Eric Ruder

About the author: Eric Ruder is an editor of the International Socialist Review, a quarterly Marxist journal.

Both critics and supporters of the death penalty have grown increasingly concerned about the number of death row prisoners who have been found innocent of the crimes for which they were originally convicted. The likelihood that innocents could be executed has prompted several politicians and state legislatures to call for a suspension of capital punishment until the legal system can ensure its fair application. But the death penalty cannot be fixed; wrongful convictions and executions are part of a deeper problem in a criminal justice system that routinely discriminates on the basis of class and race. Those who oppose capital punishment should take advantage of the public's...