Blog #126 – Just Mercy
I thought that there was a lot of stuff going on in the movie, Just Mercy. We see that racism was still alive and well in 1980s Alabama, despite the amazing gains of the Civil Rights Movement (1954 – 1968). The town’s sheriff had it out for Johnnie D McMillan and used Ralph Myers to frame McMillan for murder. We also see the broken criminal justice system that takes the poor and chews them up and spits them out. We see that in the prisoners on death row. And we also see a major critique of capital punishment. Men are being executed who have mentall illnesses. We also saw two men, Johnnie D and Ray, that were innocent and would have been executed if not for the intense work of Bryan Stephenson. The men were also underrepresented by their lawyers which didn’t allow them to mount a sufficient defense.
Read over the link here about the problems with the death penalty. This comes from Bryan Stephenson’s organization, Equal Justice Initiative. It lists five areas to consider when thinking about the death penalty – innocence and error, inadequate counsel, racial bias, arbitrariness, and public safety.
After reading over the information about the death penalty, please answer the following questions:
- Which of the five areas do you think is the biggest problem with the death penalty? Why?
- What was your opinion about the death penalty BEFORE watching the movie and reading the info on the EJI website?
- Has your opinion on the death penalty changed AFTER seeing the movie and reading the info on the EJI website? Why or why not?
I believe that the biggest issue illustrated in the article is the defense lawyer argument. Since defense lawyers are overworked and underfunded it can make it hard for them to just take a normal case, so when they have to take a more complex and time-consuming case like cases involving capital punishment it gets even worse. If the accused had better, less overworked and more experienced, lawyers, they would have a more likely chance of winning. A better lawyer could also help point out flaws and errors that are being made to further reduce the chance of a wrongful conviction
Before seeing the movie and reading the article I was already against the death penalty. I know there are a lot of times where it can go wrong which disgusts me. It’s hard for me to even imagine we are killing these people, but it’s even worse when it goes wrong and can cause a slow and painful death. I also just don’t believe in killing the person. I think that even if they killed someone or multiple people it’s not right to kill them, especially since the conviction can be wrong.
My opinion kind fo changed after seeing the movie and reading the article. I now have different reasons to be against the death penalty. First, both illustrated the massive amount of mistakes and false convictions that are made when sentencing someone to death row. I think that if there’s a risk that someone is innocent and they often get it wrong, then we shouldn’t take the chance of killing an innocent person. Second, while I knew a small bit about the overworking and underfunding of the defensive council, I never knew the extent to which it affected capital punishment. Not only are these lawyers not likely to fix the very common errors made in the system, but they also aren’t guaranteed after the first appeal. That means if you’re poor, you can’t appeal your decision very much. Third, I had no idea of the link between capital punishment and racism. Even though only thirteen percent of the population of black, African-Americans account for 42% of the people on death row. America’s history shows that as a country we haven’t treated African-Americans well and the death penalty shows it. It is a descendant of lynching and history has proven that courts are more likely to convict you if you are black.
1) I think the biggest problem area that deals with the death penalty is innocence and error. It is evident that many of the people that end up on death row for crimes are not very wealthy, therefore because of a lack of funding towards their case, many errors are more susceptible to happen. The article states many factors contributing to an errored case including, erroneous eyewitness identifications,false and coerced confessions,inadequate legal defense,false or,misleading forensic evidence, false accusations or perjury by witnesses who are promised lenient treatment or other incentives in exchange for their testimony. As we see in the movie, Just Mercy, there were several false witnesses which led to a false case; as well as false testimonies, and forced statements, and a lack of useful evidence. The people involved didn’t get any black witnesses which also led to problems and unfairness. Racial profiling also can lead to innocence error, as seen in the movie.In my opinion many of the other factors contribute to the innocence and error category which is why I think it is the most important out of all of them.
2)Before watching Just Mercy or reading the article, I was partially ok with the death penalty because I wasn’t as informed about it. Before, I thought as long as the person actually committed a serious crime or committed a life threatening crime multiple times the penalty was somehow ‘ok’. Before the movie or the article, I didn’t think they would use the death penalty on people with trauma or mental illness, let alone minors, but I was aware of the frequent uses of the death penalty on innocent people.
