The Death Penalty is the state santioned killing of an individual as punihment for a crime. The practice of capital punishment began with the passage of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The text states that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.” This implies that Capital Punishment willnot be carried out unless the accused are indicted by a jury of their peers. However, for centuries, a jury of one’s peers meant all white people.

The United States Supreme Court took a stand against the death penalty in the case of Furman v. Georgia in 1972 (Source) . In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the imposition of the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment and this violated the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Source). That victory only lasted for 4 years. Since then 35 states, including Georgia, changed their death penalty criteria and sentencing guidelines through practices such as separating trials into two with one determining guilt and the other for sentencing and taking into account a defendants prior criminal record (Source). In the case of Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, consolidated with the cases of Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty does not automatically constitue cruel and unusual punishment as Georgia’s system was considered “judicious” and “careful” (Source).

Since then, 27 States now have the death penalty as a legal statute while only 22 do not (Source). Contrary to the belief of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Gregg v. Georgia, the application of the death penalty violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by applying it randomly and most to Black Americans. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, death row prisoners are made up of 41% of Black people despite only making up 13.4% of the overall U.S. population compared to just 42% of white people who make up 76.3% of the population as stated by the U.S. Census Bureau (Source). The Death Penalty is mostly applied to the people of color according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice (Source). The American Civil Liberties Union outlines just unconstitutional the Death Penalty is (Source) :

• Denies due process of law: inability of individuals to benefit from new evidence or laws that could reverse convictions.
• The Death Penalty does not deter crime and is ranked as the least effective crime deterent according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
• The Death Penalty is ten times more expensive than other non-death penalty cases which is paid for by increasing taxes and cuttong services to citizens according to the Equal Justice USA.
• The capital punishment has a shocking rate of mistake as at least one person is exonerated for every 10 people that are executed according to the ACLU.

Abolishing the death penalty would move the United States into the modern era with the rest of the developed world. The U.S. is the only developed nation worldwide to still practice the death penalty and its abolishment would prevent its discriminatory and racist implementation. 

Recap 

• The Death Penalty is racist and applied mostly to people of color, especially Black Americans. 
• The Death Penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violates the due process clause by preventing the discover of new evidence and exoneration.
• The capital punishment has a shocking rate of mistake as at least one person is exonerated for every 10 people that are executed according to the ACLU.
• The U.S. is the only developed nation in the world to still practice the death penalty.

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Citations:

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/69-5030

https://billofrightsinstitute.org/e-lessons/gregg-v-georgia-1976

https://law.jrank.org/pages/23537/Gregg-v-Georgia-Significance.html

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/74-6257 
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/dag/legacy/2000/09/13/_dp_survey_final.pdf

https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty