The Usual Methods of Execution - Essay Example

Capital Punishment Introduction ‘Capital Punishment’ is the lawful infliction of death as a punishment of a crime. The term ‘Capital” is derived from the Latin ‘Capitalis’ meaning ‘head’. Also referred to as the ‘Death Penalty’, it is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as punishment for a serious crime called a ‘capital offence’ or a ‘capital crime. Persons who have been sentenced to death are usually kept segregated from other prisoners in a special part of the prison called ‘Death Row’ pending their execution.1 Before 2004, hanging and shooting were the usual methods of execution. After 2004, lethal injection (perceived by many as the least gruesome way of executing someone), hanging and beheading were the main methods used. Electrocution and the gas chamber are used in the United States only if the inmates wish to be executed by these methods. Stoning to death for sexual offences still occurs in some Islamic countries, notably Pakistan.2 From 1990 to 2003 Amnesty International reported a global average of 2,242 executions per year. In 2003 Amnesty reported 1,146 executions in 28 countries, 88% of them in just 5 countries: The People’s Republic of China 726, Iran 108, the U.S. 65, Vietnam 64 and Saudi Arabia 52.3 The figures reported by Amnesty in 2004 showed an increase over the previous year, totaling 3,797 executions in 25 countries, about 90% of them (3,400) in The People’s Republic of China, 230 in Iran, 64 in Vietnam, and 59 in 1= http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Capital_punishment 2= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 3= http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Capital_punishment the U.S.4 Opposition to Capital Punishment began in Europe in the 1750s. Persons like Cesare Beccaria (Italian jurist), Voltaire (French philosopher), Jeremy Betham and Samuel Romilly (English law reformers) declared that Capital Punishment was inhumane and should be replaced by life imprisonment.5 Today, Capital Punishment has been abolished in the vast majority of democracies in Europe and Latin America, while it is still retained in most democracies in Asia, the U.S. and almost all totalitarian governments. In the U.S., the Supreme Court abolished it in 1972 on the grounds that it was being applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner which constituted cruel and unjust punishment (Furman v Georgia 1972).6 On July 2, 1976 in deciding the case Gregg v Georgia, the Supreme Court legalised capital punishment.7 Today following a four-year moratorium, Capital Punishment was reinstated in 1976. Today, it is followed in 36 States as well as by the Federal Government.8 Thesis Capital Punishment is a far better tool than life imprisonment primarily considering the saving of State and taxpayers’ money, and secondarily a host of other also important, influencing factors; the end target being maintaining the individual and society’s faith in law and the legal system thereby making our country a better and safer living place. 4= http://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/DeathPenalty.htm 5= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 6= http://cpa.ca/ogloff.htm 7= http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/12/1221 8= http://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/DeathPenalty.htm Arguments against Capital Punishment The arguments against Capital Punishment are as follows: 1. Capital Punishment is inhumane Stating that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,”9 the Anti-Capital Punishment lobby declares that Capital Punishment also violates the “cruel and unusual” clause in the Bill of Rights;10 it is the bluntest of ‘blunt’ instruments wherein the criminal undergoes extreme mental torture in the time leading to the execution.11 It is a remarkably unforgiving punishment; once exacted, it can never be taken back. The arguments go on: Do we rape rapists? Do we burn down arsonists’ homes? Do we beat wife batterers? Why does homicide fall into a different category of crime and punishment?12 Capital Punishment is a return to barbarity and modern society should shy away from it; isn’t this indicative of the fact that Capital Punishment has been eliminated from just about every industrialized nation except the U.S.?13 The Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment appointed by the then Governor George Ryan had Scott Turow among its members. In the course of their investigations, the Commission members including Turow were shocked at their findings; everyone, including the most hard-nosed members of the Commission were stunned to learn just now arbitrary the process actually was.14 9= http://www.princeton.edu/~lawjourn/Spring98/morley.html 10= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm 11= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 12= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 13= “Debating the Death Penalty” by Bedau, Hugo Adam & Cassell, Paul G. 14= “Ultimate Punishment” by Turow, Scott 2. Life Imprisonment is a better alternative Those against Capital Punishment strongly propose life imprisonment (average 15 years). It will make criminals reform themselves. When they are eventually released, they will have learned their lesson and will turn into beneficial members of society. Even in extreme cases, life in prison without parole (LWOP) is a better alternative to execution.15 3. High possibility of miscarriage of justice. Are there really innocent people on Death Row? Herein lies the inherent danger of Capital Punishment: while we execute someone, the real killer is out in the streets ready to victimise someone else. Judging by their track record, the police, courts and the system generally cannot be expected to get it right on every occasion;16 mistakes by over-zealous prosecution take place frequently. There have been cases of a few inmates released from Death Row, exonerated from crimes they did not commit; however in nearly every such case, third party groups were responsible for re-investigation and eventual acquittal, and not the appeals process.17 4. Capital Punishment has no moral basis Barring a few passages from the Bible’s Old Testament, nearly every major religion including the Bible’s New Testament denounces the Death Penalty as an ineffective and socially destructive punishment.18 The right to life, as a natural right, is not derived from the State, and the State has no right to take a human life.19 Damnation, not death, is the ultimate penalty – and that would be imposed by God, not the State.20 15= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 16= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 17= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 18= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 19= “Ultimate Punishment” by Turow, Scott 20= “Debating the Death Penalty” by Bedau, Hugo Adam & Cassell, Paul G. 5. High Cost of Execution The Anti-Capital Punishment lobby argues that the Death Penalty is not now, nor has it ever been, a more economical alternative to life imprisonment because the cost of a capital trial alone is more than the cost of life imprisonment. This is particularly in case of the U.S. where the legal system allows endless appeals and delays in carrying out the execution; the average time spent on Death Row is 11 years.21 6. Mental torture of the executed person’s family Capital Punishment involves a lot of innocent victims – principally the families of those executed. It is often very difficult for people to accept the fact that their loved one could be guilty of a serious crime.22 Not only are family members of the executed made orphans, widows and childless, but they are re-victimized over and over by mandatory appeals and overwhelming media attention.23 The family and friends undergo a period of suffering, mental torture, desperation and social exclusion during the time leading up to and during the execution; it will often cause them serious trauma even for years later.24 7. No real deterrent effect The theory behind deterrence is flawed itself. Murderers do not examine risk/reward charts. No criminal commits a crime if they believe they will be caught. It is unlikely that a few executions each year will have any significant deterrent effect on these criminals, who will resort to pleas of insanity or intimidate witnesses to escape.25 Those against Capital Punishment point out to Canada, the closest geographical and social equivalent of 21= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 22= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 23= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 24= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 25= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html the U.S. which has not had the Death Penalty for many years and suffers no adverse social effects as a result.26 8. Lethal Injections: Physicians unfairly involved in executing Death Penalties An American doctor drew parallels between the use of lethal injection and Nazi Germany’s “euthanasia” programme code named “T-4” which was designed to kill physically and mentally handicapped patients. The participation of doctors in executions is specifically condemned by all medical associations, including the American Medical Association (AMA)(12000) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) which stated: “Physicians are healers, not executioners.”27 9. Brutalizing effect on society Carrying out of executions has a brutalizing effect on society as many people turn out to watch the spectacle.28 In countries like Kuwait which hang criminals in a public square, hundreds of people gather to watch the hanging process. This is seen as a return to medieval times and not something one associates with the modern society of today. Arguments for Capital Punishment The Arguments for Capital Punishment are as follows: 1. Incapacitation of the criminal Capital Punishment permanently removes the worst criminals from society on the strong basis that there is no other socially acceptable option to deal with such people; death clearly permanently incapacitates them and prevents them from committing any offences either within prison or after escaping or being released from prison. Life 26= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 27= http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/12/1221 28= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html imprisonment (which anyway makes no sense) is too derisory for such evil, sick and barbaric psychopaths. If they are not executed, they will use every possible escape route to get off (e.g. plea bargaining, citing grounds of alleged psychiatric disorders, intimidating key witnesses). Even life without parole (LWOP) sentences (which is nothing but a joke) will only incite prisoners to kill staff or other inmates or take hostages in a bid to escape – they have endless time to plan an escape and everything to gain from it, while they have nothing further to lose by doing so. Moreover, there is no guarantee that future governments will not release such offenders.29 To quote Joseph de Maistre, an eighteenth century French diplomat: “All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.”30 Capital Punishment, at a stroke, puts an end to the futility and waste of present penal methods which do not distinguish between really dreadful and less dreadful crimes.31 2. Capital Punishment is economically correct Life imprisonment is expensive and a soft option to Capital Punishment. Capital Punishment helps to reduce the social costs of criminal activity as well as apprehension and conviction costs for crime.32 Except in one case (the U.S. where an inmate can remain up to 11 years on Death Row while the cogs of endless appeals and delays turn endlessly), the Death Penalty saves the money of the State and its taxpayers – such 29= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 30= http://www.studyworld.com/moral_issues/ capital_punishment/debate_over_capital_punishment.htm 31= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 32= http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/economics/faculty/jpalmer/CRUEL.html money that can be used on the more genuinely needy.33 Most States in the U.S. have a cap for spending on each capital trial (e.g. Alabama pays attorneys at the rate of $ 20 per hour, and Mississippi pays only $ 11.75 per hour).34 In Britain, it costs £ 600 a week at present for an ordinary prisoner, which works out to around £ 468,000 for a typical 15-year life sentence. Similarly, life without parole (LWOP) only increases the expenses of the State (e.g. recently in Britain, Mrya Hindley served 37 years in LWOP; fortunately she died before her term could come to an end).35 By killing condemned prisoners, we save years or even decades of costs associated with room and board. The total cost of LWOP must include the construction, financing and operation costs of a maximum-security cell. The annualised cost of building and operating such a cell are approximately $ 5,000 and the cost of maintaining a maximum- security prisoner is approximately $ 20,000 per year. Taking into account the average age of incarceration of someone convicted of homicide (30.8 years) and the average life expectancy of males in U.S. prisons, the total cost of LWOP ranges from $ 750,000 to $ 1.1 million per prisoner.36 3. Retribution News stories constantly bemoan and hype the countdown to execution. But where are the stories regarding the ripple effects of the heinous crimes that these criminals were executed of committing? Who is counting the victims? The attention given to the 33= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 34= Costanzo Mark. “Just Revenge: Costs & Consequences of the Death Penalty.” 35= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 36= http://legis.state.sd.us/IssueMemos/IssueMemos/im99-20.pdf execution of criminals is repugnant especially when the loudest voices think the deaths of convicted criminals are tragedies. Yet the death and sufferings of countless victims is only an easily-ignored statistic.37 The criminal’s life lacks worth; the victim’s life is infinitely more valuable than his.38 Society still views murder as a particularly heinous crime that should justify the most severe punishment. Capital Punishment is a just punishment based on the vengeance principle of “lex talens” (an eye for an eye) – one that is also advocated under Leviticus in the Bible. A criminal has taken the life or lives of other human beings, and it is only just and proper that his life be taken away from him in retribution.39 Aristotle also echoes this view advocating “giving each his due”, interpreted as “that the worst crime be punished with society’s worst penalty.”40 4. Deterrence “If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call.” John Adams, Marquette University/Department of Political Science.41 Perhaps the biggest reason to retain Capital Punishment is because it serves as an active deterrent to others. Crime would run rampant as never before if there wasn’t some way to deter people from committing crimes. Life imprisonment is a soft deterrent; for most hardened criminals, more is needed. For those criminals already in prison, the threat 37= http://www.prodeathpenalty.com 38= http://cpa.ca/ogloff.htm 39= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 40= http://www.princeton.edu/~lawjourn/Spring98/morley.html 41= http://www.prodeathpenalty.com of their sentence being upgraded to Death Row will deter them from committing murder while in prison, or if they manage to escape and go on a crime/murder spree.42 The number of people given the Death Penalty, though few, sends a strong message across to similarly minded people. Executing criminals will decrease the crime rate by causing other potential criminals not to commit crimes for fear of being executed themselves (‘general deterrence’) and, of course, that the criminal who is executed will not commit the crime again (‘specific deterrence’).43 5. The victim’s family feels vindicated Many people who are against Capital Punishment are only thinking of the criminals and how cruel it is for them. Shouldn’t they rather divert their thoughts and sympathies to the criminals’ innocent victims, and think how cruel it has been for them having lost their lives so needlessly and so cruelly; how cruel it is for their families broken