3) After the movie and the article my opinion on the death penalty has change because the article made me realize how many mistakes come with many peoples cases due to financial instability or inadequate consuel, therefore I don’t think the penalty should be used at all. It’s risking too many innocent lives and crippling the justice system. Instead, I think the court should issue a life sentence or something more appropriate one’s case.
1. I think the biggest problem with the death penalty in my opinion is the lack of adeqaute counsel. This is because adequate counsel, in situations unplagued by racial bias, would have the power to free and innocent man. However many places don’t provide properly educated counsel to those on death row, and often those on death row cannot pay for one themselves because it targets the poor man. In the movie it was shown how an adequate counsel can free and innocent man, but it also showed who else was in there because their counsel was bad. The man with mental illness should have never been in there, the counsel should’ve pleaded mental illness and he should’ve been in a place to help him with his ptsd. The people put on death row often cannot fight for themselves when they are innocent and when provided with someone that cannot either, they often end up sentenced.
2.
Before watching the movie Just Mercy and reading the article, I had very limited information of the death penalty. I was mostly concerned about how a jury and/or judge can be so certain that someone has committed a heinous enough to deserve the death penalty and sentence them to that. I understand in some cases it would be very clear due to overwhelming evidence but I feel that there will always be some percent of doubt. I did not feel that the death penalty should be abolished because I do somewhat beleive that serial killers and other especially heineous people may deserve to die, although I think rotting in jail especially in solitary is much worse of a punishment. I think the most humane thing to do would be to give those with the possibilty of the death penalty the choice of life in jail or death.
3.
After watching Just Mercy and reading the EJI article, my opinion didn’t necessarily change but it was greatly broadened. I still believe that there should be a choice for those on death row to be given the death penalty of life in jail in some sort of harsh degree, but of course only for those who deserve it. Now, I mentioned before how I had been unsettled by the ability to feel confident enough about one’s guiltiness to sentence them, and I’m now noticing after the article and movie that the doubt is often ignored, or perhaps not there because of prejudice, because of the amount of people convicted, especially innocent people. There are far too many false convitions and this most likely means there are far too many innocents killed by death penalty. I hadn’t known about the racial targeting going on by death row, but it wasn’t surprising considering the racial targeting going on in other prisons. That is something that needs to be fixed, especially with the almost trend of open racism recently (this is just an opinion of mine). There are also large problems with other types of targeting, like the mentally ill and the poor. The poor cannot get adequate council and often the same thing happens to the mentally ill which is what leads to all these false convictions. Those mentally ill and charged with murder should be in a mental health facility not in a grave, this is especially shown in the movie with the war vet with ptsd.
After watching the movie “Just Mercy” about racial and financial biases and inadequate representation of criminals in the prison system and reading the article about death penalty, I believe that innocense and error is the biggest problem with the death penalty. This is the biggest problem because an enormous amount of people on death row are being executed for no reason, and while nobody deserves to die, completely innocent people being put on death row is even worse. If a judge can’t be sure whether someone has commited a crime or not, death row shouldn’t even be an option. This problem of the death penalty also factors into the other problems with it, for instance, racial and economic bias. Often, like in the movie, poorer people or non-whte people will be wrongly convicted of a crime just because they’re easier to frame. The death penalty is a very flawed form of captial punishment which leads me to the belief that it should be removed.
Before watching “Just Mercy” and reading the article, I had disagreed with the death penalty. While I understood it was bad, it was only for the reason that killing people is bad, regardless of their crime. I also didn’t know much about it, other than that only a few states still have it. I didn’t realize the biases that come with it and that certain people have a greater chance of getting the death penalty as a punishment than others. After watching the movie, I understand that there are more problems with the death penalty than just murder. Many who are executed are wrongly convicted, or are given that sentence based on a racial or financial bias. Many convicts don’t have adequate representation and are basically automatically given the death sentence the second that commit (or don’t commit) a crime. Rich people are able to get away with muder (literally), while poorer people who can’t afford better lawyers are subject to the possibility of execution. I realize after watching and reading that not only is the death penalty bad, it is also inhumane and essentially murder.
