| I would personally be in favor of capital punishment for certain crimes but
only if we could apply it fairly and equitably.
But the last few
decades have proven conclusively that we can't. Poor minority killers get the
death penalty, while rich white killers (even middle-class white killers) who
can afford a better legal defense, do not. This is totally inequitable. Also,
a significant percentage of convicted felons on death row sit there for years
and years and then something (e.g. new DNA evidence) brings their conviction
into doubt and they get a new trial or acquittal. Its frightening that we might
have executed them for a crime they didn't even commit--at least if we give them
a life sentence, there is still the possibility of reversing it later if it is
found to be in error.
Also, I recall some studies that showed the crime rate
(or murder rate?) increase slightly for a short period after the public
execution of a death-row inmate. It certainly doesn't have any deterrent effect
on the commission of capital crimes. And death row cases (with all of the
appeals etc) can cost as much as 10x a non-capital case to prosecute and carry
through to conviction. So even if they get a life sentence instead, the cost to
society to house them might still be cheaper in the long run than executing
them.
So there's lots of good reasons to object to a death penalty--some
based on moral arguments, some based on fairness, and some based on purely
pragmatic concerns like the cost to taxpayers and the increase it causes in the
crime rate. There's certain crimes that make me very angry, and I want to see
perpetrators punished harshly for them, but I just can't condone the death
penalty even in those cases because we're completely incapable of applying it
fairly and evenly to everybody. Racism, classism and social/financial
inequality get in the way. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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