Pro Death Penalty

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to make amends for the mistake that has been done.” Also, a recent study by the Columbia University of Law School found that two-thirds of capital trials had serious errors that lead to 80% of defendants being released from death row and 7% being completely acquitted. However, through the advancement of science, DNA Testing has exonerated many death row inmates, so the likelihood of an innocent person being sentenced to death has drastically decreased. DNA Testing was developed in the early 1990s and has become a very reliable identifier. DNA Testing consist of biological samples taken from a person’s skin, saliva, semen, blood, and hair. This collective evidence as helped convict or exonerate many with great accuracy. It is the modern version of fingerprinting. According to the website, aclu.org, over 75% of convictions have been overturned through DNA testing. Also, as of 2011, 48 states have DNA access laws. All of 34 death penalty states now provides inmates the opportunity to DNA test to prove their innocence. Even at the federal level, the Justice for All act, was signed in 2004 that includes the Innocence Protection act, that grants any federal inmates the right to petition a federal court DNA Testing to support a claim of innocence. It encourages states to adopt adequate measures to preserve evidence and make postconviction DNA testing available for inmates seeking to prove their innocence. So there are plenty of resources that lessens the risk of an innocent person being convicted of a crime they did not commit.

Overall, I fully support the Death Penalty because I believe the punishment should fit the crime. We, the taxpayers, already have to pay for our military, public schools, welfare, social security, etc. Why should we have to also pay for the inmates who I feel do not deserve our support? Even though some innocent people may be wrongfully accused of a crime they did not commit, the convictions have decreased greatly through the use of DNA testing. It is unfortunate that a few may slip through the cracks, but it is a small percentage compared to those who are truly convicted and sentenced to death. No matter the outcome an innocent person dies, but at least in this case a person will die less inhuman, in most cases by lethal injection, than those who are tortured to death by the accused. As U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor, states, “A legal regime relying on the death penalty will inevitably execute innocent people - not too often, one hopes, but undoubtedly sometimes. Mistakes will be made because it is simply not possible to do something this difficult perfectly, all the time. Any honest proponent of capital punishment must face this fact.” Our society now has better resources to ensure that those who are sentenced to death truly fit the crime. Therefore the death penalty will continue to be part of our regime as it has been for many years.

Works cited

“ Death Penalty.” ProCon.org N.p., N.d. Web. 11 May 2016.

“ Fact Sheet.” DeathPenaltyInfo.org N.p., April 28, 2016 Web. 11 May 2016

“Aclu.” Aclu.org N.p., 2016 Web. 15 May 2016

“ Innocence In Opposition to The Death Penalty” DeathPenaltyCurriculum.org N.p, N.d. Web. 15 May 2016

“ List of 10 Biggest Death Penalty Pros and Cons” GreenGarageBlog.org N.p, 2015 Web. 15 May 2016