THE DEATH PENALTY - Essay Example

The Death Penalty Capital Punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, is a form of retribution which involves the killing of a person through judicial means. For some, the death penalty is an important deterrent which is effective in deterring capital crimes such as murder and armed assault. For others, such as the Death Penalty Information Centre, the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment which is often arbitrarily applied with dire consequences. Although controversial, states around the world apply the death penalty and the United States remains an active proponent of this particular form of punishment for what it deems to be the most heinous of crimes. As abolition becomes an important issue around the world, advocates of the death penalty face an uphill battle as important international organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union have recently debated the validity of this particular form of punishment. Accordingly, the European Union, in its Charter of Fundamental Rights, has effectively banned this practice in all of its member states. Seeking to explore the death penalty by arguing that it is an unnecessary form of retribution, this essay will persuasively argue against the death penalty in the United States. We will show that the potential for a miscarriage of justice is far too great to allow for the death penalty in the United States. Once applied, this particular form of punishment is unfortunately irreversible. As a result the death penalty must be contested (Death Penalty Information Centre 2009). According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, there has been a global trend in recent times to the abolishment of the death penalty. Despite this trend, a handful of countries in the world which continue to use the death penalty as a form of punishment and while 92 countries have now abolished the death penalty (including France, Canada and the United Kingdom), 59 countries worldwide continue to have death penalty legislation on their books. China, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Pakistan remain some of the largest supporters of the death penalty with China the overwhelming leader in total executions worldwide. Is the death penalty a deterrent? It is to this question that we now turn (Hood 3-10). The Death Penalty: A Real Deterrent? In addition to the plethora of ethical issues surrounding the death penalty, advocates of the death penalty argue that capital punishment works as an effective deterrent and thus is effective in preventing crime. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, the general consensus among researchers is that the deterrent effect of the death penalty remains unproven. Accordingly, a survey undertaken by the United Nations in 1988 attempted to explore the relationship between the death penalty and homicide rates. According to this analysis, the United Nations concluded that “research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment. Such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. The evidence as a whole still gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis.” (British Broadcasting Corporation 2009). Accordingly, research from the United States has consistently demonstrated that states without the death penalty have lower murder rates, thus brining into question the entire deterrence explanation for the death penalty. In fact, stdueies have shown that in the United States, states which do not have the death penalty on the books have a lower murder rate than those that do. Tracking this phenomenon over a seventeen year period from 1990 to 2009, scholar David Cooper has shown that states without the death penalty have far less incidences of homicide. Accordingly, in the year 2007 alone the murder rate in states without the death penalty was a full 47% lower than in states in which the death penalty was in place. These trends are shocking in that they completely dispel the myth concerning the deterrence factor of the death penalty. Could it be that non-death penalty states are less violent and/or less prone to violence? New York state, one of the most populous states in the Union is presently a non-death penalty state. Perhaps that is not a viable explanation. For more information on the murder rate discrepancies see a snapshot of Cooper’s study (1990-2006) below from the Death Penalty Information Centre: As the chart above so clearly demonstrates, the murder rate in the United States has effectively been declining since 1990 and a sixteen year period, the murder rate in non-death penalty states has always been lower than in states which use the death penalty. According to the New York Times: states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty. The Times reports that ten of the twelve states without the death penalty have homicide rates below the national average, whereas half of the states with the death penalty have homicide rates above. During the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48% - 101% higher than in states without the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Centre 2009). This trend is evidenced throughout the United States as well as around the world. The description of the death penalty as a deterrent is often a smokescreen used to hide other motives, often political and always insidious. Accordingly, this dispels the deterrence myth and lends credence to the argument that the death penalty is nothing more than state-sponsored homicide. Concluding Remarks According to the United Nations, the abolition of the death penalty is a global trend and a handful of countries continue to practice this insidious form of punishment with near impunity. In 2003, of all known executions, 84% took place in four countries, namely China, Iran, the United States and Vietnam. This is a very unlikely club for the United States to join. China led the pack with more executions than all four countries above but the inclusion of the United States in this infamous group does not bode well for the international reputation of this country. There are many problems with the death penalty. Theses include the arbitrary nature in which it is applied and the cruel and unusual nature of the punishment – the electric chair and lethal injection are both highly cruel punishments – but the fundamental flaw with the death penalty is that there always exists the potential that an innocent person will be put to death. As Rubin Carter now persuasively argues as the Executive Director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, the chance that someone who is innocent will be put to death is far too great a chance to risk it. This is the fundamental flaw with the death penalty and although there are many problems with this form of punishment, the irreversible nature of it as well as the potential that an innocent person could be put to death, should reason enough to abhor it. The lack of proven deterrent associated with this peculiar form of punishment is further evidence (British Broadcasting Corporation 2009; see Hirsh 2000). References Arbitrariness. The Death Penalty Information Centre 2009. Last Accessed April 04 2009, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/arbitrariness British Broadcasting Corporation. (2009). Capital Punishment: Deterrence. Last Accessed April 04 2009, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/against_5.shtml Court Urged to Return Rubin Carter to Prison. The New York Times (1985, December 20). Hirsch, James S. Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2004. Hood, Robert. Death Penalty: A World-Wide Perspective. London: Oxford University Press, 2008. Roberts, Randy. Review. The Journal of American History. 87:3 (2000): 1167-1168. Read More