A Civilized Nation’s Barbaric Practice

America. A land of plenty. A land of diversity and tolerance, of happiness and wealth, of advanced technology and science. A land that champions democracy, human rights and economic freedom around the world. America, the self-proclaimed leader of the globe, the supposed head of all civilized nations.

Yet there is a flaw that undermines America’s righteousness, that sets the United States apart from Western democracies. This flaw is capital punishment.

In the United States, there are more than 2,500 people waiting to be executed, according to information compiled by Ian Gray and Moira Stanley for Amnesty International. Waiting to be injected with lethal drugs, to be filled with an electric current or perhaps even to be hanged by a noose like the grisly, barbaric deaths in the Old West. Two states still kill Death Row inmates by firing squad.

How civilized.

The death penalty is a practice that should have ended years ago. No one has the right to decide whether another person’s life should end. Who gives a judge the power to end a criminal’s life? No matter what a person has done or how many people he has killed, no person deserves to die. It is as simple as that. Executing people for their crimes is more than just brutal and vindictive. It is senseless.

Support of capital punishment is an understandable reaction to the rising tide of violence and death in our society. But capital punishment is not the answer to ending America’s crime problems. The death penalty does not deter criminals. Though capital punishment was reinstated in 1977, the murder rate in the United States is still at an alarmingly high rate.

Many people feel that criminals deserve to die, that the public should not have to feed, clothe and house these persons for the rest of their lives.

This belief is as popular as it is incorrect. A Wall Street Journal study contends that by the time all the legal and law enforcement bills are tallied, it costs $4.5 million to execute one person in California, while jailing someone for 40 years costs $660,000. That’s a difference of $3,840,000.

Obviously, capital punishment does not make sense from an economic viewpoint. It would be much simpler, less expensive and more civilized to put people in jail for a lifetime.

Another argument against capital punishment: An innocent person could be condemned to die. There is no way that the justice system can be perfect, but capital punishment leaves no room for error. After taking a life, there is no way to give it back.

Capital punishment has, unfortunately, been used by politicians as a ploy. Mayors, governors, presidential hopefuls declare that they will “get tough on crime” by allowing the murder of convicted felons. They don’t realize that one crime will not make up for another. They don’t realize that there are other, more effective ways to “get tough on crime.”

The public is often deceived by politicians spouting meaningless rhetoric. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo was one of the few prominent politicians who firmly stood against the death penalty, but last year he lost his job, in part because of an angry public that believed he was soft on crime.

There is truly nothing good about the death penalty. It is unfair, unjust and impractical from all standpoints. It is morally wrong and economically wrong. It is cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty solves nothing and reinforces the idea that murder is OK.

Supporters of capital punishment should remember that an eye for an eye eventually makes the world blind.