The Death Penalty is an acceptable form of punishment for perpetrators of especially heinous or diabolical crimes. It acts as a deterrent, gives the victim a sense of closure and is more cost effective than sentencing someone to life in prison without possibility of parole. The essay focuses on these three key points and then explains how opposition of the Death Penalty is misinformed on the actual facts.
The Death Penalty is an Appropriate Punishment
The legality and ethics of the death penalty has been questioned since the conception of organized society. The death penalty is a form of punishment in which a person who has been convicted of a serious crime is executed under the precept of the criminal justice system. The death penalty has been in existence for thousands of years and is currently used in 21 countries, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia executed the most inmates in 2012. In the US, it is legal punishment for capital offenders in 32 states. A capital offender is someone who commits one of the 41 Federal capital offenses, the 41 offenses are somewhat consistent between all users of the death penalty. Some examples of capital offenses include 1st degree murder, treason, and terrorism. The Death Penalty is an appropriate punishment for perpetrators of especially heinous and diabolical crimes. It effectively deters crime, victims gain well deserved closure, and it is far more cost effective to execute than it is to house in prison for life.
Death is a far more severe punishment than imprisonment for life. Death is a common trepidation between humans and even the most hardened criminals fear it. As Ernest Van Den Haag Late Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University stated, “Murderers clearly prefer it to execution — otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death.” Earlier this year, Ohio man Ariel Castro was accused of the rape, kidnapping and 10 year imprisonment of 3 other Ohioan women. In order to avoid the Death Penalty, Castro agreed to plead guilty to 937 counts of his 977 count indictment. The plea bargain stated Castro would spend his life in prison without parole plus spend an additional 1,000 years and in turn, he would avoid the Death Penalty. In another instance, Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes also accepted a plea deal in which he would spend the rest of his life inside a mental institution rather than be put to death, James Holmes, killer of 25, accepted the guilty plea after submitting it to prosecutors. New Mexico shooter, Jared Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 counts at his court hearing, which ultimately spared him the death penalty. The sentence could not include the death penalty, because the guilty plea bargain was made with an assurance that it would not be sought. Felons who commit heinous crimes will do anything to get out of a Death Penalty conviction. This shows that felons are not at all willing to die for their crimes. This correlates with a statement made by Michael Summers, PhD and author of the book “Capital Punishment Works”. He stated “recent research … conducted by the FBI… shows that each execution carried out is correlated with about 74 fewer murders the following year… The study examined the relationship between the number of executions and the number of murders in the U.S. for the 26-year period from 1979 to 2004.” There is an obvious negative trend of murders when executions increase. Based on Justice Bureau statistics, when the Death Penalty was reinstated in the US after continued debate in the late 1970’s there was a drop in the number of murders committed. When the numbers of executions began to diminish, the murder rate began to increase. Since 2001, there has been a decline in executions and a rise in murders. These cold hard facts and statistics are proof that the Death Penalty effectively deters criminals from committing crime.
Secondly, the Death Penalty ensures that the victims of these especially heinous crimes get the appropriate closure they deserve. It’s unfortunate that the emphasis of criminal justice systems worldwide are focused on protecting the criminal rather than the victim. When a criminal gets life in prison he is indiscriminately cared for during his entire sentence while victims are left out to dry, usually without any state support. In Albert Camus’s “The Stranger” the main character Meursault is suspected in the shooting death of an unnamed Arab man. He is provided for and even gains an audience with a priest while the victims family aren’t provided with any support. Judicial systems worldwide have consistently favored the offenders over the victims. The Death Penalty does not only provide retribution for the Victim, it also returns order to society. When a serious crime is committed the order of society is tragically disrupted. As J. Budziszewski, PhD Professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin stated “Society is justly ordered when each person receives what is due to him. Crime disturbs this just order, for the criminal takes from people their lives, peace, liberties, and worldly goods in order to give himself undeserved benefits. Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring this just order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has done. This is retribution.” Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring order and making the criminal pay the price of his crime. Society will return to normal after the criminal has been dealt what he deserves. Life without possibility of parole does not meet the expectation of the crime committed, therefore society will not return to normal. Once the criminal has been awarded an equal and fair punishment for what he has committed, then the victim get well deserved retribution and closure from a dramatic and life changing moment.
Lastly, the Death Penalty is economically superior to life without possibility of parole. As Dudley Sharp, director of the JFA (Justice for All Foundation) stated “Many opponents present, as fact, that the cost of the death penalty is so expensive at least $2 million per case, that we must choose life without parole at a cost of $1 million for 50 years. Predictably, these pronouncements may be entirely false. JFA estimates that LWOP cases will cost $1.2 million, $3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases.” It is fact that LWOP cases cost substantially more to process than Death Penalty cases. It is also fact that it costs $69,000 dollars per year to house a prisoner. The Death Penalty is a substantial omission from these great life sentence costs. It costs a fraction of that to execute an offender than to pay $69,000 per year to house, feed and support them. Overall, It costs far less to execute prisoners than it is to provide for them for the rest of their lives.
Many people believe that the death penalty is a barbaric and inappropriate form of punishment around the world. They are misinformed and incorrect. In the 1970’s the Death Penalty was subject to evaluation by the US Supreme Court. Justice John G. Roberts stated that “whenever a method of execution has been challenged in this Court as cruel and unusual, the Court has rejected the challenge. Our society has nonetheless steadily moved to more humane methods of carrying out capital punishment.” The courts have consistently ruled that the Death Penalty is completely constitutional. It does not violate any constitutional amendments. People who oppose the Death Penalty also argue that It destroys and does not protect. This is false, the Death Penalty protects other people from crimes that the criminal may commit if he is left alive. Many Death Row inmates are career criminals who have previous records. The Death Penalty prevents these criminals from going on to commit even more crime. Opposition of the Death Penalty are most commonly misinformed about the cost. They believe that the cost of a Death Penalty trial is more than the costs of housing the prisoner for the rest of their life, which is also incorrect.
The Death Penalty is a strong and effective punishment for perpetrators of especially heinous and diabolical crimes. It effectively deters crime, victims gain well deserved closure, and it is far more cost effective to execute than it is to house in prison for life. Once these perpetrators have been executed, order will return to society. People who unfortunately oppose the Death Penalty are usually very misinformed. The controversy and legality should be put to rest as the Death Penalty is superior to Life in prison without possibility of parole.
Matt Coppola
World Studies World Literature 