Capital Punishment

11 Pages 2692 Words

e has been a steady increase in the use of the death penalty as the sentence in capital cases, with New York and Kansas being the latest states to adopt capital punishment. Law enforcement and prosecutors have caused numerous mistakes as well. Since murder can be considered the most heinous of crimes, there is extreme political and public pressure on police and prosecution to solve murder crimes and close cases. Also, rarely in murder cases is there an eyewitness to the actual killing. The lack of eyewitness testimony has contributed to the error factor. In many cases, the state’s star witnesses were jailhouse informants. Others have been granted immunity or less severe punishments for their own crimes
in exchange for their testimonies. It is hard to believe how prosecutors can admit evidence from such unreliable sources. In some cases witnesses have later recanted or disavowed their testimonies claiming
that they had only made their statements under pressure or coercion from prosecution and law enforcement. These false testimonies proved to be the condemning evidence in many cases. Lastly, most of the people charged in capital cases cannot afford defense attorneys. The appointed defense counsels in several cases have exhibited incompetence. Some of them did not even look for or missed important evidence that proved the innocence of their clients. In other instances, defense lawyers failed to conduct adequate pretrial investigations, talk to possible witnesses, obtain relevant police reports, or seek pretrial investigative funds. Michael Mello, a renowned capital punishment defense attorney in Florida from 1981-1995, has said “there is today a desperate (albeit difficult to quantify) shortage of competent capital post-conviction defense lawyers” (Mello 4).
The continually growing number of prisoners on death row reflects a rise in the number of death sentences being imposed. This increase opens the door for mi...