DONNA NAJAFI: Capital Punishment: How Two Wrongs Do Not Make a Right

On this week's edition of IT'S TIME WE FACE IT, Donna Najafi takes over to talk about Capital Punishment and it unjustifications. This incredibly composed article, shows the true impact of the death penalty and repurcussions it holds.

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2020 has been a year like no other in many different ways. Not only has this year been the first with a global pandemic, but after a seventeen-year break from the federal executions, the Trump administration has restarted federal executions of inmates. The death penalty, what is it? In short, it is the legalized murder of prisoners. It has been proven biased by targeting more vulnerable people. Factors such as wealth and race take great tolls on the final decision. Not only that, but in 1972, it had been justified that capital punishment proves as cruel and unusual punishment against humanity. The killing of inmates demonstrates revenge instead of justice.

It is common knowledge that prejudice exists in our world. What is shocking is how even our justice systems are vitiated with racism and prejudices towards poverty. There is a clear bias shown in executions depending on whether the defendant is colored or not. Nancy Haydt, an executive director of Death Penalty Focus (a national organization working to abolish the death penalty) points out that in Los Angeles County, 305 people have been sentenced to death. Out of this, 44% were Black. The African American population in Los Angeles is only 9.8%. The facts are inevitable: our justice systems are infected. In this state of vulnerability, with your life on the line, by being a person of color, you are less likely to be given an impartial trial. There is no deficit of poverty in today’s world. Over six hundred eighty-nine million people are living on less than a dollar and ninety cents a day. When it comes to being on trial, 95% of the convicts on death row come from impoverished backgrounds. In this corrupt world, where bribes and payoffs rule society, being poor causes greater vulnerability due to the lack of connections to powerful allies and influential acquaintances. Without the capability to attain the resources for a fair and proper trial, those who are poverty-stricken are given the challenging process of finding adequate defense as well as facing the biases of the justice system.

Capital punishment does not show justice, but emphasize the injustices in today’s world. By directing vulnerable people, our justice system incapacitates the minorities. The bottom line is that the killing of convicts is wrong in every way. This kind of justified revenge should not be present in our world.