Capital Punishment

The death penalty is an outdated, foolish method of punishment, disproportionately affecting minority groups and the poor. Punishing murder with murder is a petty and contradictory idea, that achieves little more than revenge, and risks condemning innocent lives to death. For these reasons, the death penalty should be abolished.
The death penalty disproportionately affects the poor because people who cannot afford legal representation receive substandard court appointed lawyers. The National Law Journal reviewed capital cases within the united states, and reported that court appointed defense lawyers are more often than not "ill-trained, unprepared...and grossly underpaid" (Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished, 1999). This contrasts the counsel the wealthy are able to hire. With quality legal representation, no matter how violent the crime in question, people who can afford good attorneys are often allowed the luxury of buying their life.
The death penalty also unfairly impacts minority groups. Racism is clearly reflected in the system of capital punishment. In a report by the Death Penalty Information center, published in 1998, 96% of studies examining the relationship between race and sentencing showed patterns of racial bias (Capital Punishment should be abolished, 1999).
Accompanying the inherent unfairness of capital punishment, is the fact that the death penalty being a decision imposed by human beings, is a decision subject to human error. This is not uncommon either! Since 1976, 77 persons have been released from death row, because they were proven not guilty after their sentencing (Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished, 1999).
The death penalty should be abolished because it is unfairly applied to minority groups and the poor, and risks taking the lives of people, who are not guilty for the accused crime.