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Practical Arguments Against the Use of the Death Penalty. WHY end the death penalty? There is a high risk of executing innocent people. Kirk Bloodsworth 9 years on death row in Maryland. Juan Melendez 18 years on death row in Florida. Photos provided by Scott Langley.
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Practical Arguments Against the Use of the Death Penalty
WHY end the death penalty?There is a high risk of executing innocent people. Kirk Bloodsworth 9 years on death row in Maryland Juan Melendez 18 years on death row in Florida Photos provided by Scott Langley
WHY end the death penalty? In fact, innocent people may have already been executed. Image from www.NAACP.org Other well-publicized cases include Cameron "Todd" Willingham from Texas and Carlos De Luna, alsofrom Texas.
WHY end the death penalty?The death penalty is expensive. Graphic from Death Penalty Information Center
WHY end the death penalty?Our communities could be better protected by using our resources for effective crime-fighting measures. Graphic from Death Penalty Information Center
WHY end the death penalty?The death penalty is not a deterrent. Murder Rates in Death Penalty States and Non-Death Penalty States Image from Death Penalty Information Center From 1990 - 2009, death penalty states consistently had HIGHER murder rates than states without the death penalty.
WHY end the death penalty?Death sentences are reserved for the poor. "People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty ... I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial." - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2001) Shujaa Graham spent 4 years on California's death row for a crime he did not commit. He was raised on a plantation in the segregated South in the 1950s. Photo provided by Scott Langley
WHY end the death penalty?The death penalty is disproportionately given to those convicted of killing white victims. Graphic from Death Penalty Information Center
WHY end the death penalty? The death penalty is like a lottery of geography. Graphic from Death Penalty Information Center
WHY end the death penalty? The death penalty is a bad policy for murder victims’ family members. 1/2013
WHY end the death penalty? The death penalty is a bad policy for murder victims’ family members. Photo provided by Scott Langley 1/2013