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I think both sides did well and that it made me realize that the death penalty may not be going anywhere for a while, but that the death penalty is more complicated then what it seems. I'm not sure where I stand with the Death Penalty but I know that some people like and that it does help the victims family move on knowing the person is gone, but at the same time the persons death doesn't bring back their loved one. I also realized how money and race play a huge role in the death penalty and that in order to overcome this there needs to be a lot of changes, but nothing is going to be perfect because there will some how always be flaw. I think in the end everyone should respect the stances of each person on the death penalty even though they may not agree. I think both sides of the debate did well but I think the yes side should have focused more on the money and race aspect rather than the innocence factor because the No side did really well on taking down that argu

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The ACLU is a organization that fights for people's rights and different kinds of rights. They oppose the the Death Penalty because in the written page they wrote that it is racially biss and also economically bias because people who have many are able to avoid the death penalty because they have the money, which lead to racial inequality because usually people of color don't come from financially well place where they can afford the good lawyer and keep them. The people with money get off even if their crime os worse than another persons crime. Also it takes a lot of tax paye money which is pointless because the death penalty doesn't deter violent acts of crime or crime in general. They also say it goes against peoples civil rights such as the 8th amendment which protects from cruel and unusual punishment.
“The Case Against the Death Penalty.” American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty.

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The NACDP is the National Coalition to abolish the death penalty. On the page they wrote about racial bias and they stated more people of color were sentenced to death penalty. The article writes that bias and prejudice should lead the decisions made by the judicial system and not let them guide people to to putting on death row based on their color. The article also states the using racial bias was allowed it was stated in a court case McClesky vs. Kemp in 1987 that the pattern of racial disparities did not violate the right of "equal protection". It show how people want to progress but yet we allow our racial biases tell us what to do and decided the fate of someone else. it also shows that people still have white privilege because more often African Americans and people of different minorities will be sent to jail on sit on death row.
“Racial Bias.” Racial Bias | National Coalition To, www.ncadp.org/pages/racial-bias.

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"Even under the most sophisticated death penalty statutes, race continues to play a major role in determining who shall live and who shall die."

- Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun

Race is a Significant Factor in the Death Penalty

As a society we cannot change the past, but we can act to transform our future. Studies spanning more than 30 years, covering virtually every state that uses capital punishment, have found that race is a significant factor in death penalty cases.

As Justice Harry Blackmun explained in his 1994 dissent from the court's refusal to hear the death penalty case Callins v. Collins, it should not surprise us that "the biases and prejudices that infect society generally influence the determination of who is sentenced to death, even within the narrower pool of death eligible defendants selected according to objective standards."

The burdens and failures of the United States justice system fall most heavily and unfairly on communities of color.

There must be a fundamental change in the system. The lynchpin for that change is ending capital punishment.

Do We Have a Criminal Justice System Designed to Keep Us Safe?

Our broken justice system begins with an approach to policing that disproportionately targets communities of color. Such focused attention by law enforcement has resulted in 60% of our prison population being comprised of people of color who receive longer sentences than their white counterparts. Finally, it ends with the ultimate and most disturbing of all of its disparities - unequal death penalty sentencing.

What is clear is that the current system is broken and the burdens of its failures fall most heavily and unfairly on communities of color.

Death by Discrimination

Racial prejudice plays a significant role in the application of the death penalty in America, and capital punishment is used disproportionately against people of color. Although this idea is unfathomable to many Americans, the abhorrent practice is explicitly permitted by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in the 1987 case McClesky vs. Kemp that a pattern of racial disparities in the death penalty did not violate an individual's Constitutional right of "equal protection of the law."

Jury Selection

While the Constitution entitles capital defendants to a fair jury of their peers, too often fair jurors are excluded because of race. In some instances, unfair prosecutors intentionally exclude jurors based on their race because of a false belief that people of color cannot fairly serve as jurors and follow the law. Although the Constitution prohibits such intentional discrimination based on race, the courts have been lax in their enforcement, and procedural barriers too often prevent claims of bias from being heard.

In other instances, seemingly neutral practices that permit prosecutors to exclude people who have concerns about the death penalty but who, in actuality can still be fair jurors, results in the over-selection of racially biased jurors. People of color, women and people of faith tend to have concerns about the death penalty and the jury selection process known as "death qualification" has a disproportionate racial impact-excluding qualified people from serving as jurors.

Race of the Victim

Time and again, studies have shown that the death penalty is sought more often against people who kill white victims than African American or Hispanic victims.

Race and Innocence

A variety of racial issues combine to dramatically increase the risk of sentencing innocent people to death. For example, eyewitness identification, the leading cause of wrongful convictions, is even less reliable when the witness is identifying someone of a different race.

In 2000, A Broken System, a landmark study on the capital justice system by researchers at Columbia University, found that "when whites and other influential citizens feel threatened by homicide, they put pressure on officials to punish as many criminals as severely as possible, with the result that mistakes are made, and a lot of people are initially sentenced to death who are later found to have committed a lesser crime, or no crime at all... It is disturbing that race plays a role in the outcome of death penalty cases, whatever the reasons."

The death penalty is an arbitrary and discriminatory punishment that has no place in a country which prides itself on equal protection for all citizens under the law. Visit TAKE ACTION to lend your support.

Citations
Racial Bias|About Pages

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"Even under the most sophisticated death penalty statutes, race continues to play a major role in determining who shall live and who shall die." - Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun As a society we cannot change the past, but we can act to transform our future.

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‘Expedited Spree of Executions’ Faced Little Supreme Court Scrutiny

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‘Expedited Spree of Executions’ Faced Little Supreme Court Scrutiny

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This article talks about the debate of the death penalty and whether it should be allowed. It goes into depth about the Supreme court and Supreme Court judges feel about the death Penalty. They also give examples of liberal judges opposing the death penalty for elag reasons and racial reason. One Judge, Judge Breyer wrote in his dissent that the Death penalty might even be unconstitutional because it would be going against the 8th amendment who protect people from cruel and unusual punishment.

Liptak, Adam. “'Expedited Spree of Executions' Faced Little Supreme Court   Scrutiny.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/executions-death-penalty-supreme-court.html.

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The Death penalty should be abolished because it in some ways it violates the eighth amendment. The eighth amendment protects people from cruel or unusual. punishment. With the death penalty it also causes racial conflict because many who are put on death row are people who killed white people whereas there is few who are on death row for killing a minority and this causes people to feel as thought the justice system is not going be on their side if they part of minority groups. It also is about financial stability because many people who come from families of money are allowed to get the best lawyers to get them off the death penalty,but people who don't come from that background they don't have the chance and are given a lawyer who isn't very good. It then leads in race because statistically speaking people who get off from death penalty are often white where as the people who are put on the death penalty are often people of color. The victims also play a role in who gets the death penalty if a white man kills a another white man/women they may get off on life where as if a black man kills a white women they are likely to get the death penalty. If a white man kills a group of black women and men they still have chance to not even be put on death row. Race plays a huge factor and the judicial system is influenced by race then there shouldn't be capital punishment especially if it's going to let people off when they did a horrible crime. On top of this it takes a lot of money from the taxpayers because it is so expensive to have someone on death row and even then capital punishment doesn't deter people from committing acts of violence.