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As Mahatma
Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” We all
know what Gandhi is saying: Be the bigger person; take the high road; do
unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s a simple moral we
have all been taught since our first days in preschool. Human nature
tells us what is wrong and what is right, and we know that if someone hits
us first, we don’t have the right to hit them back.
This brings
me to an important question that all Americans should ask them selves: Why
does capital punishment (the death penalty) still exist in America today?
In 1972,
during the landmark Supreme Court case Furman vs. Georgia, Furman claimed
that the death penalty was being administered unfairly, and that it was
considered cruel and unusual punishment, therefore violating the eighth
amendment. However, in 1976, the Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty. Thirty-nine states currently have capital punishment, with the
most popular form being lethal injection.
And so, with
that background in mind, I am able to evaluate both sides of the
argument. Keep or abolish capital punishment?
Many people
believe that capital punishment acts as a crime deterrent. On October 16,
2002, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, from Utah, stated, “All of the
scientifically valid statistical studies-those that examine a period of
years and control for national trends-consistently show that capital
punishment is a substantial deterrent.” In this respect, capital
punishment is being used a threat, which scares potential criminals.
According to research, this threat has been proven to lower crime rates.
Whether or
not capital punishment should or should not be allowed, many Americans
support it. According to Front Page Magazine, in a January 24, 2003
issue, “Americans favor the death penalty by almost three-to-one.”
Knowing this, politicians might be more inclined to keep the death
penalty.
According to
the above information, I see one potential flaw: Are innocent people put
to death for crimes they didn’t commit? On July 1, 2002, the Institute of
Labor and Mental Health (ILMH) reported, “Even if we were to accept the
arguments in favor of capital punishment, the clearest reason to forego
killing criminals come from the inevitable miscarriage of the punishment
itself. I shudder at the fact that ninety-four innocent individuals in
the last decade were released from death row. They had been wrongfully
condemned to death for crimes they did not commit. Some were minutes from
execution.” One innocent death is too many. With a system this flawed,
the death penalty needs to be seriously reconsidered.
In addition
to killing innocent people, capital punishment leaves no room for
criminals to change. Every person has the opportunity to change, and it
is the duty of this nation to give every person, regardless of his or her
history, a chance.
There are
other effective ways to ensure a criminal does not commit another crime,
besides the death penalty. The ILMH has also said that “killing a
criminal will prevent him from committing another crime-but so will
putting him behind bars for ever.”
Many
countries around the world have abolished the death penalty, including the
European Union (EU), and many feel that America should do the same to
“keep up”. Amnesty International reported that “120 countries had
abolished the death penalty”. America is the leading country in
supporting human rights, and yet we allow capital punishment. Something
seems very wrong about this picture.
We are all
free to make our own decisions about this matter. And it is important
that we do, and take action in accordance with our own opinions.
I for one,
however, can’t stand by and allow capital punishment to continue. There
are too many flaws in the system, and until they are worked out, the
system should not exist. Even so, capital punishment remains one of the
most controversial issues of our time.
But if we
just follow the words of Gandhi, the solution should be pretty simple.
Sources:
U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senate Transcripts, Front Page Magazine, the
Institute of Labor and Mental Health (ILMH), Amnesty International |
