The Death Penalty

For eons, there has been a heated debate over the use of the death penalty. Many say that it is justifiable, and should therefore be used, but an overwhelming number of people oppose it, saying not only is it unconstitutional, but also immoral, ineffective, racist, et cetera. However, those who support the abolition of the death penalty for these reasons are, without a doubt, wrong. In the following paper, I hope to explain why all of those arguments are erroneous and why the death penalty should become more commonplace in the American justice system.

One of the core tenets of those against the death penalty is that it's unconstitutional. Their justification for this is our Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. However, to use this as justification would be taking the amendment out of context, thereby isolating it from the document without looking at the encompassing amendments. To elucidate on this point, I present the Fifth Amendment:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or other wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor to be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The amendment specifically states that killing by the government is only unconstitutional if the one being killed is deprived of due process of law. Since a trial is due process of law, a conviction and a resulting sentence to death is therefore constitutional according to this indirect reference.

A second closely related protest against it is that the death penalty is allegedly immoral. The justification for this statement comes largely from the Bible; more accurately, from both the sixth commandment [Thou shalt not kill] and the adage "Judge not, lest ye be judged." But again, the protesters are taking something out of context. Later on in the Bible, in Matthew 26:52, Jesus said "…all who take the sword will perish by the sword" Other verses in the Bible that support the death penalty include Genesis 9:6 ["Whoever sheds Man's blood, by Man his blood shall be shed"], Exodus 21:12 ["He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death"], Numbers 35:31["Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death"] and Numbers 35:33 ["So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it"]. The Bible also condones the death penalty for rapists, as shown in Deuteronomy 22:25, and kidnappers, as shown in both Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7. Thusly, hiding behind the Bible to oppose the death penalty is pure hypocrisy.

Yet another point the anti-capital punishment people tout is that the death penalty is ineffective; it doesn't deter criminals. But, if one would just look at the statistics, it's plain to see that they are once again wrong. For instance, when Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1976, murders went down 63% over 14 years-�from 1982 to 1996. Conversely, when no executions were made from 1969-1975 the murder rate rose from 14,590 murders to 20,510 murders. Why are people ignoring the blatantly obvious numbers? Because they don't want to be wrong.

The last point they make is that the death penalty targets blacks and poor people. This is an incorrect statement, because race isn't an issue. If someone is killed, it is absurd to think that his or her family will be any more concerned with the perpetrator's race, economic status, gender, or ethnicity than his or her shoe size. Moreover, a 1991 study showed that 32% of white convicts received the death penalty as opposed to 27% of non-white. In fact, the only reason that the death penalty even has the opportunity to be unfair is that it isn't mandatory. If for all capital cases the death penalty was used, then it would be applied equally, and the abolitionists would have nothing to complain about.

In conclusion, there is no real and justifiable reason for not using the death penalty. It deters criminals, has been proven to be moral, and will be fair to all if it is brought into common use. There have been numerous statistical studies that show its effectiveness. Therefore, the death penalty should become a standard penalty in the American justice systems.