Conclusion

This article is great because it brings all of the death penalty together. It shows how the proportion of blacks that are tried for execution that get killed are much much higher than the proportion of whites that are tried and executed. It also shows how expensive execution is. In California alone it costs tax payers 114 million dollars a year more than if the inmates were to be granted life in prison without parole. It also shows that the southern states use the death penalty much more than the rest of the nation. There have been over 1000 killings in the southern region and the second highest is the Midwest with only 144. Therefore, using this data I have come to the conclusion that the death penalty should not be used as a punishment for capital crimes. Originally I thought that it would help keep the cost of keeping the inmates in jail down, but then I learned that in order to execute the defendant you would need to go through more trials which is much more expensive. Then there is the cost of the execution itself. I also thought that with all of these appeals that the chance of a person being killed that was innocent was very minimal. However, I did not think about how bad the representation that was given by the state could be. The attorneys are so bad that some do not even mention the defendants name in the court case. I do not think that these people deserve a second chance to go live on the street or have parole, but I do believe that we should not kill them so that if evidence comes up that proves their innocence then they could be released. As long as the justice system is as unjust as it is today, there is no way that the death penalty should be in use for it kills people that do not deserve to be killed just because they cannot afford proper representation.

North v. South

Not surprisingly the southern most states have the most executions like Florida, Texas, and Alabama. Texas also has the most Latino's killed than all the states combined. They have killed a total of 74 Latino inmates. This can only be attributed to the possibility that there are more Latino's in Texas than other places. However, the maximum number of Latino's killed in other states is two. These low numbers are also shared with Asians, Native Americans, and women. This helps disprove the fact that we only execute minorities. There are almost no executions of these three ethnicitys. On the other hand the blacks and whites are executed a lot more and share the majority of the executions. In Texas there are no more whites and blacks than other states like California or New York. So why are there so many more executions there? It is fair that we can come to the conclusion that Texas, Florida, and other southern states are using the death penalty much more willingly. Once again looking at the methods of execution the southern states are the only states that support electrocution. The majority of the other states seem to agree that the only possible humane way to kill someone is by lethal injection. In my opinion the prisoner should choose the way they die. Overall, this has shown that the southern states are much more pro death penalty than the northern states.

Death by firing squad.

I believe that there is no true humane way to kill someone. Even the lethal injection that is the most humane because it involves the least amount of pain is very inhumane because of the idea that you are killing someone. However, the worst methods by far are death by firing squad and hanging. This is because frequently the inmate is not killed instantly and they miscalculate the shot or miscalculate the fall. In the case of hanging the height of the drop is extremely crucial because if it is too high the head will be decapitated. On the other hand, if it is too low the neck will not break and the inmate will suffer for 45 minutes with terrible symptoms like eyes popping out, deification, swelling of the face and tongue. With the firing squad it is very immoral to make guards shoot a person and watch them kill the inmate. It is very hard on both the shooters and the inmate because if they miss then they will hear the screams and cries from the inmate bleeding to death. The lethal injection seems like the only way to kill someone humanely. However, it almost feels too humane that their lives do not mean anything and it just feels wrong to strap them down to a bed knowing that the IV you are putting in them will end up having a lethal poison flow through it. There is just no way to kill someone humanely. Therefore, if the death penalty is still in existence then the prisoner must be able to pick his death.

Journey to Death

There are so many trials just to sentence someone to death. In my opinion they are very unnecessary because of the attorneys given to the accused. The state most often gives the worst attorneys to represent the defendants so that in the first trial they are declared guilty for acts that they did not commit. Then there is the trial to declare the sentence. Here the court agrees that the defendant is guilty and arguees over how severe his punishment will be. Next comes the court of appeals. This is designed to protect the rights of the defendants to give them another chance to prove innocence. However, this might sound great in theory, but in reality the people that are accused of crimes are the typical low lifes who do not have enough money to afford a good lawyer. Therefore, the state provides one and the state does not want to give the best one to them so that a possible killer is back on the street. This process even though it is very detailed and fair in theory has many loop holes in practice. There is the ability to go to the supreme court to bring up the possibility of unlawful representation or a bad jury, but this is very rare to occur and the amount of money needed to do this is beyond the typical defendants. Their last chance to get out of death row is to be granted clemency. This process is very hard to grant and the governor along with a panel are the only ones that can grant a clemency hearing. Overall, the theory that the multiple trials would weed out the innocent seems perfect. However, in practice the people who are tried do not get the same representation that the victims have.

Die Clifford Die

In my opinion it is not about revenge and whether or not the victums family feels satisfied by the death of Clifford. The reason for execution is so that this does not happen again. If Clifford was allowed back on to the streets then there would definatly be more killing. He even said that he would kill his girlfriend who turned him in. What if he changed you might ask. I believe that he did not change at all. Killing and violence is appart of him. It is in his nature. He was born into a family where his biological mom was a drug adict and alcohalic. There were most likely many different drugs in his system ever since he was in the womb. This could have sparked the anger and aggression that is shown today. Even his mother was extreamly agressive and would beat him. This is a case of Nature over Nurture. I believe that even though he was later rasied by a new calm and loving mother that there was no way of hiding who he truely was, a violent murderer. The hidding even gets worse when he is in prison. When he turns to the bible for help it shows that he is lost and needs help. He tries to use the preechings of the bible as a way to calm his nurves about being excecuted. In the bible, one of the main teachings is that no matter what you do, as long as you ask for forgivness, god will forgive you and accept you. That is exactly what Clifford is looking for. A belief and philosiphy that accepts will accept him and help him hide behind a new religion in order to mask his true anger and aggression. Even in his paintings it is obvious that he is hiding what he truely feels. There is one painting with a very intense picture of a skull hidden behind a pattern of small blocks that would almost fence in his true feelings. The prison is no place for him either. In prison the families and his girlfriend know that he is alive and cannot sleep at night knowing that there is an extremely slim possibility that he might escape and kill them. I for one would feel so much more comfortable knowing that the man that wants me dead is no longer breathing. I also feel that the way that he is killed is way too emotional. When I saw the room where the executions are done I felt sick. It seemed like a normal building that when you walk inside is completely bare and there is a table with straps on it to restrain the killers. In my opinion there needs to be a less formal way for the people to be killed. Unfortunatly I cannot think of anything off the top of my head but seeing the room made me feel that what was being done was terrible and definitly scaring emotinoally. However, this does not change my opinion that the death penalty should be used.