In Cold Blood: Death Penalty Essay, Research Paper

In Cold Blood: 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.

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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