An Age Old Debate

    

     The death penalty is a controversial punishment for crime throughout the world. Countries such as China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States still permit the death penalty as proper punishment. However, 137 countries have abolished the death penalty, yet 20,000 prisoners are on death row across the world. (“The death penalty,” 2000)
     The death penalty should be eradicated from the American Society because it is both morally and legally wrong and it does not serve as a deterrent to crime.
     Using the death penalty as punishment for crime is morally wrong. What gives one human the right to take the life of another? Helen Prejean, a well-known Roman Catholic religious sister, explained it well when saying “The fundamental purpose of all punishment is to preserve and enhance the common good. We must never lose sight of this purpose by disregarding the effects of resorting to violent death as means of dealing with crime.” (“North Dakota catholic,” 1995) As humans who are we to decide what crime is to be punishable by death, much less to carry out the action?
     Helen Prejean explains too, “The death penalty costs too much. Allowing our government to kill citizens compromises the deepest moral values upon which this country was conceived: the inviolable dignity of human persons.” (“North Dakota catholic,” 1995) America was built upon Judeo-Christian principles; the earliest use of this term dates back to 1829. According to an article from Jewish World Review by Dennis Prager, Juedo-Christian principles are the belief”…that America must answer morally to this God, not to the mortal venal, governments of the world.” (Dennis, 2004)
     By participating in the death penalty, people are denying and going against the very principles on which our country was built upon. It is morally wrong for humans to kill other humans no matter the circumstances, whether they are a criminal, or an innocent person.
     Using the death penalty as punishment for crime is legally wrong as well. It is stated in the Declaration of Independence, that “….We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….” (ushistory.org, 2012) The Declaration of Independence is one of the most historical and influential documents that our country is built upon. Therefore acting and making decisions that contradict and go against these very guidelines is wrong and essentially illegal.
     The death penalty is too considered cruel and unusual punishment by a vast majority of people as well as our founding fathers who composed the Bill of Rights. It is under the Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights that one can make the argument that the death penalty is illegal. It reads as follows, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (Roland, 2000) Due to the fact that “punishment” is considered a legal infliction of suffering, for it to be a violation of the Eight Amendment, it in turn must be “cruel.” As for the death penalty being considered “unusual” this definition does not fit merely because of its long usage in history. However, this does not take away from the fact that it indeed is cruel punishment and essentially, but not technically, legally wrong. Our country was built upon the documents of founding fathers and to this day, it is what our society is modeled after, therefore how is it just to use the death penalty as punishment when it clearly violates one of our amendments? If government officials and American citizens are allowed to violate this amendment, why is it that we follow the others?
     Furthermore, the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to crime. Those who commit a heinous crime such as murder, do not think about the consequences of their actions at the time, and are more focused on completing the task at hand.  It seems hopeless to expect that any form of punishment will deter crime- for those that are committing a crime have their minds set and are willing to do whatever deemed  necessary. Grant McClellan, a well-known author on the case of the death penalty illustrates that:

 “In 1958 the 10 states that had the fewest murders-fewer than two a year per 100,000 population-were New Hampshire, Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Utah, North Dakota, and Washington. Four of these 10 states had abolished the death penalty. The 10 states, which had the most murders from eight to fourteen killings per 100,000 population were Nevada, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Virginia- all of them enforce the death penalty. The fact is that fear of the death penalty has never served to reduce the crime rate.” (p. 40) 

     The claim that the death penalty acts as a deterrent is further denied through evidence brought about by the American Civil Liberties Union. “A punishment can be an effective deterrent only if it is consistently and promptly employed. Capital punishment cannot be administered to meet these conditions.” (Bedeau, 1992) I absolutely agree with the quote above, capital punishment is a long process and is administered inconsistently. Most criminals too act in the heat of the moment and do not stop to consider the consequences, therefore the claim of deterrence further proves to be false.
     To reiterate, the death penalty should be eradicated from the American Society because it is both morally and legally wrong and it does not serve as a deterrent to crime.


-The post above is a piece I wrote for freshman communications class this. Individually we were required to choose a controversial topic and try to persuade our classmates to feel the same. I would love to know everyone's opinion on the issue. Feel free to post your comments below.