Salt Lake City, Utah - The state is announcing the possible use of firing squads as a form of capital punishment. The increasing scarcity of the lethal injection drugs that are typically used to cause death have opened the door to the potential resumption of such an archaic and, what many would consider an anachronistic method of punishment.
The answer to the question begs one to define what justice "is". The simple definition of justice is achieving that which is just, as defied by society. A simple search on Google will provide the statistic from the Pew Research Center that, as of 2013, a majority of Americans (55%) support the death penalty. A little more research and you find that while a majority still support the death penalty, that support is shrinking. In 1996 approximately 78% of the American people supported the use of the death penalty. Over 15 years, from 1996 to 2013, the support for the death penalty has declined by 23%. While the death penalty may have been considered just in the past, opinion seems to be changing.
The argument against the death penalty is not only a philosophical one but also an economic one. Take the case of Utah, where the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office estimates that a death penalty punishment costs the state $1.6 million more than if the state gives the guilty a punishment of life in prison without parole. Utah is not the only state in which this is the case. According to Amnesty International - USA, in Maryland the death penalty cases are estimated to cost three times more than non-death penalty cases and, in Tennessee the death penalty trials can cost approximately 48% more when compared to cases where the punishment is life in prison. Overall, Amnesty International - USA found that the majority of the cost of a death penalty trial is incurred before and during the trial itself. Therefore, even if there are no appeals allowed death penalty cases are more expensive than cases that seek an alternative form of punishment.
Clearly the death penalty is declining in popularity, it can be prohibitively expensive, and with states potentially resorting to methods like firing squads it is no longer humane. The time has come to consider a Federal ban on the use of the death penalty. The United States would not be one of the first countries to ban the use of the death penalty. According to Amnesty International the use of the death penalty has been abolished in 140 countries. As of 2013 some of the countries with the greatest number of executions were North Korea, Somalia, and the United States. Are these the countries that the United States wants its justice system compared to?
The discussion thus far has centered on the macro-level issues related to capital punishment. To the victims of the crimes that are considered worthy of the death penalty, any sentence less than death for the guilty may seem like injustice. For the victims, justice can become blind to the economics of capital punishment. However, an individual once said that an eye for an eye will only make the whole blind. That individual was not a saint or superhero but, a man. That man was Gandhi. After he was fatally shot, he said with his dying breath that his assassin should not be killed. Forgiveness (life in prison instead of death) seems like a "pie in the sky" solution to the issue of capital punishment but, it is not a preposterous as it seems. Killing the guilty will not undo a crime but, forgiveness (life in prison instead of death) allows everyone to move on with their lives. In the long term, life in prison is a far more effective punishment than death. The guilty will have to live with the crime that was committed. It is much more difficult to live than it is to die.
Capital punishment is not only economically unviable but, it can also be inhumane. Let the last death sentence be for capital punishment.
Clearly the death penalty is declining in popularity, it can be prohibitively expensive, and with states potentially resorting to methods like firing squads it is no longer humane. The time has come to consider a Federal ban on the use of the death penalty. The United States would not be one of the first countries to ban the use of the death penalty. According to Amnesty International the use of the death penalty has been abolished in 140 countries. As of 2013 some of the countries with the greatest number of executions were North Korea, Somalia, and the United States. Are these the countries that the United States wants its justice system compared to?
The discussion thus far has centered on the macro-level issues related to capital punishment. To the victims of the crimes that are considered worthy of the death penalty, any sentence less than death for the guilty may seem like injustice. For the victims, justice can become blind to the economics of capital punishment. However, an individual once said that an eye for an eye will only make the whole blind. That individual was not a saint or superhero but, a man. That man was Gandhi. After he was fatally shot, he said with his dying breath that his assassin should not be killed. Forgiveness (life in prison instead of death) seems like a "pie in the sky" solution to the issue of capital punishment but, it is not a preposterous as it seems. Killing the guilty will not undo a crime but, forgiveness (life in prison instead of death) allows everyone to move on with their lives. In the long term, life in prison is a far more effective punishment than death. The guilty will have to live with the crime that was committed. It is much more difficult to live than it is to die.
Capital punishment is not only economically unviable but, it can also be inhumane. Let the last death sentence be for capital punishment.
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