The Death Penalty in a World Where the Innocent are Sometimes Convicted

Abstract

In “The Death Penalty in a World Where the Innocent are Sometimes Convicted”, Professor Loewy explores the justifications for and reasons against capital punishment. He first argues that, given the amount of innocent people that are convicted, it is statistically likely that the United States has or will execute an innocent person. Loewy then explores capital punishment as it applies to those proven guilty and weighs the balance of the perceived advantages and disadvantages. Loewy finds the balance against capital punishment for those proven guilty, and he uses this conclusion to argue that since we live in a world where guilt is very often doubtful in some cases, the death penalty can definitely not be justified.

Keywords: capital punishment, death penalty, wrongful conviction

JEL Classification: K19