Flaws Of The Death Penalty 2 Essay, Research Paper

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 acheived 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.

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Flanders, Stephen A. Capital Punishment. New York, NY: Facts on File,

1991.

Long, Robert Emmet. Criminal Sentencing. New York, NY: H.W. Company,

1995.