Capitol punishment
...d of capitol crimes have been found innocent because of recent advancements in DNA testing. Sometimes people are forced into confessing crimes for which they did not commit, due to corrupt police or wrongful interrogation practices. This happens very frequently among juveniles and the mentally retarded. The U.S is one of the only countries to still execute the mentally retarded. People with schizophrenia and other mental disorders are still being executed in the U.S. The majority of people that have been convicted of capitol crimes have little or no education. Also, most of the people are from low income families and are very poor. Almost all the people who are on death row could not afford an attorney. Since they do not have the money to pay a good lawyer they have to settle for a public defender. These are lawyers that work for the state and are paid very low to defend criminals. They often times do a very poor job and they don’t defend their clients to the best of their abilities. However, the state usually puts their very best prosecutors on the case when they have a chance to get the death penalty. Some prosecutors use high profile cases to move up in the political world. In the U.S. constitution is says that every one is entitled to a fair and speedy trial. This is not always the case with death penalty trials. Judges sometimes try and send a message to the public and make an example of a high profile murder case, which is not a fair trial. This is one of the many reasons that it cost so much to have a capitol punishment trial. The death penalty costs more than it would if we just sentence people to life in prison. It is very expensive for a state to prosecute a death penalty case. There have been many studies on this subject and they all conclude it would be less expensive than life in prison. One study states that it costs North Carolina 2.16 million dollars more per execution than a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life in prison. However, not all states have the death penalty but most still do. Location can determine whether the death penalty is sought. Over eighty percent of executions occur in the South, while the northeast accounts for only one percent. The state with the most executions is Texas with three hundred and twenty three. This is an extraordinary number considering that Nevada has only ten. Even though the South executes more people than anywhere else it does not cut down on crime. The death penalty does not stop murders from happening. Despite having the highest number of executions, the So...