he death sentence is used, the more itbecomes unusual, thus coming in conflict with the eighth amendment. This is essentially aparadox, in which the less the death penalty is used, the less society can legally use it. The endresult is a punishment that ceases to deter any crime at all. The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death -- something which is rather permanentfor humans, due to the concept of mortality. This creates a major problem when therecontinue to be many instances of innocent people being sentenced to death.(Tabak 38) In ourlegal system, there exist numerous ways in which justice might be poorly served for a recipient ofthe death sentence. Foremost is in the handling of his own defense counsel. In the event that adefendant is without counsel, a lawyer will be provided. Attorneys appointed to representindigent capital defendants frequently lack the qualities necessary to provide a competent defenseand sometimes have exhibited such poor character that they have subsequently beendisbarred.(Tabak 37). With payment caps or court determined sums of, for example, $5 an hour,there is not much incentive for a lawyer to spend a great deal of time representing a capitaldefendant. When you compare this to the prosecution, aided by the police, other lawenforcement agencies, crime labs, state mental hospitals, various other scientific resources,prosecutors experienced in successfully handling capital cases, compulsory process, and grandjuries(Tabak 37), the defense that the court appointed counsel can offer is puny. If, in fact, adefendant has a valid case to offer, what chance has he to offer it and have it properly recognized.Furthermore, why should he be punished for a misjustice that was created by the court itself whenit appointed the incapable lawyer.Even if a defendant has proper legal counsel, there is still the matter of impartiality of judges.The Supreme Court has steadily reduced the availability of habeas cor...
