My paper on the death penalty.

[themadscientist]

I just finished a paper on capital punishment for my Philosophy class. I thought it might sparks some good discussion on the subject. This over 2000 words with a crapload of peer-reviewed citations so you are going to need to bring something better than wiki links and partisan website bullet points to play.

Quote » Introduction

The subject of the death penalty is one of those divisive questions societies must contend with. It is a difficult decision, on which side will one stand when it comes to the idea of execution. This paper

will seek to lay out a broad, well-supported discussion of the subject of capital punishment and aid

the reader in drawing a conclusion about its validity based upon the facts presented and arguments

put forth . Background And Terms

The idea of punishing offenders for crimes by putting them to death is not a new one. Recorded

history is littered with references to this form of punishment, arguably back the beginning of society.

Capital punishment is simply the more palatable name for the death penalty and in the United States

it's a sentence that can be pursued, primarily in murder cases, in the 36 states that have a death

penalty. Murder is defined as "the crime of unlawfully killing a person" (Webster's, 1996).

The death penalty is currently abolished in ninety one countries, only in use for "exceptional crimes"

in eleven, thirty three countries still have capital punishment on the books but have effectively

abolished it in practice and sixty two countries, of which the United States is one, have and use the

death penalty as a means of punishment for crimes, the specific ones vary from one country to the

next. (Amnesty International, 2009)

Ethical Argument

When looking at capital punishment philosophically it is rather ironic to note that one of the most

well known philosophers, Socrates, himself, was executed. Not for murder but rather for the

supposed corruption of Athenian youth.

Different societies can have different ideas about what is and is not acceptable behavior. For

practical purposes, the idea of right and wrong are merely words given meaning by the particular defining principles agreed upon by those that use the words. For the western world, the United States

in particular, murder is not considered acceptable; either from the standpoint of the major religious

beliefs of the population nor within the edicts of common law. So effectively in America murder is "bad". The word "unlawfully" in the commonly-used definition of murder certainly shields capital

punishment from the accusation that it is hypocritical; from a legal standpoint at least. It does not

however protect it from the cold measure of philosophical thought.



Capital Punishment 3

Our society suggests that killing a person without the approval of some institution of authority is

wrong. For one's transgression against this law the state will then respond in kind by killing him;

albeit with all the official trappings of the law and legal pomp and circumstance that suggests that

one killing is somehow nobler than the other. At first it might seem acceptable but at the very core it is still killing; one is amateur, one professional, but both equally needless and hypocritical from a

philosophical position.

Personal Position

In an effort to justify the need for the state to kill an unarmed person, brought to a state of near

helplessness on that final walk from their cell to the killing chamber, certain arguments are made.

We will look at them one by one, and show how they do not hold water. Stripped of the

window-dressing of the classic pro death talking points, only the raw emotion of vengeance is left,

its blood-stained claws quite contrary to what a civilized society holds itself up to be. In the act of

eviscerating the arguments for the death penalty I will demonstrate how capital punishment is not

a civilized or effective method of punishment should be done away with.

Arguments For And Against Proponents of the death penalty often suggest that this form of punishment provides the murder

victim's loved ones closure. In the fanciful interpretation of capital punishment that would appear to make sense but when applied to the reality of how capital cases are and must be prosecuted that

argument is specious. The minute a prosecutor seeks the death penalty a whole mechanism of

appeals are going to be required because as Richard Dieter points out "Death penalty cases will

always take longer and cost more than criminal cases because the consequences of a mistake

are so disastrous." It is for this reason he goes on to suggest capital cases will always be "very

time consuming, and very frustrating for those who believe in swift and sure punishments" as they

typically take "eight years from conviction to execution." (Dieter R, 1994) 13th circuit state attorney

Mark Ober painted a less rosy picture for a Florida state senate committee in 2009 when he placed

the figure at 14 years. (MacQueen K, 2009)

During those years of litigation the victim's loved ones will be put through the heart-wrenching experience of the initial trial only to live it over and over again in the subsequent appeals that follow.

