Capital Punishment in America

    William Randolph Hearst, an American newspaper magnate living in the late 19th and early 20th century, once commented on the death penalty, saying “What is murder in the first degree? It is cruel, calculated, cold-blooded killing of a fellow human man. It is the most wicked of crimes and the State is guilty of it every time it executes a human being.”  (TIME Magazine)  According to Legal-definitions.com, capital punishment is defined as “the death sentence awarded for capital offences like crimes involving planned murder, multiple murders, repeated crimes, rape and murder etc where in the criminal provisions consider such persons as a gross danger to the existence of the society and provide death punishment.”  Capital punishment not only violates the Eighth Amendment, also serving as an inefficient deterrent, but also is found to be barbaric, irreversible, and imperfect, allowing the chance for wrongly accused individuals to be put to death.

    Capital punishment, both barbaric and irremediable, violates the Eighth Amendment, prohibiting the use of “cruel and unusual punishment.”  The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”  In 1972, a court case, Furman vs. Georgia, brought in front of the U.S. Supreme Court found that capital punishment did in fact violate the Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.”  Justice Potter Stewart, a judge serving on the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of the court case, commented on the death penalty, saying “These death penalties are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual.”  (FURMAN v. GEORGIA, 408 U.S. 238 [1972])  The Supreme Court banned the use of capital punishment, their decision being overturned a few years later.  Many argue that the Eighth Amendment is obviously not violated because the term “cruel and unusual” appeals to evolving societal standards.  However, evidence has been found showing that botched executions can be extremely painful for the accused, making executions both cruel and unusual, both in the 18th century, when the amendment was written, as well as today in the 21st century.  For example, the execution of Pedro Medina, an inmate on Florida’s death row, taking place on March 25, 1997, went wrong after the first jolt of electricity hit Medina.  Blue and orange flames shot out of the right side of Medina’s head for six to ten seconds before he died.  The execution and witness room was said to have filled with smoke and the stench of burnt flesh. (http://www.ccadp.org/botchedx.htm)  This is one of many examples that prove that capital punishment is neither humane nor painless, but instead cruel and barbaric, regardless of the time period.

    Another issue that should be addressed is the fact that capital punishment serves as an ineffective deterrent, despite many people’s assumptions.  A survey conducted in 1996, interviewing former and current presidents of the United State’s top academic criminological societies, showed that 84% of the participants agreed that the death penalty did not act as a deterrent to murder.  Many who stand for the death penalty argue that the threat of execution serves as a deterrent to those who consider committing a crime such as murder.  However, as shown in Fig. 1, the states that execute those on death row have a higher murder rate then those that have laws against the death penalty, proving that life in prison serves as a more effective deterrent than the threat of execution. (www.deathpenatlyinfo.org)

    The last issue that will be addressed within this paper deals with the inevitable imperfection of capital punishment.  A survey conducted in 1993 by the House Judiciary

Subcommittee on Civil & Constitutional Rights shows that since the year of 1973, at least 120 people have been released from death row because of evidence proving their innocence.  The opposing side argues that with DNA testing being over 99 percent effective, and the trials and appeals process being so tedious, it leaves little room for error.  However, DNA testing has also shown, at a later date, that many innocent men and women have been put to death because of incorrect evidence.  (The New York Times)  While people in favor of the death penalty argue that the court system will never be perfect and that it can’t be expected to be, in reality that is a very important point for the people who reject the death penalty.  The court system will never be perfect; therefore we should never take the life of another based on an imperfect system.

    In conclusion, capital punishment should not hold a place in America.  In the land of the free and the home of the brave, it should be said that the death penalty is an outdated form of punishment, causing more damage than anything.  Capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment, is barbaric, irreversible, inhumane, and imperfect, allowing for there to be a chance that wrongly accused individuals could be put to death.   

     



References

Levitt, Steven. (2008, August 28).  Are the F.B.I.s Probabilities About DNA Matches    Crazy? The New York Times, 12-13.

Legal Explanations. (2004-2007). Capital Punishment. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from http://www.legal-explanations.com/definitions/capital-punishment.htm

Time Magazine. (1935). Death Pictures. Retrieved October 27, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847542,00.html

U.S. Supreme Court Case. FURMAN v. GEORGIA, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)

Botched Executions. (2005). Botched Executions in the United States.  Retrieved October 20, 2008, from http://www.ccadp.org/botchedx.htm

Death Penalty Information. (2008). Death Penalty pdf file. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from www.deathpenalty.org