1. I believe that innocence and error is the worst part of the death penalty. 1 out of 9 people are wrongly convicted and put on death row. what does this show about public safety and the justice system? people who are innocent get their lives thrown away in an instance while the person who truly commits the crime runs free. if anyone gets the death penalty it should be someone who we are 100% sure committed the crime and deserves such a gratifying punishment. the death penalty kills innocent people who have a life before death row. imagine sitting there staring at a paper with the date you will be executed for a crime you didn’t commit. The death penalty is supposed to avenge the crimes a person commits so its crucial that you actually have the person that committed the crime.it’s crazy to think that the court decides a person’s livelihood. even if a person like John D. McMillan was able to get the representation to get out of there his life will forever be changed. some people aren’t so fortunate. the death penalty is a far more gratifying punishment and shouldn’t be used unresponsibly to ruin innocent people’s lives.
2. before the movie I believe that in only certain circumstances should the death penalty be viable. i knew little about the topic of death penalty or death row before the movie and the article but I always felt it was wrong because it ends a person’s life short to try to help public safety but there are crimes everywhere every day. if the crime is extremely serious than the death penalty may be the only way to bring the people who have lost so much due to one person some peace. I was appalled by how truly gruesome the death penalty is.
3. after the movie and reading the article I can see how truly terrible the death penalty is. people with mental illnesses who express emotion differently sit in a cell where they receive no help and eventually are educated. innocent people die while public safety is still endangered by the person who actually committed the crime. on death row, they pass out death penalties all the time and often people are forced to die because they don’t have the representation to prove their innocence they just live counting the days til there execution. the death penalty needs to be used on those who truly deserve it. we can’t let innocent people die because that helps not a single person.We need to make sure we are truly aware of who really committed the crime before destroying an innocent man’s life.
Sorry about posting late I wrote the whole thing last night and it deleted it all because I didn’t put my email in the required field
Out of the many problems of the death penalty, I think that innocence and error is the most severe. The statistics, 1 out of nine people executed are innocent, is shocking. The amount of errors is the result of the other four problem areas, inadequate counselling, racial bias, arbitration, and public safety. Because many of the death row prisoners are poor people, they are unable to hire an experienced lawyer to defend them. They are assigned a counselor who is overworked, underpaid, and oftentimes inexperienced. As a result, the defendant is unable to mount a sufficient defense in court. Next, racial bias is the second biggest problem. In the movie, we saw Stevenson ask the judge why he would believe the testimony of a white criminal (Myers), over twelve law-abiding African American citizens. We also see how the sheriff threatened white convicted felon, Ralph Myers, to give a false eyewitness account that was the basis of all the evidence that McMillan did commit the murder. Also after Darnell Houston contradicted that evidence in a statement he was arrested on perjury and intimidated into not testifying in court. Misconduct by police or prosecutors was involved in 79% of homicide exonerations in 2018. I do not think that arbitrariness is as big a problem now, but we see in the movie that prisoners with mental disability were still executed regardless of it. Public safety, particularly deterrence is the main argument for why we should have the death penalty, but on the EJI website it says, “Studies have shown that murder rates, including murders of police officers, are consistently higher in states that have the death penalty, while states that abolished the death penalty have the lowest rates of police officers killed in the line of duty.”
Before watching Just Mercy and doing this blog, I didn’t have a particular stance on the death penalty, partly because I didn’t know much about it. In the past if we ever talked about it in school, prior to APUSH, people would say things about deterrence, how the harsh death sentence will prevent people from commiting crimes, and that made sense to me. But I never took the time to actually research to fully understand what was being discussed. After watching the movie and reading the summaries on the website, my stance on the death penalty has changed. I am not surprised that many people view the law as a modern continuation of lynching, the overwheming majority of executions take place in southern states. The Supreme Court said in McCleskey v. Kemp that, “racial bias in sentencing is “an inevitable part of our criminal justice system.” Whether or not that is true, we should not be using a permanent sentence, if years later, new evidence is produced and the defendant was actually innocent and is exonerated, the system is broken and should not be continually used.
