Critical Thinking Essay

Jessie De Alwis

Red Group

30 March 2020
 The Death Penalty is a government-sanctioned practice that allows a panel of judges to

implement a death sentence on a suspect of a crime. Due to the allowance of this brutal and

inhumane procedure, the lives of countless victims have been stolen, sometimes even by a

wrongful execution. Approximately 1517 men and women have been executed by the Death

Penalty since it was reinstated in the U.S. in the year 1976. “A new study believes [that] 1 in

every 25—or 4.1 percent” of convicts that are executed are killed for a crime that they did not

commit (Levy, 2014). It is imperative that the U.S. Federal Government takes the necessary steps

to abolish the Death Penalty, due to the fact that a convict could be wrongfully executed, the

penalty doesn’t necessarily decrease crime rates, and there is no humane way to kill someone.

A suspect can be wrongfully convicted of a crime due to a lack of evidence. If no further

evidence is found, then the convict is most likely accounted for as guilty and sentenced to the

Death Penalty, followed by an execution. There have been many cases, however, in which

additional evidence is found following the convict’s execution, showing proof of their innocence.

There is no way to tell exactly how many people that have been sentenced to the Death Penalty

may not have been guilty, but there are approximately seventeen cases that have particularly

strong evidence regarding convicts’ innocence. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by

lethal injection in Texas during the year 2004. Convicted in 1992, Willingham was sentenced to

the Death Penalty because he was thought to have murdered his children in a house fire in 1991.

One of the only pieces of evidence for this conviction was a testimony from “jailhouse snitch

Johnny E. Webb, a drug addict on psychiatric medication” (Death Penalty Information Center).

In his testimony, Webb claimed that Willingham confessed that he started the house fire to him

during Willingham’s prison sentence before he was put to death row. This, however, was a
premeditated false testimony; the prosecution bribed Webb in different ways and told him to

falsely expose Willingham: “Johnny Webb had been promised favorable treatment...in return for

testimony at Willingham’s trial” (Possley, 2017). Willingham’s misleading case caused his

execution on February 17, 2004, and almost everyone who had heard of the case was led to

believe that Willingham was guilty; however, in 2014 Webb later confessed that there was no

confession from Willingham, and he was, in fact, given favorable treatment by the prosecution

for false testimony in return. During the years after Willingham’s execution, numerous fire

experts concluded that there was no evidence that the house fire was deliberately set, showing

even more proof of Willingham’s innocence. After a multitude of discoveries behind

Willingham’s case to prove his innocence were made, countless people believed that he was, in

fact, falsely sentenced to the Death Penalty; there was no definite proof that Willingham was

guilty, and there were numerous pieces of evidence proving his innocence. Therefore,

Willingham was most likely innocent and wrongfully killed on death row. Brian Keith Terrell

was also a potentially innocent victim of an execution. Terrell was sentenced to death for an

accusation of robbing and murdering a 70-year old man named John Henry Watson. Terrell’s

lawyers claimed that there were no pieces of physical evidence to prove him as guilty of the

murder, and that false testimonies caused his sentence to death row. One testimony came from

Terrell’s cousin, Jermaine Johnson, who was later officially found to have lied in the testimony

to avoid personal punishment. Terrell’s lawyers also argued that prosecutors gave a false

testimony in which they said that a neighbor of Watson saw Terrell at the scene of the crime,

“when in fact [the neighbor] had told authorities that he was not the man she had seen” (Death

Penalty Information Center). At the scene, the footprints found near Watson’s body were smaller
than Terrell’s feet, and out of the thirteen fingerprints that investigators of the scene found, none

of them matched Terrell’s. Despite this, he faced three trials, the first ending in a mistrial due to

hesitancy of his guilt, the second resulting in a conviction that was soon overturned, and the third

producing a conviction and death sentence. He was killed on death row shortly after the third and

last trial. Terrell was likely innocent based on the numerous points proving his innocence;

however, the federal government put him on death row and executed him nonetheless.

There is little to no evidence supporting the claim that the Death Penalty reduces crime.

A plethora of studies regarding crime levels as a result of the Death Penalty have been

conducted, and numerous experts from studies of this sort have found no connection between

crime rates and capital punishment:

A survey of police chiefs nationwide found they rank the death penalty lowest among

ways to reduce violent crime. They ranked increasing the number of police officers,

reducing drug abuse, and creating a better economy with more jobs higher than the death

penalty as the best ways to reduce violence. The FBI has found the states with the death

penalty have the highest murder rates. (The American Civil Liberties Union, 1973)

The Death Penalty’s failure to prevent crime by permanently getting rid of malefactors shows its

ineffectiveness and unnecessary cruelty. The penalty is unable to complete its only goal, and

“has no deterrent effect,” (Amnesty International). Therefore, its abolition would serve as a

significant benefit.

A system of taking the lives of countless convicts as brutal as the Death Penalty is

anything but humane. There is no way to kill someone, whether or not they are a criminal, in a

good-natured manner. Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy, associate director of the University of Chicago's
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, states that, “‘it is always immoral and inhumane to

participate in an execution, even if it's done painlessly,’” (Grinberg, 2015). Immorality comes

with any execution, even if painless, as Grinberg said; however, some executions are not painless

like they are supposed to be. There have been countless examples of failed executions, resulting

in the suffering of the victim. Kenneth Williams, executed in the state of Arkansas, endured a

particularly terrifying execution through lethal injection in 2017. When someone is experiencing

a lethal injection, three things should occur to ensure a safe execution. The first drug in the

injection is an anesthetic that causes the initial unconsciousness. The second drug is what is

called a paralytic, stopping all of the victim’s movement. Finally, the third drug is potassium

chloride, stopping the heart of and killing the convict. This sequence of events was not what took

place in Williams’ case:

Williams did not lose consciousness after receiving the first drug. He struggled to breathe

while the sedative — known as ​midazolam ​— took effect. His ‘head began rocking

forward and back,’ and his chest ‘began convulsing up from the table,’ one witness said.

