Problems with Capital Punishment "Dead Man Walking!" This sound rings through each and every death row inmate a thousand times a day, but should it? Capital punishment is one of the most controversial topics among Americans today. Since every person has there own opinion on this topic,either for or against, the question always raised is "Is it morally right.?" The number ofproblems with the death penalty are enormous, ranging from innocence to racism, andthese problems will never be resolved unless the death penalty is abolished.The problems with capital punishment stem as far back as the ritual itself. Thenumber of occurrence on why the death penalty is racist is uncountable. A 1990 reportreleased by the federal government's General Accounting Office found a "pattern ofevidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing and imposition of thedeath penalty after the Furman decision" (Bedau, p.55). Professor David Baldusexamined sentencing patterns in Georgia in the 1970's. After reviewing over 2,500homicide cases in that state, controlling for 230 non-racial factors, he concluded that aperson accused of killing a white was 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than aperson accused of killing a black. The Stanford Law Review published a study that foundsimilar patterns of racial despair, in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and many otherstates. For example, in Arkansas “findings showed that defendants in a case involving awhite victim are three-and-a-half times more likely to be sentenced to death; in Illinois,four times; in North Carolina, 4.4 times, and in Mississippi five times more likely to besentenced to death than defendants convicted of murdering blacks” (Winters, p.78). There is also the issue of Capital Punishment being a deterrent. Does the deathpenalty really deter crime? The death lobby wants you to believe the answer to that estion is "yes." But, in fact, it is a resou...