In my opion i think that the largest problem with the death penalty is the fact the it targets poor people and non-white minorties, and because of this they are often unfairy represented during the court case. So Racial Bias As the article said ⅔ of people on death row are black but only 13% of the total us population is black. Secondly I believe that the way mentaly ill people are treated is also incorrect both the movie and the article references how unjust it is to sentence someone who needs help to death instead. I’m not sure exactly how this issue can be fixed but i do not believe killing solves anything. Going along with killing doesn’t solve anything I do not belive that minors should have to face the Death penalty, in the article by eji they had placed a link to a related actle of a young 14 year old black teen who was sentenced to death not a sinlge wittness was called he was charged with murder of two girls he was playing with just earlier that day. The jury knew that he didn’t do it so did the sheriff and so did his state appointed lawyer but he was still executed. Rasicst sentement is a major issue with the capital punishment in cases where the vicitim was white and the preportrator was non-white were far more likley to be charged with the death penltey. I also belive that the death penalty is just moraly wrong i think i someone does something worthy of capital punishment. Need help and the government should provide it for them. In addition I think the state should better fund or just have higher standerdeds for laywers that take on capital punishment cases as it is of the upmost importaince that the truth is reveled. As the eji article briefly spoke about lawyers appointed by the state have even shown up to a case intoxicated unprepared and slept. These lawyers actions I mentioned can be traced to overwork and underpay.
Before watching the movie just mercy and reading the article I truly tried not to think of it much I didn’t really give thought to the way it tore families to shreds and ripped people from their sanity. I always thought it brought really bad guys to justaice and I didn’t think in the wake of that pulled along some innocent people during the killings. I really didn’t think of the people on death row as humans I’m not sure what I exactly thought they were but I guess I didn’t want to face the horrers of what was the truth of the death penalty.
After watching the film I believe that my option greatly shifted. I think that it opened my eyes I did not fully realize how broken and wrong are current capital punishment system is I mean 1/9 people are innocent of the charge they were accused of. That is an unacceptable rate of inaccuracy. I did not realize how financial ability affected the out come of a case.
I thought the main issues with the death penalty are; inadquit repensatation, funding, prejiduce, error in inncoence, and over worked defense atteronies. In the movie we see lawyers that have very little experience trying to defend their clients. These atternoies don’t have the experience and are often parts of small companies that don’t have enough funding. Due to the law offices not having enough funding, they can’t get their atteronies the materials that they need to perform their job. They can also be extremely uneducated, this not being at the fault of the person, but at what was provided to them by these underfunded law companies. There is also a lot of prejudice in officers and law enforcement that can strongly influence how someone’s case turns out. As we also saw in the movie, people are wrongfully convicted and charged all the time. Some of these innocent people are sent to death row. There will always be errors in the law, but if someone’s life is in your hand, I feel that you should investigate everything. And due to the lack of good attorneys, the more experienced ones are overworked. These overworked attorneys perform less if they don’t have the right amount of time to themselves. They will also not have time to dive deep into everyone’s case if they are biting off more than they can chew.
Before the movie I saw the death penalty to be fit in some circumstances. I thought it was okay to take a life for a life. That if someone convicted had killed multiple people, then he should be killed as well. I didn’t see it as a bad thing, I thought it to be just. However after watching the movie I have completely changed my mind.
After the movie I saw just how cruel people could be towards others. With the constant error in judgment and unfair circumstances, no one should be killed. If we kill the killers it makes us just as bad as them. An eye for an eye and the world goes blind. I believe that everyone can learn from their mistakes and grow. There are some crimes that are unforgivable, but death should not be the answer. Instead of killing them, let them live their lives out in prison, or give them a chance of reform.
I believe that the largest issue which currently exists with the death penalty is the general inabilty and inefficiency of the death penalty as a form of criminal when compared to other, more modern methods (i.e. life imprisonment with or without parole). While the moral implications of the other four reasons are obviously staggering, the relative practical impacts of the other four detriments of the death penalty are relatively lesser, with scientific claims of the deterrent effects of the death penalty having beeen based on fundamental misunderstandings on how to measure the relative prevention crime[1]. Additionally, the burdens of this proven to be ineffective program are clear, with prison labor during life imprisonment mitigating costs of the US prison system (an entirely different moral issue), creating a relatively lower cost than the unmitigated costs of the death penalty.
Before this movie, I primarily dismissed the death penalty as a barbaric practice which has nonetheless been almost wholly combated within the US. Before watching Just Mercy, I primarily focused on the moral implications of the death penalty, contrasting those peacetime sanctioned killings with the legalized murder of wartime militaries, but fauled to compensate for the judicial and economic burdens which the death penalty places upon both District Attorneys and Public Defenders. Ultimately, I considered the death penalty as a conceptual matter, and failed to compensate for the real-world effects upon the individuals involved.
