Editorial: Why The Death Penalty Needs to be Outlawed

Capital Punishment. Two words that can change someone’s life forever once they hear them in a courtroom.

The death penalty has long been debated on if it is ethical and how it benefits anyone at all. The answers to both these questions?

The death penalty should be considered cruel and unusual punishment, and the thought that it deters crime is false.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), over the past 30 years the South has had the highest murder rate and also accounted for over 80% of executions in America. In contrast, the Northeast has had the lowest murder rate and accounts for less then 0.5% of executions, dismissing the myth that the death penalty somehow deters people from committing serious crimes.

In addition, the death penalty can put people who have been wrongfully convicted on death row and potentially killed.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, 4.1% of people currently on death row are estimated to be innocent. This is shocking. For a country that prides itself on protecting its citizens to the best of its ability, it is insane that we are allowing for a punishment that this country has implemented as a revenge tool to kill innocent Americans and keep them locked up for the rest of their lives.

One example is William Kuenzel. In 1987, Kuenzel was arrested on a murder charge and sentenced to death in 1988. According to the New York Times, there were errors in the case made against Kuenzel that should have been able to free him. Evidence was withheld, witnesses changed their stories, and Kuenzel’s legal team was mediocre, to put it nicely.

However, somehow this was not enough to overturn his conviction. Kuenzel died in February of 2022 of natural causes after being on death row for over half of his life.

Although he was not executed, this is an example of the unwillingness of the federal government to accept appeals and to overturn death row convictions after they have been handed out.

Capital punishment needs to be outlawed in the United States. There is no good reason why people are still being executed for crimes, given that innocent Americans are sitting on death row as we speak, awaiting their execution dates with no help from anyone.

By abolishing the death penalty, American will become a more humane and just country for all.