this issue may have been discussed umpteen times already, but the execution of iraqi dictator saddam hussain has raised few questions yet again to be answered. 1) is captial punishment (death penalty), the way to go? 2) is another death an answer to a death? 3) if human cannot control over life, how fair is it to let them take it away? 3) is life imprisonment, a more ethical and fair punishment than death penalty? An interesting american stat:
National Death Penalty Fact Sheet States With the Death Penalty * indicates number of executions since 1976 Alabama 34 Arizona 22 Arkansas 27 California 13 Colorado 1 Connecticut 1 Delaware 14 Florida 61 Georgia 39 Idaho 1 Illinois 12 Indiana 17 Kansas* Kentucky 2 Louisiana 27 Maryland 5 Mississippi 7 Missouri 66 Montana 3 Nebraska 3 Nevada 12 New Hampshire* New Jersey* New Mexico 1 New York* N. Carolina 43 Ohio 23 Oklahoma 83 Oregon 2 Pennsylvania 3 S. Carolina 36 S. Dakota* Tennessee 2 Texas 376 Utah 6 Virginia 97 Washington 4 Wyoming 1 U.S. Govt 3 U.S. Military* States Without the Death Penalty Alaska Hawaii Iowa Maine Mass. Michigan Minnesota N. Dakota Rhode Island Vermont W. Virginia Wisconsin D. of Columbia Total Number on Death Row as of April 1, 2006: 3,370 (NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.) Total Executions Since 1976: 1047 The Death Penalty is Unfair! 1) The death penalty is unfair. The death penalty has never been applied fairly across race, class, and gender lines. Who is sentenced to die often depends on the attitudes of prosecutors, where one lives, the prejudices of judges and juries, and the skills of defense lawyers. 2) The death penalty risks killing innocent people. 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. Wrongful convictions often result from: false confessions, which are frequently coerced from juveniles and mentally retarded people; mistaken eyewitness evidence; jail house snitches; white-coat fraud and junk science; and prosecutorial abuse. 3) The death penalty punishes the poor. Most defendants are poor must rely on publicly appointed attorneys who are sometimes unqualified, inexperienced or incompetent. Some lawyers have slept or appeared drunk during trials. 4) The death penalty is racially biased. Many jurisdictions, which have studied their death penalty systems including Maryland, Georgia, Philadelphia, Indiana, and North Carolina, have found that people who kill white people are far more likely to get the death penalty than those who kill black people. 5) The death penalty costs more than life in prison. Prosecuting a death penalty case is extremely expensive for a state and drains money that could be used for education and social programs. It costs more than sentencing a prisoner to life without parole. The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (Duke University, May 1993). In its review of death penalty expenses, the State of Kansas concluded that capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases. 6) The death penalty is opposed by a growing number of murdered victims' families. Groups such as Murdered Victims Families for Reconciliation and Journey of Hope from Violence to Healing oppose the death penalty. 7) The death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. Since the death penalty was reinstated, over 80% of all executions have occurred in the South, the region with the highest murder rate. The Northeast, the region with the lowest murder rate, has accounted for less than 1% of the executions. 8) The death penalty is not used in most countries around the world. 118 countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in either law or practice. LooTe