The death penalty is a trite moral argument. Proponents of this murderous form of capital punishment are always proposing the same questions.
One such claim is that lethal injections are the cheapest form of justice, which is completely untrue. In most instances a capital court case incurs costs five to ten times that of life imprisonment.
As noted by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature four years ago, "Elimination of the death penalty would result in a net savings to the state of at least several tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." With the publicized budget deficits in California, one would think a moratorium on the death penalty would be a simple start to correcting the fiscal problems.
Others in favor of the death penalty say that the retaliation is necessary to keep crime statistics down; however academic studies prove to the contrary. The violence of capital punishment only perpetuates further violence.
Despite all these reasons to be against the death penalty, there should be only one major consideration: the death penalty is perverse. We should seek justice and not vengeance. It would be absurd to rape rapists, torture torturers, and resuscitate mass murders just to kill them repeatedly, yet this is exactly the prevailing attitude with the death penalty.
Regardless of the cruel and disgusting nature of capital punishment, it also must be permanently ended because innocent people are condemned to death. With recent accurate methods of DNA testing, over a hundred innocent people on death row have been exonerated. In Illinois half of all death row inmates were found to have never actually committed a crime. One can only wonder about the amount of innocent people killed by the government in our own names.
The list of reasons to be against the death penalty continues. The implemented practice is prejudicial and unfair. It is believed by many to include a racial bias, with studies revealing that African-Americans are far more likely in a particular situation to receive such a deadly sentence. Moreover criminals usually only receive death penalties for the murder of African-Americans.
It is absurd to think that such an important and final decision on the life of an individual should possess such biases.
Human rights are also ignored, since we are one of the only nations that executes its juvenile offenders. The only other countries that partake in such horrid acts are Congo, Pakistan, and Iran. These are governments run by dictators and warlords. These are governments that we compare to Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
Sigh. We are also one of the only countries that executes the mentally ill. According to CBS News, Thomas Provenzano thought he was Jesus Christ, but Florida executed him anyway in late 2000; “Under Florida law, condemned killers can be executed even if they are mentally ill unless they don't understand they are about to be executed.” Five other recent mentally ill people were executed in Texas, Alabama, and Missouri, according to Amnesty International. It’s cute, though, that such killings are deemed unconstitutional (Ford v Wainright, 1986), yet the states continue the cruel practice anyway.
Sigh. We are also one of the only countries that executes the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. Once again these executions or murders are against International Law and United Nations Resolutions. Apparently, as proven throughout the last few years, the United States is above human rights and obeying international standards.
Things got worse this month. On Oct. 3, 2003, Eddie Hartman was put to death by lethal injection. After being found guilty, the biggest factor for his sentencing was his homosexuality. The prosecutors continually reminded the jurors of this unimportant and immaterial sexual preference. In three other capital cases, the same discrimination led to the death penalty. Such prejudice should never be a factor in decisions, and certainly not on decisions regarding life and death.
The death penalty debate is more important than ever with the Patriot Act and our country‘s latest military actions. Quickly, we are becoming a poor anomaly of democratic nations, resembling more of a world reminiscent of that described in dark novels such as 1984, Handmaid’s Tale, and Fahrenheit 451.
It’s up to citizens, organizations, and the media to focus politicians’ attentions on stopping the continued use of executions. Some states are working towards this goal, with thirteen abandoning their killing practices. Others have not put an official stop to executions but refuse to carry out any further sentences.
New Jersey lawmakers are currently seeking a temporary stay to all executions in the state, pending a study on the gruesome effects. The bill has already passed through the state assembly, and now awaits approval by the state senate.
After considering all the bad circumstances associated with the death penalty, life imprisonment must replace this heinous practice, now.
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Copyright 2004, Kevin Semanick