Robin Vigil

05/01/2013
robin17vgl@gmail.com
AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
7he death penalty is the punishment of execution, given to those convicted of a
capital crime. Currently fifty-eight nations actively practice it, and ninety-seven countries
have not used it in the past ten years. The death penalty is done as an act of retribution, to
ensure that the individual cannot commit future crimes, or as a deterrent for potential
criminals.
Currently, over 82 inmates in 26 states have been released from death row because
of proof of innocence, and out of every seven inmates they execute, one of them is wrongly
executed. This is one of the main reasons why am completely against it.
Often referred to as capital punishment, executions have been carried out by a
government or ruling monarchy, for longer than humans have been recording history.
United States uses capital punishment more than any other country.
When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital
punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George
Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy
for Spain.
n 1612, Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale enacted the divine, Moral and Martial
Laws, which provided the death penalty for even minor offenses like stealing grapes, killing
chickens, and trading with ndians. Since then, however it has evolved into a way of
punishing the criminals, making sure that they do not commit another crime in the future.
Although some states abolished the death penalty in the mid-Nineteenth Century,
from 1907 to 1917, six states completely outlawed the death penalty and three limited it to
the rarely committed crimes of treason and first degree murder of a law enforcement
official.
When the United States began WW1, where there was intense class conflicts as
socialists mounted the first serious challenge to capitalism. United States citizens started
to get scared about the threat of the Russian Revolution. As a result, five of the six
abolitionist states reinstated their death penalty by 1920. (Bedau, 1997 and Bohm, 1999)
The punishment is typically reserved for crimes that a government, culture, or society
has decided are "The worst of the worst, however, this can vary drastically by country. n
western countries that still practice capital punishment, it is usually reserved for murder,
espionage, or treason. n some middle eastern and other countries, sexual crimes may
end up in execution, including incest, rape, sodomy, or adultery.
Certain areas also recognize religious crimes, like drug trafficking, and human
trafficking as serious enough to warrant execution and a number of militaries around the
world recognize nearly any crime committed by a soldier, including disrespecting their
bosses, as punishable by the death penalty
n the past the methods used to put people to death were what many in modern
society would consider terrible. This was mainly due to the fact that death itself was not
necessarily viewed as a punishment, which meant the manner in which a person was
executed had to be painful. Drawing and quartering, flaying alive, or burning them, were
some common ways to execute criminals, some other ways of execution included boiling
alive, dismemberment, and crucifixion.
A movement began in the late 18th century towards more humane punishments and
executions, resulting in the development of the guillotine in France. n 1924, the use of
cyanide gas was introduced, as Nevada found a more human way of executing its inmates.
Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas. The state tried to pump cyanide gas
into Jon's cell while he slept, but this proved impossible, and the gas chamber was
constructed. Other methods used in the past were also adapted to meet this new law, with
one example that was being hanged, although originally a person was hung so that he or
she were strangled to death, this method of execution was altered to snap the neck
immediately, which was viewed as more humane. This was followed by the use of the
electric chair death, also by the firing squad and the most commonly used form of capital
punishment in the western world, lethal injection.
n the aftermath of World War , the United Nations General Assembly adopted the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Knowing that international abolition of the death
penalty was not yet a realistic goal in the years following the Universal Declaration, the
United Nations shifted its focus to limiting the scope of the death penalty to protect
juveniles, pregnant women, and the elderly.
After the European shift, the U.S. retained the death penalty, but established
limitations on capital punishment. n 1977, the United States Supreme Court held in Coker
v. Georgia that he death penalty is an unconstitutional punishment for the rape of an adult
woman when the victim was not killed. Other limits to the death penalty followed in the next
decade.
Women have, historically, not been subject to the death penalty at the same rates as
men. From the first woman executed in the United States, Jane Champion, who was
hanged in James City, Virginia in 1632, to the present, women have constituted only about
3% of United State executions.
The death penalty is one of the most hotly debated topics in the world.
Many religions oppose it, although others support it and some don't take official position.
n the 1970s, the National Association of Evangelicals, representing more than 10 million
conservative Christians and 47 denominations, and the Moral Majority, were among the
Christian groups supporting the death penalty. NAE's successor, the Christian Coalition,
also supports the death penalty. Today, Fundamentalist and Pentecostal churches support
the death penalty, typically on biblical grounds, specifically citing the Old Bible or
Testament. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regards the question as a
matter to be decided solely by the process of civil law, and they do not promote or oppose
capital punishment.
