Closure or Revenge
Written by Michael Mangin
Published on December 20, 2010

For some, the term "capital punishment" triggers a vigorous debate in America. After all, the death penalty dates back to eighteenth century B.C. in which capital punishment resulted for twenty-five different crimes. Coupled with, death became common punishment used in fourteenth century B.C.'s Hittite Code, which made death the only punishment for all crimes. Before hand, common execution methods in the fifth century B.C.'s Roman law included drowning, burning alive, beatings, impalement, and crucifixion. By the tenth century A.D., hanging became the preferred implementation. Under Henry VIII's reign, over 72,000 individuals perished by boiling, beheading, burning, hanging, and the excruciating drawing and quartering; "The condemned person . . . was cut open and his intestines removed and then burned before his eyes. He then was decapitated and his body was divided into four parts, or quartered by horses" ("Drawing and Quartering"). In 2009, the death penalty accounts for fifty-two deaths ("Bureau of Justice Statistics") that perished as a result of gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, or electric chair. No matter what method one uses, it remains barbaric to allow state-sanctioned murder. Likewise, the United States should abolish capital punishment because of the cost, of the unjust principles, and of the unconstitutionality.

As quoted by Jeanne Woodford, past Warden of San Quentin Penitentiary: "California spends an additional $117 million each year pursuing the execution of those on death row. Just housing inmates on death row costs an additional $90,000 per prisoner per year above what it would cost to house them with the general prison population" (Dieter 14). Costs for executions include trials, special motions, extra time for jury selection, appeals, expert witnesses, special inmate treatment in prison, and other expenses. With that, "The average cost for the defense at trial in a federal death case is $620,932, about 8 times that of a non-capital federal murder case" (Office of Defender Services). Spending less in a death penalty cases cost innocent lives: one of several reasons why Congress requires at least two attorneys to represent the defendant. In turn, "Jury selection in a capital case can take weeks or even months" (Office of Defender Services). When courts must abide by law and pick jurors carefully, time and money depletes. As cited by Robert Spangenberg and Elizabeth Walsh: "The death penalty is not now, nor has it ever been, a more economical alternative to life imprisonment" (Spangenberg, and Walsh 49). After all, America should abolish the death penalty and save expenses for something important such as solving cold cases or expanding upon current crime prevention.

Meanwhile, the consequences of capital punishment remain unjust and inequitable. In other words, the death penalty continues to be the one punishment that remains irrevocable, which makes it always unjust. In essence, as long as capital punishment continues, innocent people will die. According to the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, "There have been 261 post-conviction DNA exonerations since 1989" ("Innocence Project"). According to the American Society of Criminology, "Exonerations are no longer rare events, but rather, have become commonplace" (Cox, and Bratina "Abstract"). Conversely, some may then argue that DNA provides a "safeguard," but the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center disagrees: "DNA exonerations represent only 12% of the total list of 116 cases. In 88% of the cases, attorneys and courts had to rely on other forms of evidence." Similarly, according to the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, "About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups" ("Innocence Project"). The Death Penalty Information Center also reports: "Of the chief District Attorneys in counties using the death penalty in the United States, nearly 98% are white and only 1% are African-American" (Dieter). Chiefly, these statistics show the discrimination against the poor, unhealthy, and marginalized people in America. As the saying goes, "Those without the capital, get the punishment." "Of the 5,760 death sentences imposed in the study period, 4,578 (79%) were finally reviewed on 'direct appeal' by a state high court. Of those, 1,885 (41%; over two out of five) were thrown out because of 'serious error'" (Liebman). Bryan Stevenson, JD, Professor of Law and Founder-Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative states: "[It] has less to do with whether those convicted of violent crime deserve to die than with whether state and federal governments deserve to kill those whom it has imprisoned" (Stevenson ). As a result, capital punishment continues to be an unjust and inequitable occurrence in today's society.

