Flaws of the Death Penalty
Capital Punishment has been part of the criminal justice system since the earliest of
times. The Babylonian Hammurabi Code(ca. 1700 B.C.) decreed death for crimes as minor as
the fraudulent sale of beer(Flanders 3). Egyptians could be put to death for disclosing
the location of sacred burial sites(Flanders 3). However, in recent times opponents have
shown the death penalty to be racist, barbaric, and in violation with the United States
Constitution as "...cruel and unusual punishment." In this country,although laws
governing the application of the death penalty have undergone many changes since biblical
times, the punishment endures, and controversy has never been greater.
A prisoner's death wish cannot grant a right not otherwise possessed. Abolitionists
maintain that the state has no right to kill anyone. The right to reject life imprisonment
and choose death should be respected, but it changes nothing for those who oppose the
death at the hands of the state.
The death penalty is irrational- a fact that should carry considerable weight with
rationalists. As Albert Camus pointed out, " Capital punishment....has always been a
religious punishment and is reconcilable with humanism." In other words, society has
long since left behind the archaic and barbous "customs" from the cruel
"eye for an eye" anti-human caves of religion- another factor that should raise
immediate misgivings for freethinkers.
State killings are morally bankrupt. Why do governments kill people to show other
people that killing people is wrong? Humanity becomes associated with murderers when it
replicate their deeds. Would society allow rape as the penalty for rape or the burning of
arsonists' homes as the penalty for arson?
The state should never have the power to murder its subjects. To give the state this
power eliminates the individual's most effective shield against tyranny of the majority
and is inconsistent with democratic principles.
Family and friends of murder victims are further victimized by state killings. Quite a
few leaders in the abolishment movement became involved specially because someone they
loved was murdered. Family of victims repeatedly stated they wanted the murderer to die.
One of the main reasons- in addition to justice- was they wanted all the publicity to be
over. Yet. if it wasn't for the sensationalism surrounding an execution, the media
exposure would not have occurred in the first place. Murderers would be quietly and safely
put away for life with absolutely no possibility for parole.
The death penalty violates constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual
punishment. The grotesque killing of Robert Harris by the state of California on April
21,1992, and similar reports of witnesses to hangings and lethal injections should leave
doubt that the dying process can be- and often is-grossly inhumane, regardless of
method(Flanders 16).
The death penalty is often used for political gain. During his presidential gain,
President Clinton rushed home for the Arkansas execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a mentally
retarded, indigent black man. Clinton couldn't take the chance of being seen by voters as
" soft on crime." Political Analysts believe that when the death penalty becomes
an issue in a campaign, the candidate favoring capital punishment almost inevitably will
benefit.
Capital punishment discriminates against the poor. Although murderers come from all
classes, those on death row are almost without exception poor and were living in poverty
at the they were arrested. The majority of death-row inmates were or are represented by
court-appointed public defenders- and the state is not obligated to provide an attorney at
all for appeals beyond the state level.
The application of capital punishment is racist. About 40 percent of death-row inmates
are black, whereas only 8 percent of the population as a whole are black(Flanders 25). In
cases with white victims, black defendants were four to six times more likely to receive
death sentences than white defendants who had similar criminal histories. Studies show
that the chance for a death sentence is up to five to ten times greater in cases with
white victims than black victims(Flanders 25). In the criminal justice system, the life of
a white person is worth more than the life of a black person.
The mentally retarded are victimized by the death penalty. Since 1989, when the Supreme
Court upheld killing of the mentally retarded, at least four such executions have
occurred. According to the Southern Center for Human Rights, at least 10 percent of death
row inmates in the United States are mentally retarded(Long 79).
Juveniles are subject to the death penalty. Since state execution of juveniles also
became permissible in the decision cited above, at least five people who were juveniles
when their crimes were committed have executed(Long 79).
Innocent people can-and have been-executed. With the death penalty errors are
irreversible. According to a 1987 study, 23 people who were innocent of the crimes for
which they were convicted were executed between 1900 and 1985(Long 79). Until human
judgement becomes infallible, this problem alone is reason enough to abolish the death
penalty at the hands of the state more dedicated to vengeance than to truth and justice.
Executions do not save money. There are those who cry that we, the taxpayers, shouldn't
have to "support" condemned people for an entire lifetime in prison-that we
should simply "eliminate" them and save ourselves time and money. The truth is
that the cost of state killing is up to three times the cost of lifetime imprisonment(Long
80). Judges and others are reluctant- as they should be-to shorten the execution process
for fear that hasty procedures will lead to the executions of more innocent people. The
death penalty has been imposed most for murders committed during the course of another
felony. Aggravating circumstances for murder are defined in the applicable death penalty
statute. Circumstances considered for murder include:
-The crime was particularly vile, atrocious, or cruel. -There were multiple victims.
-The crime occurred during the commission of another felony. -The victim was a police or
correctional officer in the line of duty. -The offender was previously convicted of a
capital offense or violent crime. -The offender directed an accomplice to commit the
murder or committed the murder at the direction of another person.
(Flanders 12)
In the novel, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the main characters Dick and Perry were
guilty of several of the circumstances that eventually led to their demise:
-The multiple victims included all four of the Clutter family. -The event occurred
during an attempted robbery. -Both were former inmates and had previous dealings with the
law. -Dick had chosen Perry for his instinct as a "Natural Born Killer".
Further,it seems that both Dick and Perry fell almost directly under the common
background of one convicted of death. The death penalty is flawed in many facets. Juries
in rural counties are more likely to impose the death penalty than those in urban areas.
Dick and Perry were convicted in Garden City, a small to moderate sized town. Both Dick
and Perry were unemployed, poor, white criminals whose actions wrecked havoc not only on
the remaining Clutter family and relatives, but on the entire town of Holcomb and
surrounding areas. This only justifies and reinforces the points stated above that capital
punishment is biased, racist, and is harmful not only to the offenders themselves, but to
the entire community. Opposition to the death penalty finally achieved its goal when in
1972 the Supreme Court struck down death penalty laws, finding fault not with the theory,
but with the method. However, all was lost when four years later, the decision was once
more revised and ruled the death penalty once more legal. Death row will continue to
expand. It is almost certain that the rising level of executions will be widely condemned.
The future of capital punishment may finally come down to the question of expense. A
single capital trial now costs millions of dollars. The enormous volume of continuing
appeals strain both federal and state court systems. Unless workable solutions are found
to the practical difficulties involved in the administration of the death penalty.
American society eventually may decide to significantly restrict or even abandon capital
punishment.
--- Works Cited
Flanders, Stephen A. Capital Punishment. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1991.
Long, Robert Emmet. Criminal Sentencing. New York, NY: H.W. Company, 1995.
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