A Second Chance

The death penalty has been a controversial topic within our country for decades now. Up until very recently, the last federal execution was in 2003. New executions have called into question the validity of capital punishment.

The death penalty has had a historically negative relationship with racial minorities and the economically challenged. The United States General Accounting Office has even confirmed that people who murder white people are more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murder black people (Executions by Race). Also, people of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of total executions since 1976 (Race and the Death Penalty). This explains why fifty-nine percent of white people tend to favor the death penalty, while only thirty-six percent of Afican Americans favor it (Public Attitudes). 

Also, it is undeniable that the death penalty is most often used to exploit poor people who “cannot afford a good lawyer” (Wrongful Executions). Anthony Ray Hinton is the perfect example of this. Hinton had no evidence against him but remained on death row for more than thirty years (Wrongful Executions). For Hinton, it took three of the nation’s leading firearm experts to clear the charges against him (Wrongful Executions).

In death penalty cases, the rich have the advantage of being able to hire expensive lawyers to get them out of hot water. Hinton got a lucky break, but this is not usually the case.

Because of the blatant prejudice seen in death penalty cases, it is indisputable that the death penalty should no longer be in use. Discrimination on the basis of social class and race is unacceptable in America. We can do better, and our fellow Americans deserve better. 

On the other hand, some death penalty supporters argue that abolishing the death penalty is the same as “abolishing justice” (Evans). This argument relies heavily on emotion and does not account for the innocent people killed due to misconduct or corruption. Do we really value our own feelings over the life of another person? Acting on the feelings of a victim's family is not appropriate and does not achieve justice.

Furthermore, another criticism of the death penalty comes from the corruption that can be seen in past cases. First, there is the issue of false accusations. A false accusation occurs when a defendant feels pressured into making incriminating statements, even if they aren’t true. An example of this is Jesse Tafero, who was killed in 1990 after he was falsely accused of killing two police officers (Wrongful Executions). Tafero’s accomplice, Walter Rhodes, testified against Tafero “in exchange for a lighter sentence” and later admitted that he was “the only one who participated in the murders” (Wrongful Convictions). 

Additionally, the execution of Ruben Cantu parallels the execution of Jesse Tafero, in that both inmates were executed due to completely false accusations. Ruben Cantu was executed after the sole eyewitness identified Cantu as the shooter at a robbery because he was “fearful of authorities who pressured him” into making this false accusation (Wrongful Executions). 

Corruption like this cannot go ignored. Since 1973, “160 people on death row” have been exonerated, and it is impossible to know how many others could have been innocent (Inskeep).

Next within the topic of corruption is the issue of rushed executions. While rushed executions are not usually very common, this issue is extremely relevant to recent federal executions in the United States. Within the last six months, the Trump administration has overseen the executions of thirteen individuals. Before these executions, it had been seventeen years since the last federal execution (Campbell). Also, the last of these executions came “days before the inauguration of … Joe Biden”, who has opposed the death penalty in the past (Campbell). 

The execution of Dustin Higgs has been an important update to the string of rushed executions. Higgs was the last of the thirteen to be executed, and his execution was both important and heartbreaking. According to the people around him, Dustin Higgs was like a light in the darkness. He spent decades on death row “helping others around him [and] working to fight his unjust convictions” (Campbell). While in prison, Higgs contracted COVID-19, which would cause the lethal injection of pentobarbital to “give him the sensation of drowning” (Campbell). Despite this, Higgs was executed on January sixteenth. 

Higgs’ execution shows how truly irreverent these executions were. If these executions had not been rushed, there would have been time for new evidence or better lawyers. If these executions had been taken seriously, Lisa Montgomery or Corey Johnson or Brandon Bernard might still be alive. If these executions had not taken place days before the inauguration of a new president, Dustin Higgs would still be alive.

The death penalty has no place in America. If the issue of the death penalty is not solved it will continue to harm American people. In order to abolish the death penalty, we must start with our state governments. Twenty-five states have already abolished the death penalty, and we can work together to influence the other twenty-five. While abolsihing the death penalty in all states is the end goal, it is important to focus our work on states like Texas, where the death penalty is used more frequently than other states. We have seen the detrimental impacts it has on people of color. We have seen the effects of false accusations and rushed executions. How can we defend the death penalty when it has proven itself to cause more harm than good? The death penalty has no place in America.