The system gets it wrong - "At least 189 people who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death have been exonerated since 1973. That is one person exonerated for every 8.2 people who are executed...The quality of counsel had a direct impact on sentencing outcomes. More than 200 death sentences were imposed in Philadelphia, PA in cases in which defendants were represented by poorly trained and underfunded court-appointed counsel. No one represented by the Philadelphia public defender's specialized homicide unit ever was sentenced to death."
The system is geographically biased - "Just 5 counties"Harris, TX; Dallas, TX; Bexar, TX; Tarrant, TX; and Oklahoma, OK"account for more than 1/5 of all executions in the U.S. in the past 50 years...Fewer than 2.4% of all counties in the U.S. (just 75 counties) account for half of all death sentences imposed in state courts in the past 50 years"
The system is racist - "60% of Black defendants who have been executed were sentenced to death for killing white victims. Just 34.4% of executions of African Americans were for killing Black victims."
deathpenaltyinfo.org
In PA "over 60% of all death sentences imposed in the state have been overturned by state or federal courts. If the pool of sentences is restricted to those that have completed all of their ordinary appeals, the state reversal rate has been over 90%"
deathpenaltyinfo.org
NC "Sixty-seven percent of all death sentences imposed in the modern era in North Carolina have subsequently been overturned on appeal."
fbaum.unc.edu
In Louisiana 82% of their resolved death sentences ended with a reversal.
www.sulc.edu