apart due to the barbaric acts of these criminals?44 The Death Penalty gives closure to the victims’ families who have suffered so much; those family members who have been made orphans, widows and childless all due to the barbaric action of a psychopath. Some family members of crime victims may take years or decades to recover from the shock and loss of a loved one; some may never recover. The Death Penalty brings finality to a horrible chapter in the lives of these family members.45 6. No possibility of mistake One of the most vociferous allegations of the Anti-Capital Punishment lobby is that 42= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm 43= http://cpa.ca/ogloff.htm 44= http://www.studyworld.com/moral_issues/ capital_punishment/debate_over_capital_punishment.htm 45= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm innocent people on Death Row are executed frequently. Pro-Capital Punishment advocators refute this allegation saying that the trails and appeals process is so thorough, that it is next to impossible to convict an innocent person. Secondly, a jury of 12 members is required to unanimously declare the defendant guilty. Thirdly, and most important, DNA testing (which is over 99 percent effective) can now effectively eliminate uncertainty as to a person’s guilt or innocence.46 The American Medical Association has endorsed the use of DNA as an “appropriate medical forensic technique.”47 Even after sentencing, there have been many cases of exoneration and release. In countries like the U.S. where an inmate spends an average of 11 years on Death Row due to delays within the system, there is ample time for post-conviction investigation to re-explore all avenues that may prove the convicts are actually innocent of the crimes of which they were accused and convicted (e.g. since the reinstatement of the Death Penalty in 1976 in the U.S, nearly 1,000 men and women have been executed; but also, over 100 have also been exonerated and released from Death Row when post-conviction investigation found them innocent).48 7. Justice is better served Our present justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does for victims. By adopting Capital Punishment, the fundamental principle of justice, viz. ‘the punishment should fit the crime’ is upheld.49 Jurors, who represent the people, hear about 46= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm 47= http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/2/197 48= http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm 49= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm horrific crimes and make tough but appropriate decisions.50 People who support the Death Penalty are not sadists but just quietly desperate that they and their families are being overwhelmed by the rising tide of crime.51 People can no longer let their lives be terrorized; they want to come together and draw the line to make their country safe; they, and their children want to live in peace without the fear of being senselessly killed or losing their loved ones.52 Capital Punishment is the only way where justice is better served, and society can not only return to its normal safe norms but also society’s belief in law and justice is tremendously elevated.53 8. Lethal Injections: Physicians involved in serving society and country Physicians are not compelled to assist in executions – nor are they banned from doing so. Those who choose assist, do so responding to an inner urge to do their fellow citizens, society and nation a favour by coming forward to get rid of a pestilence once and for all. As Doctors Robert Truog and Troyen Brenen wrote in an editorial in the ‘New England Journal for Medicine’, that to doctors who assist in executions, “the death-row inmate may be seen as a terminally ill ‘patient’.”54 Lethal injection now appears to be the sole method of executions accepted by courts as humane enough largely because it is painless, trustworthy and lends a more professional air to the proceedings by medicalising it. On February 14, 2006 a U.S. District Court in a ruling concerning the California execution by lethal injection of 50= http://www.prodeathpenalty.com 51= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 52= http://www.studyworld.com/moral_issues/ capital_punishment/debate_over_capital_punishment.htm 53= http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm 54= http://www.princeton.edu/~lawjourn/Spring98/morley.html murderer Michael Morales, ordered the state have a physician to supervise the execution.(13000) Lethal injection is unique because it simulates a medical procedure – the intravenous induction of general anesthesia. Since the year 2000, 97% of executions in the U.S. were performed by lethal injection.55 9. Good effect on society Capital Punishment makes people realize that it is not easy to get away with crime in general and high profile crime in particular. The long arm of the law is definitely around to catch them, the justice system is there to convict them and the Death Penalty is waiting to execute those that deserve that punishment. The tremendous amount of media coverage for such executions, plus the tendency of people turning up in large numbers to witness executions is, viewed in the above context, a beneficial one for society in general.56 10. Documents of authority implicitly or explicitly allow for the Death Penalty Many documents guaranteeing the right to life, either implicitly or explicitly make allowances for the Death