The Death Penalty, Inaccurately Supported :: Argumentative Persuasive Papers

The Death Penalty, Inaccurately Supported Tommy, sixteen, poor, and mentally retarded constantly found himself being teased and hit by the town bully. He never knew what to do, he would always just look down at the ground and allow himself to get beat up. One day his friend told him that if the bully teased him again he should defend himself and hit him back. The following day, as usual, the bully started to make fun of him and to throw punches at him, afraid and not knowing what to do, Tommy began to hit the bully back. Once he noticed that the bully was afraid and that he had stopped hitting him Tommy, unable to control his actions, continued to beat the nineteen-year-old bully until he fell on the floor and lay motionless. In trial, Tommy’s jobless mom was unable to pay for an attorney so the state provided him with one who could care less about what happened in the case. Tommy received a sentence to death row. Now confused as ever he awaits the day when someone will put him to death by lethal injection. E ven though Tommy’s mental handicap doesn’t allow him to understand what he’s done, he will be executed for his actions. Not only do many states allow the execution of the mentally retarded, but they are also likely to send the poor and mentally ill to death row quicker than the rich <http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/>. Aside from being biased, the death penalty is an expensive, cruel, and ineffective deterrent to crime. Many of today’s executions are based on society’s prejudices. "It is.†¦ believed that we have a system where race and wealth are often more of a determinant of punishment than the brutality or evil motive of the criminal, a system driven by revenge and politics much more than by justice or fairness." <ohio.net> Although only 12 percent of America’s population is composed of African- Americans, they make up 50 percent of prison population and 40 percent of death row’s population. <www.lclark.edu/> Because of generalizations made by society, "a black man is ten to twelve times more likely to receive the death penalty than a white man even if the same crimes were committed." <www.people.virginia> Aside from being racially biased, capital punishment is also prejudice against the poor. Those who are on trial and cannot afford to pay for an attorney are provided with one by the court.