As each new case begins the grief stricken family is taken back to square one.

Capital Punishment 4

Norman Kinne, a Texas Assistant District Attorney laments "on a death penalty case, I can't

ever tell them they won't have to come back and live it all over again. This can go on ad nauseam."

Hey points out though that with a life sentence case "there's a finality to all this." (Dieter R, 1994)

So the facts are that taking a case capital actually slows down the families pursuit of swift and

decisive justice and ensures that the wounds they feel will be repeatedly reopened denying them

the very closure that advocates claim the death penalty provides.

The big argument, the one frequently leaned on by the pro death lobby, is the idea that the

presence and use of the death penalty deters criminals from committing murder. For the most

part this sort of claim is inconclusive as prominent studies can be cited for either a pro or con

stance. While Professor Hugo Adam Bedau says "the facts do not support it"(1992), others

conclude otherwise. Even in an article that claims that there is deterrence the parallel finding

that deterrence stops after the first murder is interesting. Rather that any deterrence was

only seen in regards to the first killing as one could only be executed once "killings beyond

the first are, in effect, free." that "the marginal cost of the second and third through N murders

committed is effectively zero." (Ekelund R, Jackson J, Ressler R, Tollison R, 2006) This speaks

directly to the inability to deter multiple murders by use of the death penalty. Multiple gang-style

killings would not be affected and according to a Department of Justice study those types of

homicides have increased eight-fold since 1976. (2006)

The hard numbers, the murder rates state by state, also subvert the pro death camp's claims

of deterrence. The following statistics, pulled from the F.B.I. uniform crime report for 2007, are

stark and inescapable. Of the fourteen states that do not have a capital form of punishment

only two of them, Michigan and Alaska, score higher than the national average of 5.6 murders

per 100,000 people. They are the only non-capital states to appear in the top twenty five states

for murder rate. The other twenty three states are death penalty equipped and the top ten is an

all death penalty state lineup. Louisiana has the death penalty but this supposed deterrent

form of punishment could not prevent it from topping the list with 14.2 murders per 100,000 people

while Michigan, without a death penalty, still could only manage to murder 6.7 of its people per

100,000. (2008) Deterrence is a good thing and it is logical to pursue it but capital punishment

has not been conclusively proven to do it.

Capital Punishment 5

"Life imprisonment costs more", is often trumpeted by the pro death pundits. This argument

similarly cannot bear even the most passing scrutiny. It has already been pointed out that the

moment a case goes to the capital level expenses to pursue the case increase. This fact is

supported by Florida Public Defender Howard Dimmig when he explained "the greatest expense

to public defenders and state attorneys comes when there is and attempt to impose the death

penalty" he elaborated that "aside from higher court costs and expenses for prosecutors and

public defenders, housing inmates on death row, as opposed to housing them within the general

prison population, costs Florida an additional $3.4 million per year." (MacQueen K, 2009)

The former Attorney General of Texas, who carried out 36 executions during his term, agrees.

Regarding capital punishment as it affected his state's budget he concluded "life without parole

could save millions of dollars" and that "it's cheaper to lock em up and throw away the key."

(Dieter R, 1994) Both men believe, at least from an economic perspective, that getting rid of the

death penalty makes sense.

A frequently cited cost study conducted by Duke university, widely regarded as the best of its

kind, concluded that the state of North Carolina was spending more than $2 million dollars per

executed person. and that "the deterrent effect of all this expenditure indicate no measurable

gain in society's safety." (Dieter R, 1994) What a waste, when other factors have been proven to

reduce not just violent crime, but also property offenses. Studies by University of Maryland

Economists pointed to a direct relationship of more cops on the streets and a proportional drop

in all manner of crimes. A later study by the Government Accounting Office supports the earlier

studies finding. (Ludwig J, Donohugh J, Surbeck L, 2007) When weighed against the real, proven

results that actual deterrence programs can produce, the money spent on multiple trials, appeals

and the like to execute a single person does not make sense.

