Death Penalty.
Issue:
The United States stands alone among western nations in its continued imposition of death as punishment for certain crimes. Known legally as capital punishment and colloquially as the death penalty, this ultimate and irreversible punishment has been both embraced as a supposed deterrent to crime and criticized as an unconstitutional and inhumane exercise of state power.
Deception:
Supporters of the death penalty claim that it serves as an effective deterrent against crime. This is deception. They also claim it is a fitting punishment for certain crimes, regardless of its efficacy in crime prevention. This is not only deception but moral turpitude.
Reality:
Use of the death penalty as punishment for any crime sends this clarion call to all who witness its use: the state agrees that the commission of murder is an acceptable response, a fitting approach to dealing with those who are perceived or known to have done harm to you or to others or to society at large. By executing a person convicted of a crime the government is giving its de facto support to murder as a solution to grievance and in this way embraces the same logic as the criminal who sees benefit or justification in killing another.
Death is, unfortunately, a final punishment. It cannot be retracted, even when the victim is later proven innocent. This unforgivable arrangement has resulted in the deaths of innocent U.S. citizens at the hands of us, their fellow citizens. Is this a price we are willing to pay for whatever benefits are perceived to be in the death penalty? Is it a price you would be willing to pay - to be innocent yet be executed by your state for whatever benefits might be perceived in keeping the death penalty?
Although all other western nations have abolished the death penalty or use it only in extraordinary circumstances, and although the United Nations has voted for a global ban on its use, the United States continues to keep company with China, India and Indonesia as one of the largest countries to embrace its use. You can be judged by the company you keep: the U.S. nests comfortably among Islamic nations in its embrace of execution as punishment but stands alone among western nations as the only perpetrator of state-sanctioned killing. It ranks number five worldwide in terms of the number of executions (2011 figures),
• China: upwards of 4,000
• Iran: 360+
• Saudi Arabia: 82+
• Iraq: 68+
• United States: 43
• Yemen: 41
• North Korea: 30+
• Somalia: 10
• Sudan: 7+
The list goes on in descending order of deaths: Bangladesh, Vietnam, South Sudan, Taiwan, Singapore, Palestinian Authority, Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Syria. It begs the question: why are no other western nations on this list? Why does the U.S. continue to embrace death when the European Union, most of Latin America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and dozens of other countries have all abolished its use, and dozens of others have suspended or strictly limited its use?
Arguments in favor of the death penalty that rely on its supposed deterrent effect are not supported by existing evidence. Regardless, choosing death over the multitude of other sentencing options is a shameful approach for a nation that considers itself democratic and, in the eyes of many, Christian. Murder is murder whether committed by individuals, armies or states. If we are unable to understand that all other western nations have found effective ways to punish criminals without resorting to the taking of human life then we choose the willful ignorance that keeps us in the company of the nations we find most offensive and totalitarian in their lack of respect for humanity and democracy.
The Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972 but reinstated it 37 years ago, in 1976. Since that time over 1,300 state-sanctioned murders have occurred in the U.S. and at least 142 innocent people have been released from death row. That is one exoneration for every nine executions. 23 cases of wrongful execution of innocents by U.S. states have been documented since 1900. Bear in mind that these figures represent only those cases where innocence was proven - the figures portend many more cases of wrongful execution and wrongful death penalty convictions that have yet to be uncovered.
Arguments that question the accuracy of the number of innocent people executed or released in an attempt to diminish their importance rely on the academic notion that some of the innocents may have actually been guilty but that various factors caused their sentences to be vacated - such as law enforcement improprieties, faulty evidence or faulty court proceedings etc. Whatever truth is in this claim is overridden by the fact that truly innocent people have been put to death; that truly innocent people have been sentenced to death but fortunately exonerated; and that under our justice system a person is innocent until proven guilty and their conviction should always be eligible for reversal through appeal or possible subsequent discovery of actual innocence.
The state execution of an innocent person is a tragedy that no person, no family and no society should have to endure. It is a crime which no society should commit. No amount of debate in favor of the death penalty can explain away its injustice. It is wrong, it is heinous, it is a gross violation of human rights. It is better that a guilty person go free than that the state execute the innocent.
