Death Penalty Case Analysis

Words: 779
Pages: 4

One of the main reasons inmates are so old on death row, is because of the appeals process. It takes on average about three year for a person sentenced to death to be assigned special counsel by the state. The reason it takes so long is because the state cannot allow any public defender to handle the appeals of a person sentenced to death. The attorney must specialize in death penalties cases, and any defense attorney that has the desired qualifications and experience is not cheap. Additionally, specialized death penalty attorneys are not free and they are not easy to find. Furthermore, when taking on a case that someone’s life is on the line, the people must be 100% sure that the correct person is the one receiving the sentence. In recent …show more content…
James Hardy spent 35 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, and he was not the only one. In 2016 the 9th circuit court of appeals overturned two death penalty cases, and affirmed one other one. However, the Hardy case alone shows the ineffectiveness of the death penalty, and how it labeled an innocent man a murderer for 35 years. The state of California made Mr. Hardy spend a standard life sentence, plus ten years, because his defense attorney failed to adequately do his or her job to the best of their ability. This one case calls into question as to how many innocent people have been put to death, but were in fact innocent? In a way, the criminal justice system to the life away from Mr. Hardy, because even though he is released from prison, he does not have any skills that will land him a job, because he was in prison for the most of his …show more content…
Every year that the death penalty is on the ballot, the people vote to keep utilizing the death penalty. However, when California starts carrying out sentences, Californians get upset and in turn disapprove the death penalty. Currently California has halted all executions. The use of capital punishment has been challenged citing the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment. The argument is being herd because of the length of time inmates spend waiting on appeals or on their day to pay their debt to society. As well as it being deemed as an outdated form of punishment. Many states within the United States have abolished the death penalty