People from all walks of life support the death penalty, and it hurts my brain thinking that they would wish anyone death. Even someone who has taken the life of another. I tried to look over the evidence for and against the death penalty, and I really could not find good reasons for this barbaric practice that our society has condoned for thousands of years.

If it is a good thing, why is it hidden behind miles of lonely concrete walls? Why is the media kept away from televising it when they constantly show the aftermath of murder and war on television? I wanted to lay out the argument against the death penalty in the simplest way possible, and make sure that the information that I cited is accessible for all of those who wish to see for themselves.

For those that care about the cost to taxpayers of keeping someone in prison for life:

1)There are several statistics floating around that prove that it is actually much cheaper to keep someone in prison for life than to process them through death row.
example: “• In Maryland, an average death penalty case resulting in a death sentence costs approximately $3 million. The eventual costs to Maryland taxpayers for cases pursued 1978-1999 will be $186 million. Five executions have resulted. (Urban Institute 2008).”

2) Just like any disease, personal, or social, this needs to be treated at the source. We cannot just keep treating symptoms. If we put more money into education, and child welfare, it will prevent more murders in the future. If adults received the medical and psychiatric care they needed, this would also help in reducing overall crime, especially violent crimes committed against other human beings. If this is implemented, people will be likelier to become productive, contributing members of society, pay more of the tax dollars, and that way, the tax payers are happy too.

3) Petition your government for the immediate release of all non-violent drug offenders, that will free up plenty of tax dollars wasted, just look at the DEA’s budget and how successful they have been. Just like executions for murder, jail for drug use has not worked as a deterrent. I don’t need to cite statistics for that, just visit your local high school or college party.

For those of you that see capital punishment as a deterrent to other would-be offenders:

1) Do you think that there is any logic involved in that moment of passion where someone decides to take another’s life? Just look at the FBI statistics of the motives, the #1 motive is argument.

2) We have had thousands of years of evidence that capital punishment has existed since the dawn of civilization, and there is obviously still a lot of murder going on, so ask yourself if capital punishment has deterred murder during that time.

For those of you who still see the world through an eye for an eye lens:

1) Violence is cyclical, the more you commit it, the more it comes back. The only weapon that can end violence is love. You can make fun of that assumption and call me a hippie if you’d like. Just find someone you don’t like, someone who you think of as an enemy, and pay them a compliment today, and see their reaction. They will either drop the hostility, or become a lot angrier. But on your end, you will feel freer because you did the nice thing.

2) Many will be upset with me over this because I have not lost a loved one to a murder, and cannot know what they feel.
-I will never claim to know what you feel. My heart goes out to you and your family and your loved ones.
-Vengeance and anger keeps you a victim forever, your loved one  will not come back if another family loses someone they love. The loss will not affect the murderer, they have already experienced the loss of their freedom, and if they are mentally stable, the regret of the crime they have committed.

From former Governor George H. Ryan of Illinois, “What kind of victims services are we providing? Are all of our resources geared toward providing this notion of closure by execution instead of tending to the physical and social service needs of victim families? And what kind of values are we instilling in these wounded families and in the young people? As Gandhi said, an eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind.”

“”In fact, the most blurring weakness is that no matter how efficient and how fair the death penalty may seem in theory, in actual practice, it’s primarily inflicted upon the weak, the poor, the ignorant and against racial minorities.” Now that was a quote from former California Governor Pat Brown. He wrote a book and his daughter sent it to me a couple months ago and the book was titled “Public Justice and Private Mercy.” And he wrote that — nearly 50 years ago he wrote that. Fifty years ago. Now what’s changed in 50 years? Not much. Why not? I don’t know. I don’t have the answer.”
“In the United States the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug addicted or mentally unstable. The frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment. Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses, even more seldom are they executed.”

Taken from former Governor Ryan’s speech that he made when he commuted the death penalty sentencing for all of those on death row at the time, toward the end of his term, after having a change of heart about the death penalty and reviewing the Illinois system and several cases.
Finally, all of the above is valid only if the person who is on death row actually committed the crime. The number one argument against the death penalty, in my opinion is the fact that many innocent people continue to be executed.

The statistics these disparities are all out there for you to research, a few sites that are open to the public to get you started:

Recent article in the New Yorker discusses the possible innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was recently executed in Texas.
NPR covers the same story, to those who would like to hear the discussion.

Additional resources you may find helpful:

Organizations:

Southern Poverty Law Center Landmark Cases: The Death Penalty

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Death Penalty Information Center

The Innocence Project

Universities:

Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute’s Death Penalty information

Cornell University Law School Death Penalty Project

Government sites:
Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment Statistics

Survey of the Federal Death Penalty System by the Department of Justice