Resolution:
The states that impose the death penalty spend more on death row prisoners than on those imprisoned for life, money that can be better spent on prevention, rehabilitation and state services for victims and their families. The death penalty offers no proven deterrent effect on capital crimes; indeed it instead breeds disrespect for our state governments which impose it unfairly, unevenly, unjustly and with gross racial and class disparity.
18 states, primarily in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and New England regions have done well without the death penalty for at least 37 years, and several have not had the death penalty since the 1800s. Michigan, a populous industrial and agricultural state, abolished the death penalty in 1847; the state has never executed anyone and was the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment. While its crime rate in some categories is higher than the national average it compares favorably against Texas, which has executed more than 500 (five hundred) people in the last 37 years (the most by far of any state).
Consider how many people on death row have managed to evade death before their innocence was proven and who were set free, thanks to the grace of arduous appeals, fortunate timelines and the efforts of those who oppose the death penalty. Consider how many people have been sent to their deaths and later been proven innocent, posthumously, too late for them and their families. Consider how many people have lost a loved one because the state felt compelled to murder them rather than allow their families to have them in their lives, even if in prison. Consider how many states to not utilize the death penalty and are no less safe than those that do. Consider the various unjust disparities in the imposition of the death penalty which see a far higher ratio of death sentences meted out to the disadvantaged - the poor, people of color and those who lack competent legal representation.
Finally, consider how your life would be forever diminished by the agony of losing a loved one to state execution - agonizing enough if they are guilty, tortuously agonizing if they are innocent. It happens and it happens too much, for the taking of one life is one too many. State execution is a crime greater than any committed in an act of passion or as an accidental result of a separate crime. It is premeditated, unnecessary and inhumane - and it causes months and years of agony for the convicted and their loved ones awaiting the executioner, an especially inhumane agony rarely suffered by their victims.
Executing the guilty is a crime. Executing the innocent is an unforgivable transgression against all that is human, against all that is just and right.
It is the willful taking of a human life - and this has no place in our world. We cannot continue to impose the death penalty without further damaging the fabric of our society and without innocent people paying with their lives.
The United States stands alone among western nations in its continued imposition of death as punishment for certain crimes. Known legally as capital punishment and colloquially as the death penalty, this ultimate and irreversible punishment has been both embraced as a supposed deterrent to crime and criticized as an unconstitutional and inhumane exercise of state power.
Deception:
Supporters of the death penalty claim that it serves as an effective deterrent against crime. This is deception. They also claim it is a fitting punishment for certain crimes, regardless of its efficacy in crime prevention. This is not only deception but moral turpitude.
Reality:
Use of the death penalty as punishment for any crime sends this clarion call to all who witness its use: the state agrees that the commission of murder is an acceptable response, a fitting approach to dealing with those who are perceived or known to have done harm to you or to others or to society at large. By executing a person convicted of a crime the government is giving its de facto support to murder as a solution to grievance and in this way embraces the same logic as the criminal who sees benefit or justification in killing another.
Death is, unfortunately, a final punishment. It cannot be retracted, even when the victim is later proven innocent. This unforgivable arrangement has resulted in the deaths of innocent U.S. citizens at the hands of us, their fellow citizens. Is this a price we are willing to pay for whatever benefits are perceived to be in the death penalty? Is it a price you would be willing to pay - to be innocent yet be executed by your state for whatever benefits might be perceived in keeping the death penalty?
Although all other western nations have abolished the death penalty or use it only in extraordinary circumstances, and although the United Nations has voted for a global ban on its use, the United States continues to keep company with China, India and Indonesia as one of the largest countries to embrace its use. You can be judged by the company you keep: the U.S. nests comfortably among Islamic nations in its embrace of execution as punishment but stands alone among western nations as the only perpetrator of state-sanctioned killing. It ranks number five worldwide in terms of the number of executions (2011 figures),
• China: upwards of 4,000
• Iran: 360+
• Saudi Arabia: 82+
• Iraq: 68+
• United States: 43
• Yemen: 41
• North Korea: 30+
• Somalia: 10
• Sudan: 7+
The list goes on in descending order of deaths: Bangladesh, Vietnam, South Sudan, Taiwan, Singapore, Palestinian Authority, Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Syria. It begs the question: why are no other western nations on this list? Why does the U.S. continue to embrace death when the European Union, most of Latin America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and dozens of other countries have all abolished its use, and dozens of others have suspended or strictly limited its use?
