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"My primary reason for being against capital punishment is because of my religious

beliefs.

In my opinion majority of the justice system laws are what man deem as necessary and

its not right nor does it go according to the bible."

Without your specific religious beliefs being stated, I will work under the assumption of Christianity, with

an assumption your faith is guided by the common King James version Bible. Capital Punishment is a

very ancient punishment, it can be found in passages such as Exodus 21, Leviticus 24 (and many other

passages in Leviticus). Many book's (NIV, NRSV) write the common phrase "Thou shall not kill" as "Thou

shall not murder", obviously these two words have very separate meanings. So I propose a question to

you; if a Christian were to abide by the bible, how does one protest the existence and ordering of the

death penalty? If is clearly -- and undeniably, commanded by "God" to utilize death as punishment in

numerous instances.

"The fact is you may be killing an innocent person and now days you have wrongfully

accused people going to jail and even getting the death penalty for something they

didnt do."

Innocent people are rarely sent to death row. Just over 6% of the innocence project's 254 exonerations,

or seventeen people total, have been prisoners on death row. Looking at the overall picture and utilizing

those seventeen prisoners, we are able to determine, if those people were released in one current year,

that it would only equate to roughly .5% of the death row prison population being innocent -- while

convicted guilty. However, all the inmates were not released in one year; they were exonerated over a

longer period of time dating back to 1989. Since 1989 seventeen people have been released from death

row, which equates to .8 persons per year. Utilizing one person a year, for simple figures, there are

statistically 3/10000 people on death row who are innocent and should not be sitting inside of a

correctional facility. Given the costs, effort, and procedures of our courts, I hardly find this to be an

unacceptable number of innocent persons. While we should expect and hope that no innocent person issent to jail, we do know that evidence has been provided, during the defendant's trial, in order to convict

the offender beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the goal of our legal system. If every case had to be

tried with a full 100 % certainty, our jails would be similarly populated to places like Antarctica, barren and

empty.

"Merely a persons life in left up to the hand of the jury pretty much and ever person on

the jury stand may be not be have their own beliefs whether the person maybe guilty

right or wrong."

The person's life is held up by a minimum of twelve jurors, as directed by 170 U.S. 343 (1898). That is

twelve personal opinions that must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt for a defendant to have a

guilty verdict. However, just one opinion needs to be persuaded in opposition in order to hang. Jury's

must take all the evidence in and determine if there were any mitigating circumstances that could warrant

a penalty, see Mills v. Maryland 486 US 367 - (1988). We also bifurcate many criminal trials in order to

provide fair and reasonable decisions whether or not someone deserves the death penalty.

"For example if a person receives the death penalty they nay not have the time to reflect

on what they have done. Who are we/man to say that a person may not change?"

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According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average time a person spent from sentencing to

execution was 153 months, nearly thirteen years. This time seems quite sufficient for a person to sit back,

analyze, and reflect upon the actions he or she committed prior to an abrupt end to their life, death by

execution. Rehabilitation is quickly becoming an afterthought of the criminal justice system. This can be

seen by a reduction in support activities, facilities, and employees assigned to the correctional system.

With a focus on retribution, incapacitation, and deterrence the justice system is not essentially concerned

with whether or not a criminal "feels" remorse for what they have done or if they will change.

Rehabilitation however, is an upfront goal for those criminals who have been proven not-guilty for reasons

like insanity, age, or different syndromes.

"His point is easy to misunderstand. He refers to 15% of the population of Georgia being

black males. That is about 30% of the total population is black. But they are over-

represented on death row: 30% of the general population makes up 50% of the

population of death row. He continued: "The poor are rigidly prosecuted but poorly

defended...capital punishment is for people who have no capital...Poor defendants are

represented by lawyers who are paid meager fees and spend an average of two dayson the case."

Firstly, no capital punishment case, has only received two days of review. Lawyers spend a significant

amount of time on cases, even if it's the district attorney or public defender. While money can buy a good

lawyer, whether or not you're White, Black, Asian, or Mexican if you don't have the money, you don't have

the money.

In reference to the over representation of black Americans on death row, I believe reasons for this

misunderstanding can be found within statistical data. Trend analysis shows that homicide and other

violent crime is significantly more common in areas with lower economic classes (1). Referring to Census

Bureau data from 2004 (2) and following the Dennis Gilbert Class Model, one can determine that 37% ofthe white population falls within the lower 2/5ths of income, while the black population provides a 56%

percent of population in the lower 2/5ths from this census's sample size. Therefore, it is safe to infer that a

larger percentage of Black Americans are living within the limits of poverty, thus making them more likely

to commit violent crime.

Reporting rates of crime and arrest rates of black offenders do not support the suggestions of police bias

and unfair treatment to minorities. In most crimes, with the exception of rape and sexual assault, police

have arrested fewer black Americans than the amount that were reported for committing the crime (3). In

2002, the Bureau of Justice Statistics calculated the ethnicity of murderers and ranked their percentages.

To say that black Americans are targeted, profiled, and discriminated against I believe is an unfounded

statement with little support. White and Hispanic Americans (W&H) were responsible for roughly 47% of

the overall murders in 2002, while an astoundingly larger portion of black Americans filled in the other half

at 51% (4); it's pretty clear why they are "over represented" on death row -- based on arrest records, they

kill more.

I will however, agree with you on one disadvantage; crimes committed by black Americans are reported

more often, then those committed by white males. The only problem though, is since a large majority of

these crimes being committed by black Americans are serious felony offenses, many times involving

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weapons, they are reported more often. People should really focus on contributing factors instead of

making excuses. People must focus on the betterment of their society, their families, and themselves. We

can strive to improve conditions not only for ourselves, but for those around us who we interact with on a

daily basis. Through education, hard work, and mutual respect much can be accomplished.

References:

(1) Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America

New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law Series

(2) http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new05_000.htm

(3) The Color of Crime, 2005 New Century Foundation

(4) BJS, "Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Trends by Race"