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Thesis- Prisoners being tortured and sentenced to death by the court of law is the biggest intrusion on human rights in America today.First Claim- Many people that are sentenced to death by law are wrongfully convicted.Evidence- The Huffington Post writes, “A key reason why all wrongly convicted defendants are not vindicated is that many win appeals reducing their sentences of death to life in prison. After that, proving their innocence is not as vigorously pursued, the authors argued”(McLaughlin).Interpretation/ Transition- Though the reasoning behind why these mistakes occur are more understandable than inhumane and cruel, the fact of the matter is that these mistakes cost some innocent inmates their lives. Many people might be stunned to know just how many lives have been lost needlessly as a result of this human rights violation. Evidence-Further evidence from the same Huffington Post article gives clarity to this disparity: “...four authors reviewed the outcomes of the 7,482 death sentences handed down from 1973 to 2004. Of that group, 117, or 1.6 percent, were exonerated. But with enough time and resources, the authors concluded that at least 4.1 percent of death row inmates would have been exonerated. In other words, more than 200 other prisoners would have been cleared during those three decades”(McLaughlin).Interpretation-The authors from the article provides us with the reality that the justice system is not nearly as perfect as some would assume. Due to the mistakes of court, over 200 inmates on death row that were executed, were later found out to be innocent. The article makes one ponder if it should be acceptable to conflict the ultimate judgement on someone when the judgement itself can be flawed. Something with as many flaws as a human being should not have control over something as important as the life of another human being. Closure Statement- Court rulings for capital punishment are significantly flawed when it comes to accurately judging the suspect of being guilty or innocent, making this already human rights issue even more of a concern. Second Claim- The death penalty contains a significant amount of racial disparity.Evidence- ___________________________________ “... murders involving white victims were more likely to be upgraded [when a prosecutor charges the suspect of a homicide related felony when it was not mentioned in the police report] than murders involving black victims. All of this makes perfect sense. If the system is biased toward punishing those who murder whites, it is implausible indeed that decisions leading up to sentencing are made with strict racial fairness, and only the imposition of a death sentence is racially biased” (McAdams)Evidence- ________________________________________ “...blacks constitute under 13% of the American population, they make up 42% of the over 3500 inmates on the states' death rows” (Friedman) ................
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