I am *strongly* in favor of capital punishment. I think every politician in Washington should be thrown out of office because… oh, the other capital punishment.
Like abortion, CP is a life-or-death issue that inflames people's passions. CP opponents say that it is immoral, that it brings government down to the level of the criminals, that its imposition is racially biased, that errors are made, and that it is too expensive. I am neither for nor against CP, but there are logical arguments in its favor.
First, if anyone opposes CP because of their religious faith, so be it. Faith and logic are incompatible, and I do not question anyone's faith - not out loud, that is. But if religion is not part of your equation on the issue of CP, please read on.
The primary argument in favor of CP is that it is a deterrent. Persons contemplating committing a capital crime might be less inclined to do so if they knew they were risking their own lives. The current data do not support that hypothesis. Crime rates in states that have or do not have CP are essentially the same. Another argument is that CP is too expensive when considering all the legal hurdles that must be met. Both of those arguments are valid, but only because of the way CP is currently administered.
A person arrested for, say, murder knows that she would not face execution for many years, during which legal appeals would proceed. Furthermore, only a small percentage of those sentenced to death are ever executed. Those facts essentially eliminate the deterrence aspect of CP and put great strain on our legal system.
My proposal is that any person sentenced to death would be executed within 6 months after sentencing. Then not only would the threat of CP become a more effective deterrent, but also the process would be significantly less expensive than confining someone to prison for life.
Are blacks disproportionately sentenced to death? Perhaps, but that is a problem with our legal system that is not directly related to CP.
Is CP immoral and does it reduce the status of government? I argue strongly that it is not and it does not. The real question is whether it saves innocent lives, which it surely would do if executed promptly. A criminal might be ambivalent about the prospect of life in prison, but would surely find it hard to ignore the prospect of being dead within half a year. Lost in the argument that CP is immoral is the real immorality of putting many innocent lives in danger.
It is true that many persons sentenced to death have been vindicated, generally by the relatively new science of DNA analysis, which is now available at the time of trial. Nevertheless, it is realistic to assume that mistakes would be made and occasionally an innocent person would be executed, a tragic result. That is a small price, however, when compared to the hundreds or even thousands of innocent lives that could be saved by the deterrence that CP could and should have.
Humans will always make mistakes, but that should not stop us from trying to do the right thing, and the right thing clearly is to try to protect as many lives as possible.
I doubt that the death penalty is a detterant for crimes of passion.
ReplyDeleteIs death really a penalty? We will all die. Many believe their soul will continue to exist after death, so death may seem less of a penalty to them and the majority of the population with that belief. A life of boring imprisonment, esp. solitary confinement seems like a worse punishment to me.
To make it cheap, build two tall electrified fences, 1000 feet apart surrounding a 100 sq. mi. section of desert. Put land mines and ground sonar between the fences. Air drop supplies into the prison. I predict TV companies will bid big bucks to televise what happens inside. We'll have to guard against making a profit so it doesn't become in the government's interest to falsely convict more of us. This might also be a bad idea because if the TV shows become popular, some might decide to commit murder in order to get on TV. Probably, this scheme will be deemed 'cruel' by the courts, though I'm not sure about the Roberts court. There might be a window of opportunity for it now.
On the other hand, if corporations are people and become subject to CP, I might have to change my mind. I think most of us would agree that corporations have no souls.