Question.2013 - Discussion on the death penalty and its effectiveness, adequate implementation, and right to state to execute with empirical/ statistical evidence based on the case study
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The effectiveness, appropriateness, and constitutionality of the death penalty is applied in the United States have all been honestly contested issues. On these factors, empirical and statistical data from case studies might provide insight. Effectiveness: According to empirical research, the death penalty does not effectively discourage crime. The existence of the death sentence and decreased rates of homicide are not always clearly correlated, according to research (deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2020). It can be difficult to solely ascribe changes to the death sentence because of the multitude of factors that affect crime rates. Adequate Implementation: Racial inequities in sentencing and insufficient legal counsel have marred the application of the death penalty in the United States (deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2020). For example, the Troy Davis case brought up concerns about the process's fairness. Empirical data shows that Black offenders receive disproportionately more death sentences than other defendants. Right to Execute: The Constitution protects states' ability to put people who have committed capital crimes to death. The necessity of fair trials and strong defences is however highlighted by the Sixth Amendment's requirement for effective legal representation (deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2020). The fairness of executions may be called into doubt based on statistical evidence from cases in which defendants lacked sufficient legal representation. Therefore the inequalities based on the ethnicity of victims and defendants, the empirical evidence presented strongly suggests racial prejudice in the application of the death penalty. Significant moral and legal questions are raised by this. Studies also refute the idea that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on the homicide rate (deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2020). The geographical data disproves the idea that the death penalty is a successful deterrent to crime by showing that states in the South regularly have the highest murder rates while having a high execution rate. In addition, a survey of police chiefs found that the death sentence had the lowest effectiveness in reducing violent crime; raising concerns about its usefulness and calling into question the state's right to carry out executions. REFERENCES deathpenaltyinfo.org (2020) Representation, Death Penalty Information Center. Available at: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/death-penalty-representation (Accessed: 29 September 2023).More Articles From LAW