If an innocent person was executed, that means that the state has committed murder. No person should be convicted and executed based solely upon circumstantial evidence. Two persons commit equally horrible murders and were properly convicted. The African American murderer was sentenced to death, and the white murderer was sentenced to prison for twenty years to life. There is something horribly wrong with this result.
Capital punishment has a proven deterrent effect on the murder rate.
If I had to choose only between eliminating capital punishment forever or allowing one innocent person to be executed per month, I would eliminate capital punishment. If you are white and commit murder, you have far less of a chance of receiving the death penalty than if you were African American. If an innocent person is executed, the judge, the jury, the prosecutor, and everyone else who could have prevented the execution should be immediately charged with murder. Works Cited Davis, James Allan and Tom W. Smith. National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, August 1993.