After watching the movie, my thoughts changed such that I was able to simultaneously realize the humanity of those who are subjected to the death penalty, the relative lack of care which the majority of the world shows for those individuals, and the rampant existence of this barbaric practice within the modern-day United States. After I read the Equal Justice Initiative’s set of reasons to remove the death penalty, I found myself regarding the institution of the death penalty as not only a morally repulsive practice, but also an entirely hypocritical practice, with the stated reasons of deterrence and cost-savings which have justified the death penalty in the past are, in fact, entirely non-factual. I find that the death penalty is a remnant of the American set of atrocities which must be excised from modern American practice if we are ever to move forward in our relatively archaic criminal justice practices.
I believe that innocence and error is the biggest problem with the death penalty. The movie and the article highlights how witnesses could be manipulated to testify against the person on death row. This is corrupt and should be rid of as much as possible in our justice system. But, errors can be contributed in other ways as well. Police and other people on the justice system can be pressured to get a person on death row. This can cause an unfair trial for the defendant. 1 out of 9 people executed on death row have been exonerated which is a surprising level of error. But, I do think possibly the biggest problem with the death penalty is the death itself. Especially after watching the movie, I am really uncomfortable taking away someone’s life, no matter how high the crime is. Why can’t you just sentence them to life in prison. I just think it’s immoral. But, I a murderer killed my mom, I’d probably want to see them killed, so I’m not completely sure where I stand about the “death” part of the death penalty.
Before I saw the movie, I still didn’t like the death penalty that much, but for insane crimes like a terrorist act I could see it. To be honest, I didn’t know much about the death penalty other than that you would get shocked to death and it was mostly minorities were disproportionately put on death penalty.
My opinion on the death penalty has changed. Now, I am more opposed to it. At first, I just thought I was unethical and there wasn’t much else wrong, but now I see all of the issues outside of morality. I think that there are to many issues like the person on death row being innocent and racial bias. So now, the people on death row may not even be guilty. This is especially bad for minorities because they are unproportionately sentenced to the death penalty. The criminal justice system is also more lenient toward wealthy people because poorer people can not afford a good lawyer. This is exactly what inequality is
I feel that the most mandatory problem to be concerned with is the area of racial bias. In the movie, it was shown that innocent black males were stopped in their cars and put in prison for no apparent reason. Those that did do things wrong felt remorse for their actions, but were not freed nonetheless. I feel like this was especially the case in the south, where racial bias was most prevalent. Other areas of concern were also a major problem, but racial bias was the most concerning out of the five.
Before watching the movie and reading the article, I felt like the death penalty was unnecessary, but a part of me thought that it was also required to ensure order. I felt that some people, in very special occasions, deserved the death penalty. Normally, I am a pacifist, whereas I never feel like people should die for what they’ve done, but I feel like there is an exception for child rapists and serial killers. The truly evil people deserve the death sentence. But for people who acknowledge and feel bad for what they’ve done, I feel they don’t deserve the death penalty.
After watching the movie and reading the article, I felt that the death penalty should be removed entirely. This is because, while I did keep my idea that no one deserved to die for what they’ve done (except for a few exceptions), I noticed that the death penalty also imprisons people who hadn’t done anything wrong. Through areas of concern such as innocence and error, inadequate counsel, racial bias, arbitrariness, and public safety, I noticed that even the most innocent people can be killed by the death penalty. Not only that, but it also affects the families that have to deal with a killed son or daughter from the death penalty. The process is inhumane, and the family has the live the rest of their lives that their son or daughter was killed brutally because they made a mistake. This is why I feel like the death sentence is completely unnecessary and should be removed as fast as possible.
Out of all the 5 areas that are problems in the death penalty I think that the inadequate legal defense is the biggest problem. I say this because although false accusations, witnesses, and confessions are a gigantic problem in this system the defense that you have makes up for what happens next. If you don’t have the right representation to look over your case and to SEE if the accusations, witnesses, and confessions are FALSE then no one would ever pay attention to it when deciding your fate of life and death. We can see this clearly in Just Mercy when the man who was wrongly convicted had been automatically put on death row with no trial. Not one person looked to see if everything was correct had had the proper evidence to back it up and that shows how little the people controlling this system care about the well being of a person and even a black man. Before watching this movie I already had a pretty good deception of what death row was from watching the Green Mile. Although it was partially antsy it did show the conditions and treatment most of the inmates on death row had to endure. Personally I don’t like the fact of killing back another person for a murder they did but I do understand that some people feel at ease when these people are gone. For me I would rather them get mental help and put on life so they can reflect and hopefully see where they went wrong. It also gives people who are wrongfully convinced a chance to fight for their case without feeling like their is a time limit on their life. After seeing the movie and learning more facts it has definitely changed a lot on what I thought. For one just during that time period it was horrible how people could just choose a random and innocent man to blame for a crime they didn’t want to take the time to figure out. I feel like their is still more changes that has to be made and a better punishment other than killing another human being.