Although traditionally also a supporter of capital punishment, the Roman Catholic
Church now oppose the death penalty. n addition, most Protestant denominations,
including Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and the United
Church of Christ, oppose the death penalty. During the 1960s, religious activists worked to
abolish the death penalty, and continue to do so today. n recent years, and in the wake of a
recent appeal by Pope John Paul to end the death penalty, religious organizations around
the nation have issued statements opposing the death penalty.
Some modern philosophical theories of ethics, do not agree with the death penalty,
although many philosophers argue that certain crimes should automatically result in the
person losing his or her right to life. There are also arguments against some of the
justifications for capital punishment. Supporters may argue that a serious crimes deserves
an equally serious punishment, while opponents argue that this is revenge rather than
punishment. While execution does prevent the person from committing another crime,
spending the rest of his or her life in prison also removes the criminal from society. Many
opponents also argue that it rarely has any deterrent effect, and that criminals seldom
consider the possibility of a death sentence when committing a crime.
Many people who oppose the death penalty also contend that it is often applied
unequally, in the United States, the death penalty system in the is applied in an unfair and
unjust manner against people, largely dependent on how much money they have, the skill of
their attorneys, race of the victim and where the crime took placePeople of minority races
are far more likely to be executed than white people, especially if the victim is white.
Supporters say that while flaws within the legal system should be addressed they do not
mean that the entire process does not work.
Support for the death penalty has fluctuated throughout the century. According to
Gallup surveys, in 1936 61% of Americans favored the death penalty for persons
convicted of murder. Support reached an all-time low of 42% in 1966. Throughout
the 70s and 80s, the percentage of Americans in favor of the death penalty
increased steadily, culminating in an 80% approval rating in 1994. A May 2004
Gallup Poll found that a growing number of Americans support a sentence of life
without parole rather than the death penalty for those convicted of murder. Gallup
also found that 46% of respondents favor life imprisonment over the death penalty,
up from 44% in May 2003. During that same time frame, support for capital
punishment as an alternative fell from 53% to 50%. The poll also revealed a growing
skepticism that the death penalty deters crime, with 62% of those polled saying that
it is not a deterrent. The death penalty lacks the deterrent effect which is commonly
referred to by its advocates. As recently stated by the General Assembly of the
United Nations, "there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death
penalty (UNGA Resolution 65/206). t is noteworthy that in many retentionist states,
the effectiveness of the death penalty in order to prevent crime is being seriously
questioned by a continuously increasing number of law enforcement professionals.
These percentages are a dramatic shift from the responses given to this same
question in 1991, when 51% of Americans believed the death penalty deterred
crime and only 41% believed it did not. Only 55% of those polled responded that
they believed the death penalty is implemented fairly, down from 60% in 2003.
When not offered an alternative sentence, 71% supported the death penalty and
26% opposed. The overall support is about the same as that reported in 2002, but
down from the 80% support in 1994.
The American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty clearly violates the
constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due
process of law and of equal protection under the law. Furthermore, they believe that the
state should not give itself the right to kill human beings especially when it kills with
premeditation and ceremony, in the name of the law or in the name of its people.
The death penalty is a waste of taxpayer funds and has no public safety benefit. The
enormous majority of law enforcement professionals surveyed agree that capital
punishment does not deter violent crime. A survey of police chiefs nationwide found they
rank the death penalty lowest among ways to reduce violent crime. They ranked increasing
the number of police officers, reducing drug abuse, and creating a better economy with
more jobs higher than the death penalty as the best ways to reduce violence. The FB has
found the states with the death penalty have the highest murder rates.
Around two million dollars is used for every single execution. There has been 1,264
executed in America's history, which is 25280000000000 milion dollars used on killing
people, instead of just giving them life in jail, which could only cost up to 500,000 thousand
per inmate. Also The American Bar Association published guidelines for a good defense
in a death penalty case with two attorneys with prior experience working a capital case,
one investigator, one mitigation specialist, and fully funded to pay for travel, private eyes,
evidence testing and other things needed to investigate the case. Yet no state meets these
standards. And few states pay their state-appointed lawyers well enough to retain
competent, effective lawyers.
