Capital Punishment

When is it acceptable for another person, group, or organization to put an end to another person’s life? Whether they so out of maliciousness, greed, self defense or in the pursuit of justice? The closest the public may come to a general consensus on the approval of killing another human being is the reason of self defense with the pursuit of justice as a motive being second. However, killing someone as an act of righteousness does not necessarily make it so; while the intention may be moral and upright, taking the life of the guilty individual, is not.

Many advocates of capital punishment may present very convincing arguments as to why capital punishment is necessary for the continued security of the citizens of society. However, while there are valid grounds to encourage capital punishment, there are more convincing and sound reasons why the death penalty should be discontinued as part of the justice system in the United States. The very thought of ending someone’s life and sanctioning it is too great a moral responsibility for even the state to undertake. Thus, there is only one answer to the question of whether the state should continue the practice of capital punishment вЂ" no. This paper will present three reasons why the death penalty should terminated in all 36 practicing states: the system is flawed; the death penalty has failed in deterring crime; and the practice is an inhumane form of punishment.

One of the most common arguments for the use of capital punishment is that it greatly assists in the protection of innocent citizens. To say that the death penalty is needed to dissuade would-be criminals is faulty reasoning. Advocates of capital punishment contend that capital punishment acts as a crime deterrent is not credible as they have yet to prove this as a factual occurrence.

Capital punishment as the ultimate crime deterrent is of course, a myth, in fact, states without the death penalty has lower murder rates. Additionally, the majority of death penalty carrying crimes are usually irrational and not premeditated. There is no scientific or reliable evidence to prove that the thought of someone receiving the death penalty has prevented him or her from committing murder. Studies performed to determine whether or not the death penalty was taken into account by would-be murderers have yet to turn out conclusive results to maintain this claim.

Another major reason that capital punishment should be discontinued lies in the ghastly and inhumane methods of execution. It is a contradiction to modern society that places a lot of stock on civility and humanity to methodically instigate the death of another human being. Methods of capital punishment including legal injection and the electric chair offer up an excruciating, brutal and slow death for its inmates. The system is barbaric and promotes violent retribution in its truest form by taking the life of someone in a most public and painful manner.

Infoplease, (2001 вЂ" 2007) shows that there are still five practicing methods of execution that take place in the United States: the lethal injection; the gas chamber; the electric chair; the firing squad and hanging. Of the five methods, the lethal injection and the gas chamber are the two most common methods of execution and even so, they also have unsavory undertones. There are existing challenges being faced by the states that use lethal injection which attests to the needless and excessive pain involved. This is because the drugs that are used to induce coma may not work on every inmate leaving the possibility that some will experience extreme pain during the remainder of the procedure. The gas chamber is another ghastly method which has had its share of mishaps. Poisonous gases are released into a chamber and the individual has to sit and endure it until the body succumbs to the pain. This method is also painstakingly slow. Head, T. (2005) recounted the incident of “the infamous execution of Jimmy Lee Gray in 1983, who frantically gasped moaned and slammed his head into a steel pipe for ten minutes as the cyanide slowly took effect.”

Many individuals have heard of the electric chair with its horror stories of person’s head catching fire, of their urinating and defecating on themselves while being shocked with 2,000 volts of electricity. With these botched executions racking up, participating states have yet to find a method of execution that is without fault. It is obvious there are several existing problems with the system which should daunt any state from using the death penalty.

Besides the fact that the death penalty has failed in deterring crime and it is an inhumane form of punishment, there is the fact that the system is flawed. The most significant evidence of this the disturbingly higher percentage of African Americans sentenced to death versus white Americans even though the races of the victims are at an equal percentage. Data on the Death Penalty Information Center (2007), revealed that “of the chief District Attorneys in counties using the death penalty in the United States, nearly 98% are white and only 1% are African-American. All the participating states have gross racial disparity regarding the issuance of the death penalty. Even more disturbing is the fact that it is not restricted to one area of the country. Baldus D., Woodworth G. (1998) disclosed that the odds of an African American receiving a death sentence in Philadelphia is four times higher that a white defendant.

It is wrong and immoral to subject someone to the death penalty because of the color of his skin, more so when that individual has pledged their innocence and there is no solid evidence to prove otherwise. Information on Amnesty International (2003), confirmed that, “studies indicating that race, particularly race of victim, continue to play a role in who is sentenced to death in the USA.” Statistics have shown that African American’s have been subjected to racial prejudice regarding the issuance of death sentences; several of the cases where death row inmates were exonerated showed that the information which would have proven the innocence of the defendants was hidden.

Some states are no longer willing to risk the social and moral ramifications of capital punishment. In New York, it was alleged that homicides had decreased significantly since the state implemented capital punishment in 1995; however, the state later declared the act unconstitutional and discontinued capital punishment in 2004.

Another factor which pointed to the patent failing of capital punishment was when severely mentally ill inmates were eligible for death sentences. Hansen, M. (2007), stated that mentally ill inmates