The Death Penalty

The death penalty has been a debate not only in Texas, but throughout our nation for many years. In this commentary written by Rudy Apodaca,  who is a former attorney of 22 years as well as a former judge of 14 years, he states and supports his position on eliminating the death penalty. As I stated in my profile I am in favor of the death penalty, but it is not my wish to see innocent people executed. Rudy argues that many people who are convicted and put on death row are later discovered to be innocent, though sometimes the discovery is too late, and they have already been put to death. Rudy's intended audience for this piece is those who favor the death penalty, and his argument is quite strong. He writes, "Since 1973, at least 138 people from 26 states have been released from death row based on evidence of their wrongful convictions", which is an astonishing statistic. Although it is heart-breaking to know that innocent people are put to death after being wrongfully convicted (showing that our judicial system is undoubtedly flawed), I still believe that any person who takes the life of another does not deserve to have a life of their own. The flaw does not lie in the death penalty, but in our judicial system. The system needs to be reformed instead of the death penalty, and when that is accomplished the anti-death penalty believers will have little to no argument on the subject.