.
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In The Geography of Execution...The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America it 
is reported that Florida estimates the total cost of an average life in 
prison of 40 years to cost $680,000, far less than the #3.18 million average 
cost of a single execution. These figure correlate with those of Texas, the 
nation's leader in executions, according to Department of Justice figures. 
In Punishment and the Death Penalty the Texas criminal justice system 
estimated the cost of appeal capital murder at 2.3 million dollars. The cost 
of life in prison totals only $750,000. Clearly, state executions are not 
cost effective.
When given concrete figures the public's support of capital punishment 
diminishes. A 1994 Gallup poll asked that if given a choice, which would be 
a better choice-, the death penalty or life in prison without parole? 
Support for the death penalty (80%) dripped to 50% according to the 1995 
Bureau of Justice Statistics Report.
In conclusion, all of the above arguments support a death penalty moratorium 
in Illinois. The most common argument in favor of the death penalty is that 
it deters crime. This simply is not true. Law enforcement officials, the 
very individuals that deal with crime on a daily basis, doubt the deterrent 
effect of capital punishment. Considerable evidence indicates that racial 
disparities exist in the allocation of death sentences with blacks receiving 
a disproportionate amount of death sentences as compared to their white 
counterparts. Organizations such as the American Bar Association and 
individuals such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have spoken out in 
opposition to the death penalty. The UN has adopted a worldwide resolution 
calling for an eventual end to state executions. From Anthony Porter to 
dozens more released from Death Row since it's
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reinstatement, there exists significant possibilities that there are 
individuals innocent of their accused crimes sitting on Death Row. 
Journalistic investigations have proven this possibility and DNA evidence 
has furthered cleared those previously convicted. An overwhelming number of 
factors including, overzealous prosecutors, inadequate defense
counsel, the unreliability of evidence, the cost ineffectiveness of 
executions, the sheer brutality of executions and the decline of public 
support for state execution when presented with other options, all warrant 
at least a temporary halt to executions to allow time for these issue to be 
addressed.
As members of a collective American society, we are all affected by a 
judicial system that though designed to protect the weak and innocent, sends 
these very same individuals to their deaths. It must become our quest to see 
that true justice is at least addressed. Yesterday, Anthony Porter was 
almost sent to his death. Today, it may be someone you barely know. However, 
tomorrow it may be you or I. This call for a moratorium in Illinois is a 
call for justice. Thomas Jefferson once wrote Truth is [the] handmaid [of 
justice], freedom is its child, peace is its companion, safety walks in its 
steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation from the 
gospel; it is the attribute of God. These words written over a century ago 
still ring true today. Let's take the time to take a look at justice.
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Bibliography
Works Cited
United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. 
Washington:
GPO, 1994
Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The 
Capital
Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996
NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996
Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges. USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A
Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty. Amnesty International. 10 
Oct. 1999
23 Oct. 1999 
Gest, Ted. House Without a Blue Print. US News and World Report 8 Jul. 
1996: 41
Stevens, Michelle. Unfairness in Life and Death. Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 
1999:
23A
American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 
1997
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. 
Washington:
GPO, 1994
Wickham, DeWayne. Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium. USA Today 8 Feb. 
1999:
17A
ILKMURPHY