Serial killers such as the infamous Gary Ridgway in Seattle who admitted killing 48
prostitutes and runaways got life in prison. An "angel of death" nurse in NJ who admitted
killing 17 people got life. Meanwhile, mentally ill and poor murderers who could not afford
good lawyers and did not get much media attention were given the death penalty. n
Alabama, David Hocker was executed after a one-day trial. His mental illness was not
sufficiently described to the jury. Alabama also executed a 74-year-old man (James
Hubbard)who had been on DR for 27 years and was beset by medical problems which
would have probably soon caused his death by natural means: cancer, high blood pressure
and the early stages of Alzheimers. n Texas, a man with schizophrenia was executed
(Kelsey Patterson) even after the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended clemency
after learning of his time spent in mental hospitals and his unintelligible rambling. Public
support for the death penalty does not necessarily mean that taking away the life of a
human being by the state is right. Politicians should represent the community by not
committing errors that we don't know about until it's done. t is the job of leading figures and
politicians to underline the incompatibility of capital punishment with human rights and
human dignity.
The death penalty involves medical doctors, who are sworn to preserve life, in the
act of killing. This issue has been much discussed in recent years because several states
have provided for execution by lethal injection. n 1980 the American Medical Association,
responding to this innovation, declared that a doctor should not participate in an execution.
But it added that a doctor may determine or certify death in any situation.
Many people who oppose capital punishment have second thoughts whenever a
particularly brutal murder occurs. When a Richard Speck or Charles Manson or Steven
Judy emerges, there is a tendency to say, "That one really deserves to die." Disgust, anger
and genuine fear support the second thoughts. oppose this statement because no matter
how bad or how many people were murder the state will still be breaking the law and
committing a law himself. What makes the state so pure that it has the right to take life?
Look at the record of governments throughout history so often operating with deception,
cruelty and greed, so often becoming masters of the citizens they are supposed to serve.
The state is involving innocent people that dislike killing. Like the prison warden who
took care of Gary Gilmore's case "'m personally opposed to killing and violence and
having to do that is a difficult responsibility." Too often, in killing and violence, the state
makes people to act against their consciences.
There is another point on that, government should not give bad example, especially
to children. What do we tell our kids? "Oh son you shall not kill ever' when they see on tv,
the state itself is saying, 'Well, yes, we can kill, under certain circumstances.'
And there is the point that government should not give bad exampleespecially not
to children. Earl Charles, a veteran of several years on death row for crimes he did not
commit, tried to explain this last year: Well, it is difficult for me to sit down and talk to my
son about how he shall never kill another human being, but then the state is saying on tv that
they can execute people that made a mistake, even though their lives could be changed in
the future.
Maryland anti abortion activist who says that he "became convinced that the
question of whether or not murderers deserve to die is the wrong one. The real question is
whether other humans have a right to kill them." He concluded that they do not after
conversations with an opponent of capital punishment who asked, "Why don't we torture
prisoners? Torturing them is less than killing them. agree with Leszek Syski the anti
abortion activist from Maryland, he has a point, would rather see people get beat up for a
period of time than just seeing them get executed. t is the right punishment plus jail, of
course.
Richard Viguerie reached his positions on abortion and capital punishment
independently, but does see a connection between the two issues: "To me, life is sacred,"
Mr. Viguerie says. "And don't believe have a right to terminate someone else's life either
way by abortion or capital punishment." Many others in the pro life movement have come to
the same conclusion. They don't think they have a right to play God, and they don't believe
that the state encourages respect for life when it engages in premeditated killing.
For many family members whose loved ones have been murdered, it will not heal
their pain by seeing the murderer get executed in such a horrible way. t brings more
sadness to them to see how the murderer's family is hurt by seeing its member get killed
by the government. And to the murderer it is not even a punishment because after death
nothing else happens.
Life in jail keeps them away from committing any other crime and it will give them a
lesson, they sure will learn from it and they could also get a second chance to live free in
the future. t will also give them a chance to apologize and maybe payback to the family
they once hurt.
t needs to be pointed out that public support for the death penalty is linked to the
desire of the people to be free from crime. However, there exist more effective ways to
prevent crime. "We know enough to say that some crimes require severe punishment. We
do not know enough to say when anyone should die.
WORK CTED
-Against the Death Penalty - antideathpenalty.org
< http://www.antideathpenalty.org >
Against the Death Penalty - aclu.org
< http://www.aclu.org?capital-punishment >
-Death Penalty history - deathpenalty.org
< http://www.deathpenalty.org
-Death Penalty history - deathpenalty.procon.org
< http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php >
-Death Penalty nformation - deathpenaltyinfo.org
< http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org >
-Against the Death Penalty - icomdp.org
< http://www.icomdp.org >
- What is the Death Penalty - wisegeek.org
< http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-death-penalty.htm >