A minute later his ‘convulsions became more violent, and there was an audible groan of

pain.’ Four minutes after the start of the execution, Williams was ‘gasping for air’ and

appeared to be ‘repeatedly clenching and unclenching’ his jaw. (The Washington Post,

2011)

Botched executions create an extremely painful and agonizing experience for the victim.

Examples of careless executions like the one in Williams’ case portray the additional downsides

of the Death Penalty, not just the inhumanity of it.

practice does have its benefits. When a notorious criminal that kills or harasses numerous people

is put to death, they can no longer commit those crimes. Although the life of one criminal is

taken away, it greatly outweighs the number of lives that are saved as a result of their execution.

The Death Penalty can save lives; however, it saves lives at the cost of one.

The Death Penalty has the chance of saving lives, but whether or not an execution does, it

always costs the life of one person. The potential result of a group of people’s lives being

preserved is not worth the torture and horror that convicts go through during the execution

process; sometimes the lives of convicts are taken for no valid reason, due to misjudgment of the

crime and the wrong convict being sentenced to death row as a result. Due to the possibility of a

wrongful execution and the life of an innocent person being taken, the fact that the penalty

doesn’t have an effect on crime rates, and the utter cruelty and inhumanity of an execution, it

would be extremely beneficial to abolish the Death Penalty.

Levy, Pema. "ONE IN 25 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN THE U.S. IS INNOCENT, STUDY

CLAIMS." ​Newsweek​, 28 Apr. 2014, www.newsweek.com/

one-25-executed-us-innocent-study-claims-248889. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

"Executed But Possibly Innocent." ​Death Penalty Information Center​,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence/

executed-but-possibly-innocent#Carlton_Gary. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

Possley, Maurice. "Jury Clears the Prosecutor Who Sent Cameron Todd Willingham

to Death Row." ​The Marshall Project,​ 11 May 2017,

www.themarshallproject.org/2017/05/11/

jury-clears-the-prosecutor-who-sent-cameron-todd-willingham-to-death-row.

Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

"THE CASE AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY." ​American Civil Liberties Union,​

www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

"A Clear Scientific Consesus That The Death Penalty Does Not Deter." ​Amnesty

​International​, www.amnestyusa.org/

a-clear-scientific-consensus-that-the-death-penalty-does-not-deter/.

Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

execution." ​CNN,​ 15 Aug. 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/health/

death-row-stories-execution-methods/index.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

"The drugs we use for executions can cause immense pain and suffering." ​The

​Washington Post​, 11 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/

the-drugs-we-use-for-executions-can-cause-inhumane-pain-and-suffering/2017/05/11/

267478d0-359e-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

"Brian Keith Terrell." ​Murderpedia,​ murderpedia.org/male.T/t/

terrell-bryan-keith.htm. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This source provided me with

the small details of the crime that Brian Keith Terrell was accused of, but

additionally provides a long sequence of events leading up to his

execution.

"THE CASE AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY." ​American Civil Liberties Union,​

www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This

source provides evidence from a survey that proves that the Death Penalty

has no effect on crime rates.

"A Clear Scientific Consesus That The Death Penalty Does Not Deter." ​Amnesty

​International​, www.amnestyusa.org/

a-clear-scientific-consensus-that-the-death-penalty-does-not-deter/.

Accessed 17 Feb. 2020. This website displays concrete evidence that the

Death Penalty does not decrease crime.

"The drugs we use for executions can cause immense pain and suffering." ​The

​Washington Post​, 11 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/

the-drugs-we-use-for-executions-can-cause-inhumane-pain-and-suffering/2017/05/11/

267478d0-359e-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This

of Kenneth Williams.

"Executed But Possibly Innocent." ​Death Penalty Information Center​,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence/

executed-but-possibly-innocent#Carlton_Gary. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020. This

source provides numerous cases of convicts executed on death row, but were

later discovered to be potentially innocent based on countless pieces of

evidence.

"Executions Overview." ​Death Penalty Information Center​, deathpenaltyinfo.org/

executions/executions-overview. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This source gives

countless statistics about Death Penalty executions in different areas.

Grinberg, Emanuella. "Why experts say there's no such thing as 'humane'

execution." ​CNN,​ 15 Aug. 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/health/

death-row-stories-execution-methods/index.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This

source presents information on the immorality and cruelty of the Death

Penalty.

Levy, Pema. "ONE IN 25 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN THE U.S. IS INNOCENT, STUDY

CLAIMS." ​Newsweek​, 28 Apr. 2014, www.newsweek.com/

article provides a shocking statistic regarding wrongfully executed

convicts from the Death Penalty.

Possley, Maurice. "Jury Clears the Prosecutor Who Sent Cameron Todd Willingham

to Death Row." ​The Marshall Project,​ 11 May 2017,

www.themarshallproject.org/2017/05/11/

jury-clears-the-prosecutor-who-sent-cameron-todd-willingham-to-death-row.

Accessed 6 Apr. 2020. This source provides information on the false

testimony that killed Cameron Todd Willingham on death row.