Reports Detail Failings of US Capital Punishment
Racial Disparities and a Lack of Deterrence Plague Death Sentence
Aug 22, 2008
According to two separate reports found by the New York Times, arguments defending capital punishment in the United States may not be as strong as once thought. One study's look at racial disparities in the sentencing of capital punishment show that defendants who kill caucasians are more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murder a minority; this report is corroborated by 20 separate studies done nation-wide. Another study examines the 12 states who had not enacted the death penalty following the lift of the 1976 moratorium after the ruling of Gregg v. Georgia found capital punishment constitutional. The report found that of these 12 states, 10 had homicide rates below the national average.
Arguments for Capital Punishment
The arguments for capital punishment run along three premises: first, that capital punishment is fairly administered by a court of law to those most deserving of the sentence. Second, that it acts as a deterrence for criminals not to kill in the process of committing their crimes. Third, that it is the only act, given the circumstances, that can appropriately protect society from those criminals who would commit homicide.
Problems with Capital Punishment
Arguments for capital punishment being fairly administered are undermined by both reports to the contrary and the reality that rates of execution show a vastly uneven distribution of executions state to state. The deterrence argument is complicated not only by nation-wide studies, but also by statistics that indicate homicide to generally be a crime that is committed only once in a criminal's career. This phenomena isn't due to executions or life imprisonment as many convicted of murder are released and murder is still possible in prison, but perhaps to the criminal's realization of a grevious mistake made. The argument that becomes the hardest for either side is the question of whether or not capital punishment constitutes the only appropriate means of protecting society.
However, this question of societal protection, while important, becomes irrelevant if the punishment cannot be fairly administered. With the majority of democracies around the world having no capital punishment laws on the books it may be time for the United States to realize that this is a punishment too difficult and absolute to ever ensure fair and equal useage. Looking at the many cases of wrongful imprisonment that, even existing in the vast minority, undermine the nation's ability to convict, giving such a final judgement may be a grevious mistake in itself.
