The Ethics of Capital Punishment

North Carolina Man Exonerated after Fifteen Years on Death Row
Glen Edward Chapman, who was given the death penalty for two 1992 murders, was released from death row after fifteen years of awaiting execution. In 2007 he was given a new trial, and in April 2008 prosecutors dropped all charges against him. He was granted a new trial on the basis of evidence that had been withheld, key documents that had been lost or destroyed, and false testimony by one of the investigators. New evidence came to light after the trial that suggested that one of the victim’s deaths may have been due to a drug overdose, not homicide. The trial court judge also cited Chapman’s inadequate legal representation—one of his attorneys had been disciplined by the North Carolina Bar Association for drinking during another capital trial. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Chapman was the 128th death row inmate to be exonerated since 1973.*

A further procedural concern is the way in which the death penalty is administered. The majority of convicted murderers who receive death sentences are minority men, particularly blacks and Hispanics, who come from the lower socioeconomic classes. Rarely do whites or middle-or upper-class individuals receive the death penalty, and even more rarely are women executed. It is true that minorit

Significantly, the cry for “justice” is most often made by surviving family members of the slain victim. In many of these cases, the family members have clearly confused justice with revenge, having little compassion for the person condemned to die. Putting someone to death cannot bring the victim back to life or compensate the family in any significant way. In reality this emphasis on “justice” is an expression of the primitive and uncivilized desire for revenge, which is inconsi