Capital Punishment - People Killing People

Capital Punishment

 

This article is one I researched and wrote for an assignment I once had. I just ran across it again after several years and found it to still be relevant, as well as interesting.

An Argument Against

There are a number of good arguments against carrying out a policy of killing people who commit serious crimes, up to and including the planned death of another person. I will speak to a few of the points that I believe are valid in today’s world.

The first point is that it is a proven fact that innocent people have died in state death chambers for crimes they did not commit. This fact was brought to the attention of the governor of Illinois a few years ago when DNA evidence clearly exonerated several people who were being held on death row in his state. The governor of Illinois ordered a moratorium on the use of the death penalty until it could be studied more. The death penalty remains suspended in Illinois at this time.

A second point concerns the fact that no studies have ever proven the death penalty is a deterrent for crime. In most cases, the highest number of violent crimes was committed in the states where the most executions are conducted.  

Another valid point is that in order to execute a person, the state is in the business of hiring a killer to kill the person. Someone shoots the bullet, trips the lever, inserts the needle, or drops the pellets in order to make the person die. Is this the type of business a state should be involved with—making killers out of people in the name of justice?

The last point is this: Have you ever known an important or very wealthy person to receive the death penalty and have it carried out against them? A large disproportion of the poor, disadvantaged and minorities are the ones who are put to death. The death penalty is racist, sexist, and it is very much more expensive than life in prison.

The death penalty in the U.S. is essentially a product of Southern culture. During 2002:

	** 61 of the 71 executions were in Southern states.
	** Outside the South, only three States (California, Ohio and Missouri) executed anyone.

From 1976, when executions were resumed, until January 2003, there have been 820 executions in the US. This includes 66 during 2001 and 71 in 2002. About two out of three executions are conducted in only five states: Texas, Virginia, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma. Texas leads the other states in number of killings. In late 2002, there were about 3,697 prisoners sentenced to death in 37 state death rows, and 31 being held by the U.S. government and military. About 1.5% are women. 102 have been exonerated and freed since 1973, largely after having been proven innocent by DNA evidence.

Killing people in the name of justice is wrong!