Lethal Injection
One of the most potent arguments against the death penalty – other than the possibility of executing an innocent man or woman – is that it is imposed and carried out with such seemingly capricious randomness that it has become little more than a symbolic societal retribution. Of the approximately 14,000 murders committed in the United States each year, fewer than 100 ultimately lead to execution. And we agree that isn’t fair.
So any sensible individual is going to agree that capital punishment in the United States needs reform.
Does capital punishment serve as a general deterrent? Probably not. Many criminals are far more likely to be killed in the course of their “work” than by the state. Does that mean it doesn’t represent justice? No less than life imprisonment, which turns out to be no more of a deterrent. And not to be too cute about the issue, while many murderers freed from prison have gone out to murder again, no murderer who was executed has ever killed again. So it is a specific deterrent.
Is the death penalty imposed more frequently against minorities? Probably, in the case of felony murders, though certainly not in the case of predatory, sexual and interpersonal crimes, which are predominantly committed by white men.
Does execution give moral and emotional succor to the survivors of murder victims? In many cases it does. And that should be a major consideration to all of us.
So one way to reform the system is to eliminate capital punishment and get serious about long prison sentences.
Another way to reform the system is to impose capital punishment more frequently and with greater fairness. According to polls, most Americans – ourselves included – think this would be a very good and moral thing to do. We give our own justification in our current book, Law & Disorder.
Can we ever completely eliminate the possibility of a wrongful execution? No, but with modern science and rigorous adherence to certain guidelines, we can come extremely close. As we demonstrated in Law & Disorder with the case of William Heirens, it is just as easy to make the same mistake on life imprisonment, and that may be an even greater wrong.
Did you know? 14,000 murders each year, only 100 lead to the #DeathPenalty? http://t.co/OZm5kwH1R1 http://t.co/OZm5kwH1R1 #p2b #tcot
Connor that is incredibly frightening – gave me shivers reading about it. Equally scary were the points you shared about Kentucky.
I’m anti corporal punishment, quite common here in Australia where we don’t have executions in any state. There are times when it does seem wasteful to keep certain people going in jail for such extended periods. However, I guess I always come back to a few things – the innocents (as mentioned by Mark), a feeling that it’s wrong to take life (that we don’t have that right), and also the fear that once established in any country there is always room for abuse to take place.
At any rate, I popped in today to ask the question – does it really help the family and friends who’ve lost loved ones to have the perpetrator put to death rather than live out their sentence (sometimes their life) behind bars? When I read that it was helpful I did a double-take- maybe you’re right, but I will have to do a little more personal investigation before I feel comfortable with that one.
While I am a proponent of the death penalty, I certainly agree that the system needs a great overhaul, especially in my state of Kentucky, where the system is as confusing as any in the United States.
I attended a presentation from representatives of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty here where I attend school at Eastern Kentucky University. A recent project of the American Bar Association- Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Report found some shocking findings. I’ll share a few of them here:
*Of the 78 people sentenced to death in Kentucky, 50 have had the sentence overturned on appeal by Kentucky or federal courts
*Evidence in criminal cases is not required to be retained for as long as a defendant remains incarcerated.
*No uniform standards on eyewitness IDs nor for interrogations.
The list goes on and on. Obviously the system is broken and needs to be changed, but I quickly wanted to make the point that there are just some offenders who need to be put to death. Namely a serial rapist and murderer which I’m sure the both of you are aware of, Westley Dodd. Famous for his quote in court “I must be executed before I have an opportunity to escape or kill someone within the prison. If I do escape, I promise you I will kill prison guards if I have to and rape and enjoy every minute of it.” While in court he said that, if he escaped from jail, he would immediately go back to “killing and raping kids.” Frightening and certainly a man whose existence threatens society.