Many of you followed me here on Twitter during the fight to save #RodneyReed's life. Your advocacy and support made a huge difference – thank you! Rodney is one of many people fighting for their lives on death row. While not all people on death row are innocent, all are poor.
The Supreme Court has said that the death penalty should be reserved for only the very worst murders, but that’s not how it works (and how do you define “worst” anyway?). How it works is that the death penalty is reserved for the poor, especially when the victims are white.
You don’t see rich people on death row because their good lawyers either plea bargain or put significant resources into saving their clients’ lives. Poor people get the defense they can afford, and it's almost impossible to recover from terrible defense at trial.
Our death penalty system is broken beyond repair. How can we expect fallible humans to design a “fair” system that metes out death? Especially when our criminal justice system is built upon the bones of slavery and lynching.
The death penalty in the U.S. is not only riddled with racism, it’s also a fluke of geography. A tiny handful of counties hand out almost all death sentences. And those counties often have a track record of corruption or bias by prosecutors, crime labs, and police forces.
Some of you may still support the death penalty in theory or have some questions. Welcome to the conversation! My mission is to give you the information you need to reach an informed opinion about capital punishment. I look forward to talking with you more in the days ahead.
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