I believe that the out of the five problems with the death penalty today, the biggest one is innocence and error. This is the main problem with the death penalty simply due to the fact that some inmates are innocent and have to face the death penalty and some are actually guilty and are allowed to get out of death row. The facts just stand out by themselves. 166 people were exonerated and released from death row ever since 1973. 1,515 people were executed in the United States since 1973. Lastly, out of every nine people executed, one person in death row was exonerated. There are many innocent people in death row that were wrongfully convicted. These people were wrongfully convicted due to false confessions, horrible legal defense, and false evidence. The leading causes for these wrongfully convicted/innocent inmates are the false accusations and official misconduct. Official misconduct has an important role in the innocence of these men because any officer threatening a witness, false evidence, or even forensic analysts faking test results. All in all, innocence and error is, in my opinion, the main problem with the death penalty mainly because of the fact that innocent lives are at stake and other inmates that are actually guilty are getting out of prison due to their financial status or wealth, and innocent men are forced to stay in prison with no real help or no evidence to prove their innocence.
Before watching “Just Mercy” and reading the article on the website, I thought the death penalty was unjust and it wasn’t right at all to take another human’s life, because they can still get help if they really need it, and taking their life away wouldn’t make the world a better place, neither should death justify anyone’s crimes or mistakes.
My opinion on the death penalty has not changed after watching the movie and reading the article. It hasn’t change simply due to the fact that I always knew the death penalty was a horrible thing and does not at all justify a person’s actions. Instead, the movie strengthened my opinion and gave me a deeper understanding and visual of what the death penalty and death row truly was like.
“Just Mercy”
After reading each of the 5 problems with the death penalty, it was kind of difficult at first to choose one to be the most troublesome, because there was a lot of reasoning that could back up each issue that was simplistically vital. However, after thinking about it, I would have to say that Racial Bias would be first place out of the top 5. One example that supports my decision is the statistics on poverty rates by race from the late 1960’s to today. After doing the research, I have found that of all races, between those two decades, whites have had the lowest poverty rates. Wow! What a shocker! I mean, thinking back to common U.S. history involving treatment of African-Americans, and the immigrant waves, this is something that anyone could guess. What I’m trying to get at here is that the other problems mentioned about the death penalty, thst are mentioned on the website, touch on the poor people and vulnerability. Well, most of those poor people were people who were non-white. Even on the topic of Innocence and Error, it was stated that 87% of exonerees who were put on death row experienced official misconduct. They then compared the white exonerees, which made up 67%. Another reason why I made this decision, is the ratio within the population. Under the Racial Bias section, it connects America’s history of lynchings to the executions (starting in the 1910’s, when they began to surpass lynching rates) trend, which would continue to lead on in the future. The article stated that by 1950, the black population in the South decreased, but then went on to say that the majority of those executed in that area were people of color.
Despite the government and court’s efforts to suppress the amount of lynchings and executions, the trend still pushed forward, but the efforts were actually fake. Instead of efforts to suppress, these were more of efforts to cover up what was going, all for the sake of the country’s image. Instead of truly fixing these problems in our country to better our image, we put on makeup. As stated in the text and by the court, the racial discrimination and bias is inevitable, and they gave insights on the all white courtrooms and the fact that it’s 17 times more likely that one is executed for killing a white person rather than killing a person of color.
My view on the death penalty has never really been a strong one. I don’t really think about it a lot, so I’m not sure if this is really something I stand by, but I have thought before, and everytime the topic comes, that a life in prison is almost worse than the death penalty. After reading the article, I still feel the same way, but now I think that I might fully agree that the whole institution should just be torn down.
