The death penalty has also come under other criticism, especially in relation to executing innocent persons on death row in America's prison system. Of course, with the advent of DNA testing, many death-row inmates have been exonerated after tests revealed that they could not have been involved in their alleged crimes. Yet some death penalty advocates still believe that the possibility of executing innocent people does not justify the abolition of the death penalty. As Stephen Markman puts it, "the death penalty serves to protect a vastly greater number of innocent lives than are likely to be lost through its erroneous application" (Pojman 216). Amazingly, a 1995 Gallup poll revealed that 57% of Americans would still favor the death penalty even if one out of one hundred of those executed were undeniably innocent (Pojman 267).
In conclusion, the death penalty continues to be a highly controversial issue with most Americans and its deterrent effect has still not been absolutely determined. Yet it is clear that the death penalty does serve society quite well under certain circumstances, but in reality, society must begin to understand the reasons why people commit violent crimes and determine how to change a person's violent tendencies which in the end will make the death penalty unnecessary.
Annotated Bibliography
Bedau, Hugo a. And Paul G. Cassell, Eds. Debating the Death Penalty. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. (Contains the viewpoints of seven experts who debate the death penalty in a clear and thought-provoking way).
Espejo, Roman, Ed. Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime? Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson-Gale, 2003. (Espejo presents divergent views on whether or not the most severe of punishments can deter the gravest crimes).
Pojman, Louis and Jeffrey Reiman. The Death Penalty: For and Against. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. (Pojman provides the reader with a similar methodology as Espejo but explores this issue in more depth and without much subjective wanderings).
Prejean, Helen. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the Unites States. New York: Random House, 1993. (Prejean offers a fascinating account of her personal experiences with death-row inmates and relates her own views on the death penalty, mostly in the negative).
Williams, Mary E., Ed. Is the Death Penalty Fair? Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson-Gale, 2003. (Williams presents various opinions on the fairness of the death penalty and whether reforms can help prevent or reduce wrongful executions).
Works Cited
Bedau, Hugo and Paul Cassell. Debating the Death Penalty. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Bidinotto, Robert. Criminal Justice?: The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility. New York: Foundation for Economic Education, 1996.
Espejo, Roman, Ed. Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime? Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson-Gale, 2003.
Pojman, Louis and Jeffrey Reiman. The Death Penalty: For and Against. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998.
Prejean, Helen. Dead man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. New York: Random House, 1993.
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