Overzealous prosecution, mistaken or perjured testimony, faulty police work, coerced confessions, the defendants previous criminal record, inept defense council, conclusive circumstantial evidence, and community pressure for conviction are all factors that help explain why the judicial system cannot guarantee that justice will always prevail in the system. The death penalty is extremely barbaric and has no place in the American society. Capitol punishment was reinstated into the justice system in 1976 and since then there have been 735 executions (death); that is 735 deaths that should have never occurred. There are no strong counterbalancing arguments in favor of the death penalty. Each trial costs millions of dollars which all comes out of the taxpayers pocket and for what revenge? The death penalty can not be taken lightly; after all the subject at hand is a human life, once the deed is done there is no turning back on account of mistakes. The death penalty is costly, unfair; inhumane so therefore should be abolished yet for the past twenty- five years life after life has been taken away in death chambers across America. .
When it comes down to it the death penalty does not single out the worst offenders, but instead it selects an arbitrary group based on unwarranted factors such as quality of defense counsel, the sate in which the crime was committed, or the race of the defendant. Almost all defendants who face the death penalty cannot afford an attorney. (Curriculum) Therefore they are dependant on a court appointed attorney who are often of lower quality. These attorneys customarily are inexperienced in capitol cases and are often so underpaid that they really have no passion for the case and fail to even investigate it properly. A poorly represented defendant is much more likely convicted and sentenced to the death penalty not necessarily because he was guilty but rather because of insufficient funds.
