Capital Punishment Is Barbaric the Term Paper

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And such an event, unfortunately, is all too possible, as evidenced by a review done by Bedau and Radelet in 1987. The authors used a variety of published and unpublished sources to locate information on potential capital cases in the United States during the twentieth century. Of the cases identified, Bedau and Radelet found 350 persons who had been wrongfully convicted of potentially capital offenses between 1900 and 1985. Of these, 139 were sentenced to die (Haines, 1996, p. 87-88). Thus, it is evident that capital punishment can end up reflecting very poorly on a society that practices it, in more ways than one.

The other reason why capital punishment can be said to be socially unjust is because, all too often, it is imposed indiscriminately against the poor and underprivileged sections of society, who also lack the means of better representation.

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This fact has been addressed in a wide body of literature. Donna Lyons (2000), for instance, cites several instances where reputed bodies such as the American Bar Association and the Federal Justice Department have raised concerns over the increasing evidence of racial disparity in prosecution and sentencing.

Thus, whichever way one looks at the issue of capital punishment, it appears that it has no place in any society that professes to practice humane and democratic values. While there can be little doubt that society needs to protect the safety and security of its innocent, upright citizens, it can be concluded that this can be better achieved through sentencing criminals to lifelong imprisonment without parole......

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"Capital Punishment Is Barbaric The", 06 December 2004, Accessed.2 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/capital-punishment-barbaric-60176