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Prisoners on death row are isolated for years as their cases go through the courts. You need to be aware of more death row information. This procedure can take decades while courts search for suppliers of pharmaceuticals for lethal injection and supporters launch legal challenges.
It’s A Cruel Punishment
Men and women spend at least 23 hours a day locked alone in their cells on death row, knowing they will be executed someday. That is a hell that devastates everyone involved: the victim’s family, the prisoner and their loved ones, their attorneys, friends, and corrections officials.
Prison officials admit that prolonged solitary confinement on death row can cause severe psychological damage, including agitation, psychosis, and delusions. It has been shown to destroy a prisoner’s ability to think clearly and make decisions, thus making them more likely to become dangerous to others.
In the US, death row inmates are isolated for 23 hours a day, only allowed to leave their cell for medical reasons, exercise, showering, and legal or social visits. This solitary confinement has been found to trigger mental health issues and is known as death row syndrome.
The isolation exacerbates the trauma of awaiting execution, which is itself brutal. Prisoners are subjected to long delays before their sentence is carried out, with the average time spent on death row being 11 years. This is largely due to incompetent representation at trial and on appeal, with almost 90 percent of death-row inmates having had less than excellent legal counsel. This means they are less likely to have their conviction overturned if they are later exonerated. Moreover, that is a frequent occurrence – an alarming statistic that exposes how flawed our justice system is and why it should not be trusted with handing out the death penalty.
It’s A Waste of Money
While pro-death penalty advocates argue that executing criminals costs less than giving them life in prison, studies show that the opposite is true. One study conducted by Susquehanna University found that, on average, a death row inmate costs the state more than a general population inmate. In the United States, there are currently 2,500 people on death row, and only a small percentage are executed each year due to the lengthy appeals process. This makes the death penalty a significant waste of taxpayer money.
Moreover, the death penalty is an inefficient deterrent to violent crime. The number of homicides committed yearly remains roughly the same whether or not capital punishment is in effect. Furthermore, studies have shown that only a tiny fraction of convicted murderers are sentenced to die. This group skews towards poor, black defendants who kill white victims. Additionally, many of these killers are mentally ill. Psychiatrists employed by the prosecution determine whether or not these individuals are fit for execution, but these assessments are made with very limited contact with each defendant.
As a result, the conditions for those on death row can be particularly harsh and dehumanizing. These inmates are isolated for 23 hours a day without access to training or educational programs, recreational activities, or regular visits from family and friends. This isolation has been shown to cause psychological harm, including agitation, paranoia, and self-destructive behavior.
It’s A Waste of Life
People on death row are locked up 23 hours a day without access to training or educational programs, recreational activities, or even social or legal visits. This confinement has been shown to cause severe mental distress, including agitation, paranoia, delusions, and self-destructive behavior. Moreover, this kind of isolation is inhumane and can make these prisoners dangerous to others and threaten public safety.
Pursuing capital punishment is more expensive than simply holding someone in prison. The reason is that death penalty trials require more attorneys with more experience, which results in lengthy appeals that clog the courts. These costs are then inflated further because most death penalty cases do not result in an execution.
Gender and socioeconomic class are also factors in who receives a death sentence. Women are executed at a lower rate than men, and poor people — particularly members of racial minorities — are more likely to be denied adequate representation by incompetent or lazy lawyers.
As a result of all these issues, there is no credible evidence that the death penalty serves its purpose of deterring murder or making us any safer. In addition, the number of people exonerated from death row is increasing rapidly. As a result, it is far better to spend money on other ways of keeping the community safe than on the unnecessary cruelty of executing innocent people.
It’s A Violation of the Eighth Amendment
Inmates on death row are housed in a special area of a prison. They are served three meals a day at 5:00 am, 10:30 am, and 4:30 pm; they eat in their cells except for lunch, when they dine in the prison dining hall with the general population. Offenders have access to the same counseling services and chaplains available to other offenders in maximum security. They may also attend Sunday and Friday religious services and one-hour Bible study classes each Tuesday morning.
The Supreme Court, in a case known as Furman v. Georgia, ruled that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment because it is too arbitrary (poor and minority defendants are more likely to get a death sentence than rich, white ones). In addition, the justices ruled that lengthy stays on death row – like those that occur when cases go through the appeals process – are unconstitutional.
