Flaws of the Death Penalty
Capital Punishment has been part of the criminal justice system since as far back as 1700 B.C. However, in recent times opponents have shown the death penalty to be racist, barbaric, and in violation with the United States Constitution as "...cruel and unusual punishment." In this country, although laws governing the application of the death penalty have undergone many changes since biblical times, the punishment endures, and controversy has never been greater.
Abolitionists maintain that the state has no right to kill anyone. The right to reject life imprisonment and choose death should be respected, but it changes nothing for those who oppose the death at the hands of the state.
The death penalty is irrational - a fact that should carry considerable weight with rationalists. As Albert Camus pointed out, "Capital punishment has always been a religious punishment and is reconcilable with humanism." In other words, society has long since left behind the barbaric "customs" from the cruel "eye for an eye" anti-human caves of religion- another factor that should raise immediate misgivings for freethinkers.
State killings are morally damaging. Why do governments kill people to show other people that killing people is wrong? Humanity becomes associated with murderers when it replicates their deeds. Would society allow rape as the penalty for rape or the burning of arsonists' homes as the penalty for arson?
The state should never have the power to murder its citizens. To give the state this power eliminates the individual's most effective shield against oppression of the majority and is inconsistent with democratic principles.
Family and friends of murder victims are further victimized by state killings. Quite a few leaders in the abolishment movement became involved specially because someone they loved was murdered. Family of victims repeatedly stated they wanted the murderer to die. One of the main reasons - in addition to justice - was they wanted all the publicity to be over. Yet, if it weren't for the drama surrounding an execution, the media exposure would not have occurred in the first place. Murderers would be quietly and safely put away for life with absolutely no possibility of parole.
The death penalty violates constitutional restraints against cruel and unusual punishment. The grotesque killing of Robert Harris by the state of California on April 21,1992, and similar reports of witnesses to hangings and lethal injections should leave doubt that the dying process can be - and often is - grossly inhumane, regardless of method.
The death penalty is often used for political gain. During his presidential stay, President Clinton rushed home for the Arkansas execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a mentally retarded, African American man. Clinton couldn't take the chance of being seen by voters as "soft on crime." Political Analysts believe that when the death penalty becomes an issue in a...