" (religioustolerance).
Another obvious problem with capital punishment is the possibility of executing innocent people. In 2000, Illinois freed 13 prisoners from death row due to new DNA evidence, after some had come within 50 hours of their execution date. (Davey) How many innocent people died before the use of DNA testing was discovered? Stanley Cohen once said that in a legal system frayed by error and uncertainty, the advent of forensic DNA is a magic bullet. (Cohen) The use of DNA technology can provide scientific proof, beyond any question, of a suspect's guilt or innocence; unfortunately, the cost involved in DNA testing is too great for it to be employed in every court case. So, those inmates who cannot afford DNA testing must suffer the worst.
Along the same lines, our legal system does not provide adequate representation for the accused. Many times, defendants that cannot afford proper attorneys are required to settle for a defense that is, unfortunately, not up to par with the prosecution. In 1977, 33 inmates on Illinois' death row were represented at trial by lawyers who have since been disbarred or suspended. Consequently, many of the inmates convicted to death row had their sentences reversed later. (Eskanazi) The appointed representation, in many cases, are fine attorneys, but too many suspects are left with the outcasts of the legal world to defend them. How many innocent lives will our government take before it realizes the injustice being done?.
If the moral convictions against the death penalty do not provide adequate proof against it, what of the economics of execution? If asked, most people in the United States today would assume that capital punishment is much more cost-efficient than imprisonment. Strangely enough, it costs on average, two million dollars more to execute a man than it does to simply incarcerate him for the rest of his life without the possibility or hope of parole.
