Capital Punishment: The Abolitionist View

11 Pages 2739 Words

nize the intrinsic worth of the individual as a human being… this is why the sentence of death is in all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment, forbidden by the Constitution.” (Mello, “Against the Death Penalty” 31)
Another major augment against the death penalty is that it violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. This is the case in that it is randomly and discriminatorily applied. “It is imposed disproportionately upon those whose victims are white, offenders are people of color, and on those who are poor and uneducated.” (Bedau) An article in the September 26, 2000 issue of The Progressive boldly supports this view, suggesting that the death penalty is indeed unethical in that it infringes on constitutional guarantee of equal protection. According to the article, data released by the U.S. Department of Justice suggests that capital punishment system is indeed racist. “Of the 682 defendants facing capital charges in federal cases since 1996, blacks, Latinos and other people of color made up 8 percen...