Cherry 1

Morgan Cherry
Mr. Rogers
Government 3
October 19, 2015
A Faulty System
Cameron Todd Willingham, 35, was executed in 2004, accused of setting a fire that killed
all three of his daughters. But an overwhelming amount of evidence was uncovered that
concluded that he, in fact, did not set that fire. The death penalty, also known as capital
punishment, was originally intended to punish the guilty for heinous (capital) crimes and also to
deter others from committing similar crimes. Unfortunately, according to numerous studies, the
death penalty has fallen significantly short of meeting its goals. The specific offenses and
circumstances which determine if a crime (usually murder) is eligible for a death sentence are
defined by statute and are prescribed by Congress or any state legislature (Bureau of Justice).
Ever since the establishment of this law Capital punishment has been a huge controversy all
across the world. The death penalty has now been abolished in 19 out of the 50 states in the
United States. Abolishing the federal death penalty would save the U.S. money, resources, and
could help ensure that we arent wrongly punishing the innocent.
There are several reasons as to why the Federal death penalty is ineffective. One of those
aspects is the lengthy and cumbersome appeals process. Cases calling for the death penalty are
getting stuck in an inefficient and circuitous appellate process. Measuring from sentence to
execution, it takes more than twelve years to carry out fully reviewed and implemented death
sentences in the United States (NCJRS) .The court of appeals decision is normally the final
ruling so in order to be accurate judges and appellate lawyers analyze every part about the case

down to the last detail. Another reason for this lengthy process is that prisoners are not limited by
law to a certain number of appeals. On November 7, 2014, Bradley Winchell and Kermit
Alexander, whose mother, sister and two nephews were murdered by a condemned inmate, filed
a Petition for Writ of Mandate in Sacramento County Superior Court. They asserted that the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had abused its discretion, failed its duty
and violated their rights because of unnecessary delays (CDCR). This case is just one example
of the laws ineffectiveness prolonging the victims suffering. The result of the appellate process
being so long is that death row prisoners are waiting up to 20 years in prison on death row to
hear their new sentence. And whos paying for it? You guessed right. Its coming out of
taxpayers pockets.
By abolishing the Federal death penalty we can help make sure that the innocent are not
unjustly punished. When he was 19 years old, Darryl Hunt was arrested for the brutal rape and
murder of a Winston-Salem reporter. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. No
physical evidence linked Hunt to the crime. Ten years laterin 1994DNA testing cleared
Hunt, but he spent another 10 years in prison before being released (Appalachian State
University). Since the re-establishment of the death penalty, 123 people in 25 states have been
released from death row with evidence of their innocence (Battleground).
The death penalty is a significant cost to the United States judicial system with at best,
mediocre outcomes. Lets take a closer look at the costs incurred by defending a death penalty
case. The average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, as assessed by
Judge Arthur Alarcon and Prof. Paula Mitchell (2011, updated 2012) or about eight times that of
a federal murder case in which the death penalty is not sought. We currently have a law that is
highly ineffective, costs an absorptive amount of taxpayer money, and is anything but fool proof

when it comes to the guilty not the innocent being justifiably punished. Average total cost per
representation of a sample of cases in which the defendant was charged with an offense
punishable by death and the Attorney General did not authorize seeking the death penalty
$55,772 when the Attorney General did authorize seeking the death penalty costs were $218,112
(Spencer Report Update). A recent study shows that authorized cases ranged in cost from a
high of $1,788,246 to a low of $26,526 (Judicial Conference). Ever since the reinstatement of
the death penalty in 1972, California has executed a mere13 people. In fact, on average death
row inmates have been waiting in prison for 10 years and for some even 20 years. By keeping
these inmates on death row which is incarcerated persons who have been sentenced to death and
are awaiting execution (Bureau of Justice), we are spending money on a law that isnt working.
Many death row prisoners have been living the rest of their life in jail and dying of natural
causes. States must also come to terms with the fact that each execution can cost between $2.5
million and $5 million (Columbia Law School). Based on the $2.5 million dollar statistic would
cost California $8.5 billion dollars to resolve the current 746 cases.
Many people have come to believe that the death penalty is the answer to these heinous
crimes, but in reality, comparatively few are actually executed. Crime rates have not been
affected by this law at all. They are in an overwhelming number of cases, sitting in jail and
awaiting a death sentence that never comes. Additionally people argue that, in principle, it is
much cheaper to execute prisoners than to lock them up for life, or even for twenty or thirty year
prison sentences (Marquette Law Review). The death row inmates in general always cost more,
but by abolishing the federal death penalty we could avoid the costs of the appeal process. Death
row inmates would be just like all other inmates and the cost for all prisoners would be the same.
For decades, murder has been more common in states with capital punishment than in those

where it is not used. Historical data was analyzed from 1973 to 1984 showed that murder rates in
the states without the death penalty were consistently lower and averaged only 63% of the
corresponding rates in the states retaining it (Dartmouth).
By abolishing the federal death penalty we could save on average $170 million a year.
Not only is this law ineffective, but at year-end 2005, 339 inmates were under sentence of death
for 20 years or more. This is roughly ten percent of the death row population (339/3254 = .104)
(NCJRS). By abolishing the federal death penalty we could ensure the people of the U.S that a
better and new system will be set in place.

Works Cited
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<http://www.courts.ca.gov/12431.htm>.
Barak, Gregg. "Miscarriages of Justice." Battleground: Criminal Justice. Westport, CT:
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"Capital Punishment for Murder." Bmj 2.4839 (1997): 775-76. Dartmouth. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
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Appalachian State University, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://gjs.appstate.edu/social-justice-andhuman-rights/punishing-innocent>.

"PUBLICATIONS." NCJRS Abstract. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

<https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=259387>.
Rep. Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services at 162 (2010). Print.
Rep. Subcommittee at 61 (1998). Print.