23rd Annual Bill of Rights
Art and Essay Contest, 2006-2007

for Students in Grades 7 through 12

TOPIC: Should we stop the death penalty?

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES:

Liberty and Equal Protection: The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says "No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Due Process of Law: The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says "No state shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution says, "Cruel and Unusual Punishment shall not be inflicted."

THE QUESTION:

Should the death penalty be abolished because of the risk of executing innocent persons? Or because of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, or economic status? Or because people convicted have not had a fair trial in light of new technology? Or is the death penalty an appropriate punishment for serious crimes and a deterrent of criminal behavior?

BACKGROUND:

Those who support the death penalty say that it deters violent crime and permanently protects society from the worst criminal behavior. They also maintain that the death penalty provides closure for the families of victims and results in just punishment for heinous crimes.

The death penalty has withstood court challenges in the past. Now there is a new call for a moratorium, or temporary stopping of the death penalty for three reasons:

1. There is a risk of executing innocent persons, especially in light of new technology such as DNA evidence that has proven the innocence of at least six people who were wrongfully convicted and given the death penalty.

2. There may be discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, geography, or economic status in imposing the death penalty as shown by the kinds of people sentenced to death compared to the population and to the people convicted of similar crimes.

3. Unfair and unreliable death sentences have been caused by unfair trials or lack of financial ability to present evidence based on new technology such as DNA evidence.

Since 1973, 123 people in 25 different states have been released from death row because of evidence of their innocence. Since the death penalty was reinstated in California in 1977, at least 6 of those convicted of capital murder were freed after they were found to be wrongfully convicted. Numerous others have had their death sentences reversed due to prosecutorial or judicial misconduct or ineffective assistance by defense counsel. The Governor of Illinois enacted a moratorium, or temporary stopping, of the death penalty and commuted the sentences of all of the state's death row inmates after 13 condemned individuals were exonerated and released from death row. Many state and local governments have called for a moratorium on executions because of the risk of executing innocent people and because of the evidence of discrimination against those sentenced. The International Criminal Court and many countries throughout the world do not impose the death penalty.

Does the death penalty violate the constitutional right to equal protection of the law, or due process? Should the death penalty be stopped or abolished?

For Cases and Statutes see:

• www.findlaw.com/casecode/
• www.supremecourtus.gov/

Anti-death penalty websites:

• www.aclu.org/capital/
• www.aclunc.org/deathpenalty/
• www.deathpenaltyfocus.org/

Pro-death penalty websites:

• www.prodeathpenalty.com/
• www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html