The final point is not one that is frequently contested if even discussed by the proponents of

capital punishment, it is markedly discriminatory. In study after study the statistics have proved

stunning and consistent. 40% of the inmates on death row are black yet as a racial group they

comprise only 12% of the population of the United States. (Monagle K, 1992) America is a

historically racist country and one needs only look at laws past to see evidence of it.

Capital Punishment 6

Some southern states in the 19th century mandated a year in prison for a white man convicted

of raping a black woman yet a black man who raped a white woman was often required by law to

be executed. (Monagle K, 1992) Two cases in Georgia suggests very little has changed.

Two men were convicted for murder in the same month in the town of Columbus; one for raping

and killing his 12-year-old daughter the other man for killing a 22-year-old man during a convenience

store holdup. The first man was sentenced to life in prison, the second the electric chair; the

difference, the first man was white and the second man was black and his victim was white. This is

not a surprise as legal experts say "blacks convicted of murder are far more likely to receive the

death penalty than are whites." (Monagle K, 1992) The GAO, in a report to congress, after synthesizing

28 separate studies, came to the embarrassing conclusion that they showed "a pattern of evidence

indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty." (1990)

Death row also illustrates proof that it is not only race that is the basis of discrimination in sentencing

but also socioeconomic status. 90 of the inmates on death row are too poor to hire a lawyer or as

Miss Monagle suggests "people are being executed not because of the heinousness of their crime,

but because of the incompetence of their lawyers." (1992) In the 1993 overturning of the conviction

Frederico Macias, who had been ineptly defended at trial, the appellate court commented "the state

paid defense counsel $11.84 per hour. Unfortunately, the justice system got what it paid for."

(Dieter R, 1994) This sort of injustice has not gone unnoticed by government and in a highly

controversial decision the outgoing Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, commuted the sentences of all

inmates on death row. In a speech explaining his reasons for such a dramatic step the Governor said

"If the system was making so many errors in determining whether someone was guilty

in the first place, how fairly and accurately was it determining which guilty defendants

deserved to live and which deserved to die?" (Warden R, 2005)

Even Ryan's pro death penalty successor, Rod Blagojevich has not seen reason to lift the moratorium

on capital punishment in the state.



Capital Punishment 7

The death penalty doesn't just drain money from the budget, it also takes up the valuable time of

the justice system. The time that courts devote to the prosecution of capital cases, the subsequent

appeals and landmark decisions are quite disproportionate to the overall caseload. Howard Dimmig,

10th circuit assistant Public defender in supporting the cessation of the use of the death penalty in

Florida, points out that while capital cases are only 12% of the caseload, they take up 50% of the

court's time. Seven former Justices agreed when they said there was "a need for legislative

reassessment and revision of Florida's capital punishment statutes." (MacQueen K, 2009)

The Florida Justices are not alone in their change of heart on the subject of the death penalty.

Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell and sitting Justice Harry Blackmun have spoken out

against it as well. This is quite significant because of their historical involvement with precedent-setting

cases involving capital punishment. In Furman v Georgia, which declared the death penalty cruel and

unusual and thusly a violation of the eighth amendment, Powell and Blackmun were two of the four

dissenters. In the case that reversed this decision, Gregg v Georgia, they both affirmed the decision

to do so. Today these men find themselves on the other side of the issue. Justice Powell has said his

votes were "a mistake and that he would now vote against it in every case" and Justice Blackmun is

even more strident as he announced from the bench that he would "no longer tinker with the

machinery of death, I feel morally and intellectually obligated to concede that the death penalty

experiment has failed." (Dieter R, 1994)

The Justices of the Supreme court in their rulings have suggested that "death is different" and they

are quite right, death is different. Death does not make sense from a philosophical point, it provides

no route to closure for victims, it is not an effective deterrent, it is more expensive and unacceptably

discriminatory. Yes, death is different, it doesn't work. The facts are in, it is time to turn a deaf ear

to the unsubstantiated rhetoric and do what is right morally and practically.

Let the final victim of the death penalty be the death penalty itself.

