Capital Punishment
By SAMANTHA LUBART
The first set of laws ever written, the Code of Hammurabi, was based on the principle of "an eye for an eye." One would think that as civilization and society advanced and progressed, this simplistic idea would be put to rest, but this mindset still persists in the modern American justice system in the form of capital punishment.
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Authorized in 29 US states, as reported by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), capital punishment remains a controversial issue among citizens. Many argue that capital punishment is morally wrong, but I believe that it is too humane of a punishment and generally not worth the time, money and suffering that is needed to facilitate it.
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Many states have moved to abolish the death penalty throughout American history, most recently, New Hampshire. According to Bill Chapell, from the National Public Radio, pursuing death sentences cost New Hampshire millions of dollars and prolonged the pain and trauma of victims' and their families' losses.
The death penalty process requires those affected by the criminal's actions to wait for their sentencing and execution, which can take years. Instead of attempting to move on from this painful part of their lives, they are left in limbo while the state decides the fate of their case, effectively becoming a punishment for victims, rather than the perpetrators.
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While this reasoning is sound, I think that an extremely important factor of this issue is being ignored in arguments, which is justice. The idea that death is an equal trade-off for all of the trauma and tragedy caused by criminals worthy of capital punishment is ignorant to the motives behind these perpetrators.
Looking at this idea from another perspective, many terrorists and mas shooters commit these monstrosities with the intent of suicide. In a way, the death penalty is giving these criminals what they want. While not all people on death row may have had death as their ultimate goal, it is an effective means of avoiding a lifetime of punishment and prison time. Quite simply, the death penalty is not a deterrent from committing murder and other horrible crimes.
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According to Jeanne Hruska, of the American Civil Liberties Union, states that do not have the death penalty have lower murder rates than states that still have it. This contradicts the notion that the possibility of death as a punishment for their crimes does not in any way stop murderers. At the end of the day, murder is not something that reasonable and stable people do, so it would be unrealistic to believe that the trends of murder would apply to normal logic. While a regular person would not want to risk their life to commit a crime, anyone in a position where they can justify mass murder or murder in the first degree, is far beyond and level of reasoning.
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While I understand that it is difficult to justify spending taxpayer money to keep criminals alive in jail when the government can just rid the world of this terrible evil, I implore people to remember that this serves no real justice.
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By the time a criminal is indicted for their crimes, their life is already effectively over and therefore, have nothing left to lose, ending their lives is not taking anything away from them and certainly not a punishment; it is mercy. I think that it is far more of a punishment for these people to spend the rest of their time in a federal prison, living with their crimes, and being forced to endure every miserable aspect of prison life possible. Even if they cannot feel remorse, or do not mind imprisonment, I can rest easy knowing that these criminals did not get the option to take the easy way out.
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Perpetuating the use of the death penalty is barbaric, simple-minded, and proving that there is, in fact, rest for the wicked. Yes, we should move towards abolishing the death penalty, but not in hopes of better treatment of the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes, but rather to bring our justice system one step closer to meting out proper and fair punishment.
Works Cited
"Capital Punishment Enactment Database." National Conference of State Legislature, 30 July 2019, www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/capital-punishment-enactment-database.aspx. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.
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Chappell, Bill. "New Hampshire Abolishes Death Penalty As Lawmakers Override Governor's Veto." National Public Radio, NPR, 30 May 2019, www.npr.org/2019/05/30/728288240/new-hampshire-abolishes-death-penalty-as-lawmakers-override-governors-veto. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.
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Hruska, Jeanne. "It's Time to End New Hampshire's Death Penalty." ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, 26 Apr. 2018, www.aclu.org/blog/capital-punishment/its-time-end-new-hampshires-death-penalty. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.
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"States and Capital Punishment." National Conference of State Legislatures, 12 June 2019, www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.