Finally, and most important of all, defendants, "Endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights," ("Declaration of Independence") hold Constitutional rights that shall not be infringed upon. In Furman vs. Georgia (1972), the U.S. Supreme court ruled that, "The imposition and carrying out of the death penalty . . . constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments" (Culbert 19). In the final analysis, legislators rewrote the laws for capital punishment. Thurgood Marshall, JD, former US Supreme Court Justice, concluded, "[Capital punishment] violates the Eighth Amendment because it is morally unacceptable to the people of the United States at this time in their history" (Burkhead 1). Moreover, the death penalty's imposition and arbitrariness deprives an individual of the benefits to reverse conviction. Together with, cruel and unusual punishment inflicts itself into death penalty procedure due to excessive pain and suffering included in the executions. For example, when hanged from a short drop, there will be a slow and agonizing death by strangulation. When hanged from a long drop, the head will be severed from the body. Comparatively, an appalling instance of electrocution took place on the fourth day of May, 1990, in the case of Jesse Tafero in Florida when Tafero's head exploded with blue and orange flames. On the whole, the pain and suffering shall not continue, and defendants shall have the right to overturn his or her conviction.

The "eye for an eye" mentality never solves a problem. A revenge philosophy only results in more violence. Why does gang violence continue to be a problem in America? Why does the Israeli-Palestine conflict seem to never end? Incidentally, capital punishment does not provide closure for the victim; only revenge. With a death conviction, the pain concludes in the flip of a switch, while life imprisonment etches at the mind of the criminal for a lifetime. America contains an imperfect judicial system, and innocent lives perish as a result. Desmond Tutu said, "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." Executions give notion that homicide constitutes legitimacy when deemed justified by pragmatic concerns. To put it differently, executions personify murder in the name of justice and nothing more. "If we execute a person, what is the difference between us and the criminal who has committed the horrifying crime of killing another individual" (Kartha).

Works Cited:

"Abolish the death penalty ." Amnesty International (2009): n. pag. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <http:// www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty>.

Burkhead, Michael. A Life for a Life: The American Debate Over the Death Penalty. Jefferson, North Carolina: Michael Dow Burkhead, 2009. Print.

"Capital Punishment, 2009 - Statistical Tables." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (2010): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov 2010. <http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2215>.

Cox, Amanda. and Bratina, Michele. "Wrongful Conviction in the United States" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, Georgia, Nov 13, 2007 <Not Available>. 2010-10-24 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p206542_index.html>

Culbert, Jennifer. Dead certainty: the death penalty and the problem of judgment. Stanford, Ca.: Board of Trustees of the Leeland Stanford Junior University, 2008. 19. Print.

Dieter, Richard. "Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center Report. (2004): Print.

Dieter, Richard. "Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis." A Death Penalty Information Center Report. (2009): 14. Print.

Dieter, Richard. "The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides." Death Penalty Information Center Report. (1998): Print.

"Drawing and Quartering." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Nov. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171149/drawing-and- quartering>.

"Facts on Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations." Innocence Project n. pag. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/ Facts_on_PostConviction_DNA_Exonerations.php>.

"History of the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center (2010): n. pag. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty>.

Kartha, Deepa. "10 Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment." Buzzle.com n. pag. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/10-pros-and-cons-of-capital-punishment.html>.

Liebman, James. "A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995." Columbia Law School. (2000): Print.

Messerli, Joe. "Should the death penalty be banned as a form of punishment? ." BalancedPolitics.org (2010): n. pag. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <http:// www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm>.

Office of Defender Services of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, "Update on Cost, Quality, and Availability of Defense Representation in Federal Death Penalty Cases," June 2008; prepared by Jon Gould and Lisa Greenman.

Spangenberg, Robert L. and Walsh, Elizabeth: "Capital punishment or life imprisonment? Some cost considerations"; Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 49 (1989)

Stephenson, Bryan. "Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case." Close to Death: Reflections on Race and Capital Punishment in America. (2004): Print.

United States. Declaration of Independence. Washington, D.C.: , 1776. Web. 6 Dec 2010. < http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html>

Originally written for Ms. Ruttum's Composition 1020 College level class at Coronado High School