Capital Punishment 8

References

Amnesty International (2009). Abolitionist and retentionist countries. Retrieved March 8, 2009 from web site:http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/aboliti ... -countries

Bedau, H. (1982). The case against the death penalty. Retrieved March 8, 2009 from

web site:http://users.rcn.com/mwood/deathpen.html

Cook, P.,Swanson, D., Gries, L. (1993). The costs of processing murder cases in North Carolina.

Retrieved March 8, 2009 from web site:http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/northcarolina.pdf

Dieter, R. (1994). Secondary smoke surrounds the capital punishment debate. Criminal Justice

Ethics, 13.n1 (Wntr-Spring 1994): p2.

Ekelund, R., Jackson, J., Ressler, R., Tollison, R. (2006). Marginal deterrence and multiple

murders. Southern Economic Journal, 72.3 (Jan 2006): p521.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008). FBI Uniform crime report for 2007. Retrieved

March 8, 2009 from web site:http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Ludwig, J., Donohue, J. (2007). More COPS,. Brookings policy brief series #158. Retrieved

March 8, 2009 from web site:http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/03 ... udwig.aspx

MacQueen, K. (2009). PDs bring up the death penalty as a way to reduce expenditures.

Florida Bar News, 36.3 (Feb 1, 2009): p5.

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.). (1996). Springfield, Mass: Merriam Webster.

Monagle, K. (1992). The death penalty. Scholastic Update, 125.n1 (Sept 4, 1992): p13

Warden, R. (2005). Illinois death penalty reform: how it happened, what it promises.

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 95.2 (Wntr 2005): p381.

United States Department of Justice (2006). Homicide trends in the U.S. Retrieved March 8,

2009 from web site:http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/homicide/circumst.htm

United States General Accounting Office (1990). Death penalty sentencing; Research

indicates pattern of racial disparities. Retrieved March 8, 2009 from

web site:http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat11/140845.pdf[/quote]

[Logan76]

Never knew that the death penalty actually cost the gov. more than life imprisonment, good read.

[wawazat8402]

It is cheaper to imprison a person for life, however, I still believe they should not be granted a luxury they have denied their victim. I also feel anyone convicted of rape or child molestation should be put to death. There is nothing circumstantial that can make rape or molestation justified and the percentage of cons who are repeat offenders is terrifying.

As for other crimes, put them on a work line. Lets capitalize of their imprisonment. Why is it that we find it ok for the working Americans to donate their sweat soaked dollars to feed someone that broke the law and now gets to go without 10 hours of manual labor a day?

Something's gone terribly wrong.

[telcoman]

Never knew that the death penalty actually cost the gov. more than life imprisonment, good read.

It has been a well known fact for many years.Regular readers of the New York Times are well aware.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02...t=cse

Madscientist

I'll give you an A+

You may want to look into how the death penalty is carried out?

There have been many botched executions both by lethal injection and electricution. There are prisons in the US for the worst offenders. (Pelican Bay) and others.With the latest DNA technology there are too many mistakes being made in the criminal justice system.

Did you happen to catch 60 minutes last Sunday? Even positive eye witness accounts cannot always be trusted.

In my opinion, it is time to abolish the death penalty.

Telcoman

[marlin29311]

Never knew that the death penalty actually cost the gov. more than life imprisonment, good read.

It should be the other way around, but the legal system and the mandatory appeals process has made this not true...the cost of an injection is waaaaaaaaaaaaay less than having them live off the government for life. Not to mention all the costs incurred in the trial courts through discovery and what not.

[C-Kwik]

Overall, good paper. But I noticed one spelling error to point out in case you haven't turned this in yet:

Hey points out though that with a life sentence case "there's a finality to all this." (Dieter R, 1994)

Its under Capital Punishment 4.

[smockers83]

Well, if we're going to start editing it for him, I would suggest that you change this:

For the western world, the United States in particular, murder is not considered acceptable; either from the standpoint of the major religious beliefs of the population nor within the edicts of common law.

Get rid of the semicolon or something as the portion after the semicolon is not a complete sentence. You could remove the semicolon completely and leave it as is and it would be better. However, if you're going to use either, I wouldn't use nor. It's either "either...or" or "...nor".