Arguments in favor of the death penalty that rely on its supposed deterrent effect are not supported by existing evidence. Regardless, choosing death over the multitude of other sentencing options is a shameful approach for a nation that considers itself democratic and, in the eyes of many, Christian. Murder is murder whether committed by individuals, armies or states. If we are unable to understand that all other western nations have found effective ways to punish criminals without resorting to the taking of human life then we choose the willful ignorance that keeps us in the company of the nations we find most offensive and totalitarian in their lack of respect for humanity and democracy.
The Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972 but reinstated it 37 years ago, in 1976. Since that time over 1,300 state-sanctioned murders have occurred in the U.S. and at least 142 innocent people have been released from death row. That is one exoneration for every nine executions. 23 cases of wrongful execution of innocents by U.S. states have been documented since 1900. Bear in mind that these figures represent only those cases where innocence was proven - the figures portend many more cases of wrongful execution and wrongful death penalty convictions that have yet to be uncovered.
Arguments that question the accuracy of the number of innocent people executed or released in an attempt to diminish their importance rely on the academic notion that some of the innocents may have actually been guilty but that various factors caused their sentences to be vacated - such as law enforcement improprieties, faulty evidence or faulty court proceedings etc. Whatever truth is in this claim is overridden by the fact that truly innocent people have been put to death; that truly innocent people have been sentenced to death but fortunately exonerated; and that under our justice system a person is innocent until proven guilty and their conviction should always be eligible for reversal through appeal or possible subsequent discovery of actual innocence.
The state execution of an innocent person is a tragedy that no person, no family and no society should have to endure. It is a crime which no society should commit. No amount of debate in favor of the death penalty can explain away its injustice. It is wrong, it is heinous, it is a gross violation of human rights. It is better that a guilty person go free than that the state execute the innocent.
Resolution:
The states that impose the death penalty spend more on death row prisoners than on those imprisoned for life, money that can be better spent on prevention, rehabilitation and state services for victims and their families. The death penalty offers no proven deterrent effect on capital crimes; indeed it instead breeds disrespect for our state governments which impose it unfairly, unevenly, unjustly and with gross racial and class disparity.
18 states, primarily in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and New England regions have done well without the death penalty for at least 37 years, and several have not had the death penalty since the 1800s. Michigan, a populous industrial and agricultural state, abolished the death penalty in 1847; the state has never executed anyone and was the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment. While its crime rate in some categories is higher than the national average it compares favorably against Texas, which has executed more than 500 (five hundred) people in the last 37 years (the most by far of any state).
Consider how many people on death row have managed to evade death before their innocence was proven and who were set free, thanks to the grace of arduous appeals, fortunate timelines and the efforts of those who oppose the death penalty. Consider how many people have been sent to their deaths and later been proven innocent, posthumously, too late for them and their families. Consider how many people have lost a loved one because the state felt compelled to murder them rather than allow their families to have them in their lives, even if in prison. Consider how many states to not utilize the death penalty and are no less safe than those that do. Consider the various unjust disparities in the imposition of the death penalty which see a far higher ratio of death sentences meted out to the disadvantaged - the poor, people of color and those who lack competent legal representation.
Finally, consider how your life would be forever diminished by the agony of losing a loved one to state execution - agonizing enough if they are guilty, tortuously agonizing if they are innocent. It happens and it happens too much, for the taking of one life is one too many. State execution is a crime greater than any committed in an act of passion or as an accidental result of a separate crime. It is premeditated, unnecessary and inhumane - and it causes months and years of agony for the convicted and their loved ones awaiting the executioner, an especially inhumane agony rarely suffered by their victims.
Executing the guilty is a crime. Executing the innocent is an unforgivable transgression against all that is human, against all that is just and right.
It is the willful taking of a human life - and this has no place in our world. We cannot continue to impose the death penalty without further damaging the fabric of our society and without innocent people paying with their lives.