There is growing public concern that the nation's death penalty
system lacks fairness and reliability, a concern fueled by the
increasing numbers of exonerations of those on death row. Many of
these exonerations were made possible by relatively recent advances in
DNA and other scientific testing. The death penalty has never
been applied fairly acorss race, class, geographic and gender
lines. Whether someone is sentenced to die continues to depend
largely on the attitudes of prosecutors, the prejudices of judges and
juries, the skills of defense lawyers and where the prosecution takes
place. Despite these well-documented problems, the administration
and some Members of Congress continue to push to expand the death
penalty. One bill sought to increase the number of federal crimes
eligible for the death penalty. Federalizing crimes, especially
death penalty crimes, has allowed the govenment to interfere with local
prosecution of cases and to disregard local community standards about
the appropriateness of the death penalty. The system of capital
punishment in America is administered unfairly, arbitrarily and puts
innocent people at risk of execution. Congress should pass
legislation to create a thorough examination of our death penalty
system and put federal executions on hold during this investigation.
Innocent people are being sentenced to death.
The increasing number of innocent people released from death row
illustrates the fallibility of this system. As of April 2005, 119
prisoners convicted of capital crimes and sentenced to death have been
released from death row because of innocence, since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976. DNA tests play a major role in proving
innocence.
The death penalty is racially biased.
The color of a defendant and victim's skin plays a crucial and
unaccepting role in deciding who receives the death penalty in
America. People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43
percent of total executions since 1976 and make up 55 percent of those
currently awaiting execution.
The death penalty punishes the poor
More poor defendants must rely on publicly appointed attorneys who
are sometimes unqualified, inexperienced and incompetent. Death
penalty convictions against people whose lawyers have slept during
trials or come to court drunk have been upheld by judges across the
country.
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