Could you format it a little bit to make it easier to read?

[telcoman]

Overall, good paper. But I noticed one spelling error to point out in case you haven't turned this in yet:

Its under Capital Punishment 4.

See if you can get a perfect score on this one?

I didn't do so good

http://www.businesswriting.com....html

Telcoman

[themadscientist]

It should be the other way around, but the legal system and the mandatory appeals process has made this not true...the cost of an injection is waaaaaaaaaaaaay less than having them live off the government for life. Not to mention all the costs incurred in the trial courts through discovery and what not.

Well, as I said, when you are dealing with the forfeiture of a life, in a fair society it must be this way. If you scrap the appeals process all the people who are exonerated after the initial trial would have been erroneously executed. Is that acceptable to you?

You can't just single out the cost of the actual killing, and it is a killing, discarding all the relavent and necessary steps leading to that with their associated costs and say it's more cost effective.

The biggest problem I had as far as formatting it was putting categories in it. I did a standard paper and then I bothered to look at the sylabus and he asked it be set up like that so I had to look at it again and move large chunks of text around as best I could and tweak some things to restore the flow. I think I will be ok, one of the other students asked how to do a cover page

And colons and semicolons continue to pwn me.

It was a good topic and I really enjoyed writing about it, I think it is something that keeps getting danced around and it's time now.

As far as life in prison being too cushy I completely agree. My ideas for reforms to make prison first a place you don't want to come to and second one where actual rehabilitation can occur for the minor criminals could easilt go for 16 pages.

Prison as they exist now are a complete failure.

[szh]

See if you can get a perfect score on this one?

I didn't do so good

http://www.businesswriting.com....html

I got 27 out of 27 right. That was an easy test.

But so what? <shrug> My 10 year old champion-speller son would only miss the British "preferred" spelling questions. He was born and brought up here in the US and did not learn the British versions like I did in my youth.

Z

[Armelius]

It's good but it is weak.

I am guessing you are an american not that it would matter for your paper but I believe you are writing it mainly from an american perspective.

In that case you could throw out many opinions of Supreme Court justices and create one of your own.

I would say that in your last paragraph it should be completely your own. If it was me then I would say the US government was set up to protect the people from harm or death by government foreign or domestic. Notable civilians executed might have been some during the civil war during the Lincoln period.

Could go on but then I would mention that people on death row would be better blood doners or used for some other organ doner or experimentation if they agree to a reduced sentence or something.

My opinion they should just do away with it.

[themadscientist]

I would be curious what a non-american perspective would be; what country are you from?

I have always thought of California as a foreign country but I am assuming you are not a native Kalifornian?

I usually beat points home with carpet bombs of citations. I can get preachy and I think it undercuts me so I use experts and data mostly to keep me off-tangent and turning it into this.

I did not dive too deeply into the main points, I think one could easily devote an entire paper to either one of them; the Duke study alone is like a sunday edition of the newspaper.

[Armelius]

Well there were other countries that had the death penalty and they abolished it. Might be worth mentioning how they came to that conclusion.

I would think that a philosophy class it might be better to have more of your own opinion in a paper.

[themadscientist]

They killed one today, score one for "justice". Only took them 23 YEARS!

http://www.philly.com/philly/w....html

Yes that's right boys and girls, 23 years from crime to retribution. Great system, we need more of that.

No doubt this guy killed the girl in cold blood but tell me how his punishment was consistent in a flawed system like this.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/conte....html

Quote »Newland also is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn his sentence on grounds the court has failed to ensure Georgia’s death penalty is not arbitrarily and disproportionately administered.

The court’s “proportionality review” is flawed because it only compares a death sentence with other death cases, not similar murder cases that got life sentences, Newland’s appeal says. It cites numerous cases with facts similar to Newland’s case that resulted in life sentences.

In 2007, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation documented this and, last October, it prompted an exchange between two U.S. Supreme Court justices in a another Georgia death case. Justice John Paul Stevens criticized the Georgia Supreme Court for “an utterly perfunctory review,” while Justice Clarence Thomas countered the court applied the law “faithfully and without error.”

