Background: The United States federal death penalty was first used on June 25, 1790, whe

1.) Innocence: My number one reason for opposing the death penalty is innocence. I knew of this problem before my conversations abroad, but it took some eye opening statistics to make me aware of how serious this problem really is. Since 1973, an astonishing 108 people were exonerated from death row with a substantial number more released from death row on grounds of possible or probable innocence. 108 innocent people that our peers in our so-called best legal system in the world have found guilty. The more I think about it, even if this number were 1, I don’t know if I can justify to myself the need for capital punishment. In my opinion, people are blind to the fact that innocent people are being killed because it isn’t one of their loved ones. Is one innocent life taken not enough to raise eyebrows?

3.) International Pressure: In the 37 countries that still enforce the death penalty, the U.S. had the third most executions in the world, trailing only China and Congo. China and Japan are the only two civilized countries, if you consider China civilized, that I can find on the list of 37, which includes the likes of Iran, Iraq, and Yemen (www.amnesty.org). Even our own allies such as Great Britain will not extradite suspected people to the U.S. if they face the death penalty. We constantly are under pressure from the U.N. and most of the civilized world to change our capital punishment policies.

2.) A social problem is a condition that a significant number of people believe to be a problem.

The second definition seems easier to defend. I feel it is safe to say that a significant number of people believe the death penalty to be a problem. Numerous protests and court proceedings will support this, including the article at hand. Andrew Cohen, a CBS legal analyst, argues that the fu

Some topics in this essay:
Native American, Iraq Yemen, Judge Rakoff’s, Lee Malvo, death penalty, Cohen CBS, North Carolina, Research Project, Cost Execution, China Japan, International Pressure, believe death, capital punishment, federal death, botched executions, death row, federal death penalty, believe death penalty, innocent people, believed death penalty, percent opposed, innocent citizens, believed death, death penalty abolished, significant people believe,