Penalty. An example of the subtle allowance for Capital Punishment can be found in the American Convention for Human Rights, which states: “Every person has the right to have his life respected….No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of life (emphasis added)”, meaning the instrument does not prohibit all taking of human life by the government, merely that which is arbitrary. Even the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights declares: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life. In countries that have not abolished the Death Penalty, sentence of death may 55= http://www.ocadp.org/educate/groner_article.html 56= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html be imposed only for the most serious crimes.”57 Conclusion In the modern day scenario, Capital Punishment is the only real and effective way to combat the rise of crime. Empirical evidence points to this indisputable fact. Britain, which abolished the Death Penalty in 1964, has witnessed a steadily rising murder rate; the rate was 300 before 1964, rose to 675 in 1979 and 833 in 2004. More significantly, between 1965 and 1998, 71 murders were committed by people released from prison after serving life sentences. On the other hand, in the U.S., the murder rate dropped from 24,562 in 1993 to 18,209 in 1997 and 15,600 in 2003. In Singapore, which also adopts the Death Penalty, the number of people executed dropped from 7 in 1995 to 4 in 1996, 3 in 1997 and just 1 in 1998.58 We should prepare the framework in society from grass roots level to support Capital Punishment. We should start by introducing stricter discipline with unruly children at school and on the streets, then move to young thugs and older thugs. Thus, we can bring up a generation or two of disciplined people. It is noteworthy that Singapore, which uses Capital Punishment, also provides discipline at all levels of society (including caning for offences committed by the most crime-prone group – young men); as a result, it boasts of crime figures that most countries can only dream of.59 Not having Capital Punishment means to continue accepting relatively high (and ever rising) levels of murder and other serious crimes. A 2004 survey found that 68.56% of the British population (2 out of every 3 people) wanted Capital Punishment reinstated. 57= http://www.princeton.edu/~lawjourn/Spring98/morley.html 58= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html 59= http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html Their opinion is well highlighted by Robert Matthews, a journalist for ‘Focus’ magazine who wrote: “Some people argue that the absence of Capital Punishment in this country (England) is the mark of a civilized society. I believe we are rapidly becoming uncivilized. Some of the things that happen on our streets, and in people’s homes certainly do not constitute civilized behavior.”60 60= http://www.studyworld.com/moral_issues/ capital_punishment/debate_over_capital_punishment.htm References used: Bedau, Hugo Adam & Cassell, Paul G. Debating the Death Penalty. U.S.A. Oxford University Press Inc. 2004 Clark, Richard. Thoughts on the Death Penalty. U.K. btinternet.co. No date. http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html Costanzo Mark. Just Revenge: Costs & Consequences of the Death Penalty. U.S.A. St.Martin’s Press. 1997 Gawande, Atul. When Law & Ethics Collide – Why Physicians Participate in Executions. U.K. The New England Journal of Medicine Vol 354:121-229. March 23, 2006. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/12/1221 Groner Jonathan I. Lethal Injection: A Stain on the Face of Medicine. U.K. British Medical Journal vol. 325 pp 1026-8. 2004. http://www.ocadp.org/educate/groner_article.html Honeyman, Jennifer C. & Ogloff, James R.P. Capital Punishment:Arguments for Life and Death. Canada. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science Vol 28:1. Jan 1996. http://cpa.ca/ogloff.htm Korcok Milan. American MDs reject Moratorium on Capital Punishment. Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal 163 (2). July 25, 2000. http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/2/197 Messerli, Joe. Death Penalty (Pros & Cons). U.S.A. BalancedPolitics.org. January 10, 2006 http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm MVFHR. Death Penalty Information. U.S.A. No date. http://www.willsworld.com/~mvfhr/capital.htm Palmer John P. & Henderson John. The Economics of Cruel & Unusual Punishment. Canada. No date. http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/economics/faculty/jpalmer/CRUEL.html Princeton.edu. At the Edge of the Oath. U.K. 1998. http://www.princeton.edu/~lawjourn/Spring98/morley.html Prodeathpenalty.com. Who Speaks for the Victims of those we Execute? U.S.A. No date. http://www.prodeathpenalty.com South Dakota Legislative Research Council. Issue Memorandum 99-20. U.S.A. No date. http://legis.state.sd.us/IssueMemos/IssueMemos/im99-20.pdf Studyworld. Debate over Capital Punishment: A Pro Stance. U.S.A. 2004. http://www.studyworld.com/moral_issues/ capital_punishment/debate_over_capital_punishment.htm Turow, Scott. Ultimate Punishment. U.S.A. Farrar Straus & Giroux. 2003. White, Deborah. Pros & Cons of the Death Penalty & Capital Punishment. U.S.A. No date. http://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/DeathPenalty.htm Wikipedia. Capital Punishment. U.S.A. No date. http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Capital_punishment Read More