Friday, Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson said Newland’s proportionality arguments had merit, but he was bound by the state high court’s initial decision upholding Newland’s death sentence.

In that 1988 decision, the state Supreme Court cited eight other death sentences to show Newland’s was not out of line. Three of those sentences were already overturned at the time of the ruling.[/quote]Armelius, see how the supreme court is involved in all this? That is why I found it very important to highlight the reversals of justices opinions; the opinions of judges carry a lot of weight in America. I think America may be the most judicially active country in the world.

And here is what the death penalty is doing to the state of Georgia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03....html

Quote »A high-profile multiple-murder case has drained the budget of Georgia’s public defender system and brought all but a handful of its 72 capital cases to a standstill.

The case “is testing the will of the state of Georgia with regard to whether or not the death penalty is worth the amount it costs,” said Mike Mears, director of the standards council.[/quote]Colorado has seen the light.

Quote »This year, the Colorado House Judiciary Committee voted to abolish the death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life without parole, and to use the money currently spent on capital punishment to help solve some 1,200 cold-case homicides. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Paul Weissmann, a Democrat, said it had cost the state $40 million in three decades to execute one inmate and put two others on death row. The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee. [/quote]

[Armelius]

I am not sure if they carry any weight if they can be reversed.

[themadscientist]

I think the logical step would be to commute all inmates on the rows to life inprisonment. Appeals of that sentence would, I expect then fall on the prisoner, some third party benefactor or pro-bono lawyer to pursue. The urgency would ramp down considerably if you didn't have a date with the government-paid killer.

[liquid_cool]

how bout we sing cum-by-ya..or what ever..hold there hands and let em go free..couse its an injustice to hurt them in anyway..just like the terrorlst's..its not there fault that they cut the heads off of captured citizens..its not some guys fault he rapes a 2 year old then stabbed her to death and put her in a dumpster... ..now that i have said that...lets get back to reality!...prison is not that bad inside now...cable TV, 3 meals a day, no work, exercise rooms, a full library...this is punishment?..please dont insult peoples intellects....do i think an eye for an eye...ie killing thge prisoner in a death centence...not really...but i have something better in mind....{ Take an old oil rigg about 200 miles off of the coast of Calee-forn-ee-a and house them in the leggs..they fish for there own food..if not..they die..no TV..no wieght rooms...just fresh water pumped un via a line and let them tear eachother apart and live like the animals they are}..or an island somewhere in the middle of..if they want to be killers..let em kill eachother ...no cost to the government..persay..and no fear of said animal being released for some minor prison issue with a guard...

just my 2 cents.

[themadscientist]

nice rant, you haven't addressed the question though.

As far as prison reform goes I agree they get it pretty good and have a lot of ideas to make it less like the Holiday Inn; at least make it as bad as a Holiday Inn Express.

[smockers83]

I wasn't trying to own you with the semicolon thing, just trying to help. My friends always came to me to have their papers looked over for technical editing back in college. I wouldn't change what they said because that could end up being a lot of work, but I would do stuff like I did for you.

[wawazat8402]

This is an excellent topic for discussion. I think I would support the abolition of the death penalty more if we were actually making good use of the manpower in prisons.

Do we need to start a new thread for our views on prison reform to keep this one on the death penalty topic?

[intermilanrox]

Just did.

[themadscientist]

I wasn't trying to own you with the semicolon thing, just trying to help. My friends always came to me to have their papers looked over for technical editing back in college. I wouldn't change what they said because that could end up being a lot of work, but I would do stuff like I did for you.

You aren't telling me anything new, something about those durned semicolons confuses me, kind of like a vagina, not sure what to do with it.

[smockers83]

My simple rule with semicolons is when you have two sentences that are very much related and/or could be used in one sentence; however, there needs to be something that breaks it up.

[audtatious]

Bars are unfair. We need to let them all go. Same goes for pet ownership as it's not fair to have pets in a cage, aquarium or locked in a house.