Flaws of the Death Penalty
Flaws of the Death PenaltyCapital Punishment has been part of the criminal justice
system since the earliest of times. The Babylonian Hammurabi Code(ca.
1700 B.C.) decreed death for crimes as minor as the fraudulent sale of
beer(Flanders 3). Egyptians could be put to death for disclosing the
location of sacred burial sites(Flanders 3). However, in recent times
opponents have shown the death penalty to be racist, barbaric, and in
violation with the United States Constitution as "...cruel and unusual
punishment." In this country,although laws governing the application
of the death penalty have undergone many changes since biblical
times, the punishment endures, and controversy has never been greater.
A prisoner's death wish cannot grant a right not otherwise
possessed. Abolitionists maintain that the state has no right to kill
anyone. The right to reject life imprisonment and choose death should
be respected, but it changes nothing for those who oppose the death at
the hands of the state.
The death penalty is irrational- a fact that should carry
considerable weight with rationalists. As Albert Camus pointed out, "
Capital punishment....has always been a religious punishment and is
reconcilable with humanism." In other words, society has long since
left behind the archaic and barbous "customs" from the cruel "eye for
an eye" anti-human caves of religion- another factor that should
raise immediate misgivings for freethinkers.
State killings are morally bankrupt. Why do governments kill
people to show other people that killing people is wrong? Humanity
becomes associated with murderers when it replicate their deeds. Would
society allow rape as the penalty for rape or the burning of
arsonists' homes as the penalty for arson?
The state should never have the power to murder its subjects.
To give the state this power eliminates the individual's most
effective shield against tyranny of the majority and is inconsistent
with democratic principles.
Family and friends of murder victims are further victimized by
state killings. Quite a few leaders in the abolishment movement became
involved specially because someone they loved was murdered. Family of
victims repeatedly stated they wanted the murderer to die. One of the
main reasons- in addition to justice- was they wanted all the
publicity to be over. Yet. if it wasn't for the sensationalism
surrounding an execution, the media exposure would not have occurred
in the first place. Murderers would be quietly and safely put away for
life with absolutely no possibility for parole.
The death penalty violates constitutional prohibitions against
cruel and unusual punishment. The grotesque killing of Robert Harris
by the state of California on April 21,1992, and similar reports of
witnesses to hangings and lethal injections should leave doubt that
the dying process can be- and often is-grossly inhumane, regardless of...
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