system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How come in the American justice system most prisoners on death row wait around 10-20 years for execution?

It doesn't make much sense to me.
gpt
The death penalty is irreversible.  If someone is wrongly convicted, you can let someone out of prison, but death is death.

So the legal system wants to be really, really sure...no one wants to be the judge who refused an appeal that would have saved an innocent man.  And so the accused is afforded every opportunity to not just prove his innocent, but to give mitigating circumstances for his guilt.  And a lot of time it works...two out of three death sentences are eventually overturned.

The other factor is, what's the hurry?  Even if the accused is guilty, he is still in prison.  One might argue that his death might give the victim's family closure, but the death penalty is about punishment and deterrence, not making people feel better.