I currently think that the biggest issue with the death penalty is with the lawyers.
that are given to death penalty subjects. The lawyers that are given to death penalty subjects are are underpayed and overworked. The lawyers could also be new to the job which doesn’t help. The lawyers also aren’t being paid by the subject so they may not feel much of a direct connection to the subject. Before watching the movie “Just Mercy”, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, or reading the article given to us, I was on the side for death penalty. When I was really little and first learned about the death penalty and “bad guys” I thought that bad people should get an equal punishment to what they commited. If they killed someone their life should be taken. I never took into consideration if they were falsely convicted or not, I thought that since the news said that they were somebody who has done something bad that it was true. As I grew up I realized that not everything the media says is one-hundred percent true and I’ve started to do my own research into subjects that interest me and that I want to know more about. After watching this movie and reading the article I realized that not all people deserve the death penalty. Some people have disabilities/mental issues and can’t one-hundred percent control their actions. Some people also are falsely convicted of the accused act. Although I believe in some circumstances that people should get the death sentence, depending on the severity, I think the death sentence is mostly wrong. This movie changed my views on the death penalty since I got to see what was actually happening in these death row inmates lives. The movie showed one inmate who was killed by the death sentence. He killed a woman by bombing her house. He had mental issues from the Vietnam war and was having serious mental breakdowns. Seeing his execution made me realize that he shouldn’t have been killed and that the death sentence was a horrible way to execute somebody.
⅔. My opinion on the death penalty has not changed I belive that if you kill people and you had control over what you were doing you deserve the death penality. Well if you have killed someone you didn’t just kill one person you affected the lives of all of their friends and family members. Now let’s say you are in some abandoned ally down town and someone trys to kill you but you kill them you would not get the death penalty becasue you were doing it in self defence. If you are charged with involuntary manslaughter you wouldn’t get the death penalty. now sence murder is unanmisly illigal captial punshiment should be dicied by the fedral government. Also if you come to the country and kill someone in cold blood you will be tried as an american and receive the death penalty. The reason I think killers should receive the death penalty is because once they get out of prision there is nothing stoping them from killing again. We can’t keep them in prison because it costs too much money to feed and house them for a long time.
1. The biggest problems with the death penalty is what you can be put on death row for. To be honest i don’t have that big of a problem with the death penalty but we should improve our justice system to help people who are less privligaed than others. They need better representation. We should hire more lawyers because trial lawyers often don’t have enough time to properly consult with their clients. I couldn’t squeeze 350 words out of this
I believe that the number one problem with the death penalty is innocence and error. The death penalty has been used for years as a way to punish the guilty. Over the years the death penalty has cost our Justice system millions. Besides the cost, it violates the right of life given to us by the Declaration of Independence, and punishes people who may be innocent, but didn’t receive a fair trial. The death penalty isn’t effective at reducing crime. Society is not any safer and it does not prevent people from breaking the law. There are many different options in our still very much broken criminal justice system to fight crime, but putting people to death when they could be innocent should not be one of them.
I despised the death penalty way before I saw the movie. I think that the reasoning behind it was the old saying: “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. Meaning that if you were, let’s say, convicted of murder, that you should be killed just because you made a mistake of killing someone else. No one should be killed just because of a single mistake that we make. We’re all human, and we make mistakes. But most importantly, we can learn from those mistakes and the lessons we learn can make us all better people. The death penalty takes away that last aspect. If someone is executed for a crime that they committed, they never have the chance to learn from their mistakes and become stronger in a mental aspect.
That being said, the movie made me hate it twice as much as I already did. Mostly because a lot of the death row and prison inmates were black. Coming into the movie, I thought that this would’ve taken place in the 50s or early 60s since it had something to do with racial profiling. The sad thing is, this event happened in 1989, 21 years after the Civil Rights Movement ended. The truth was that in 1989, we hadn’t gotten our heads screwed on straight and realized that we needed to treat all people as equal citizens and the justice system at the time really shows this.
i beleive the biggest issue with the death penalty is just taking away the basic human right of life. i don’t believe it is the right way to preserve the law nor keep it in order, innocent people are also commonly killed by capital punishment, it puts a brutal outlook onto the citizens as well. previous to the movie i did not like the death penalty but i was not aware of how intense it was and i didn’t know all the cruel details my opinion has defintely changed prior to seeing the movie because watching an innocent man being scared for his life because he was put on death row for being falsely accused was terrible and i can’t beleive people have to feel that way and watching the sweet old man die after he just needed help for his mental illness ptsd was terrible and the way people watched him die was sickening and awful i do not support capital punishment there are better ways to handle such things.