The Death Penalty – What Is It Good For
by Ted Miller
(originally published June 2017 in Tumbleweird)
On December 23, 1991, Todd Willingham ran out of his burning
house frantically screaming that his three young girls were burning up. The
wooden house was quickly engulfed in flame and all three girls died from the
fire. Willingham was subsequently accused of murder, convicted in the deaths of
his children, and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2004, maintaining his
innocence until the end. Since then, investigations have shown that witness
testimony was questionable, forensic evidence was flawed, and the fire was
accidental and not arson. In all likelihood, Cameron Todd Willingham was
executed for a crime he did not commit. How many other innocent people have
been executed?
Last month, Arkansas rushed to execute death row inmates
before their supply of a key lethal drug expired at the end of April. Assembly
line executions to ensure justice under the law. But what kind of justice? What
good does this barbaric practice of executing criminals do for our society?
Does it act as a deterrent? Is it less expensive than life in prison? Is it
fair? Is it just?
The United States is among a dwindling number of countries
that have yet to abolish capital punishment. The countries with the most
executions each year include China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, North
Korea, and the United States.
Although some argue that the death penalty is an effective
deterrent against certain crimes, the evidence does not support such a
conclusion. The South carries out over 80% of the executions in the United
states, yet has the highest murder rate of any U.S. region. That doesn’t
correlate to deterrence. Whether a murder is pre-meditated or an act of heated
passion in the moment, it is ludicrous to think the murderer spends any time at
all considering whether they will face execution as a consequence of carrying
out their crime. In fact, a 2009 article published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology found that 88% of expert
criminologists believe there is no empirical evidence that executions reduce
crime. And as Jimmy Carter reminded us in his April 2012 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, “the homicide rate is at
least five times greater in the United States than in any Western European
country, all without the death penalty.” The death penalty as a deterrent is
myth.
The monetary costs associated with capital punishment are significantly
more than those for similar cases where the death penalty is not sought. A
January 2015 study published by Seattle University showed that for the 147
aggravated first-degree murder cases in Washington State since 1997, the
average costs when the death penalty was sought were over one million dollars
more expensive for each case than for similar non-death penalty cases. This was
true even when including the cost of life imprisonment. When Governor Jay
Inslee declared a moratorium on executions, he stated “the costs associated
with prosecuting a capital case far outweigh the price of locking someone up
for life without the possibility of parole.” States which still impose capital
punishment spend tens of millions of dollars each year on death penalty cases
with no corresponding reduction in crime for that cost.
Moreover, the death penalty is not applied fairly. Since
1973, more than 155 people were released from death row for any number of
reasons: faulty evidence, problems with
the conduct of the trial, prosecutorial misconduct, defense ineptness, witness
reliability, or other factors. In most of these cases, the individuals were
innocent. Indeed, as in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, there are many
cases where innocent men have been put to death with evidence later indicating
it was not possible for them to have committed the crime for which they were
sentenced to die.
One-hundred-fifty-five people wrongly convicted and sent to
death row. Is it acceptable to sometimes execute innocent people? Is that
really an acceptable cost to society? I’ve always agreed with Sir William
Blackstone’s 18th-century principle that it is better for ten guilty
persons to go free than one innocent suffer. That is the way of a just and fair
society – protect the innocent. And
with the death penalty, an innocent person executed by mistake is an atrocious
action by the State that cannot be undone.
Statistics show that race is a significant factor in
application of the death penalty. Black defendants are several times more
likely to receive the death penalty than white defendants in similar cases. For
crimes where the victim is of a different race, a black defendant with a white
murder victim is fifteen times more likely to be executed for their crime than
a white defendant with a black murder victim (deathpenaltyinfo.org). This disparity
is hardly an indication of an even application of justice.
The death penalty is expensive, ineffective as a deterrent,
barbaric in its application, and unfair. There is no rational or compelling
reason for the government to kill someone for any crime, no matter how terrible
and heinous. Vengeance or retribution is an inadequate argument and cannot undo
the harm already done. Criminals should be held accountable without putting
them to death. Life in prison is a harsher and more appropriate sentence than a
quick and painless death.
We as a society should be beyond an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. Thirty-one states, including Washington, still have capital
punishment on the books. It’s time for the United States to join the rest of
the modern world and abolish the death penalty.
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