Essay, Research Paper: An Issue Of Life And Death: ...

Originally Assigned At:
Diablo Valley College
English 122-21
11/23/98

An Issue of Life and Death: Arguments on the Death Penalty

Humans have been killing each other as a means of punishment since the dawn of time. The penalty of death has been an ominous shadow invading the minds of those considering drastically breaking the law. This is one of the most effective punishments in terms of deterring crime in history; perhaps surpassed only by torture till death.
Up until a few decades ago, the death penalty has been accepted as a suitable punishment for murderers and others convicted of excessively violent crimes. But recently, the death penalty has developed a bad name. Some say it is ineffective at deterring crime; others claim that it is immoral to kill another human being; still others say that it is too costly to execute the condemned.
For most arguments, either for the death penalty or against, the two sides contradict each other. If one side says the death penalty is more expensive than life imprisonment, the other side claims that imprisonment is more costly. In my research, I have found four arguments made by both sides of the debate, which clearly contradict each other.
The first contradiction regards economics. The death penalty advocates claim that life imprisonment is more expensive than executing an inmate; the anti-death penalty supporters say it's the other way around; that these executions cost more than incarcerating an inmate for life. What I've uncovered is that both sides manipulate the data to make their argument more appealing. The pro-deathers factor in the cost of building and staffing new prisons, and exclude the elevated court costs involved in a death penalty case. The anti-deathers don't factor in the new prison cost, but they add in for the cost of filing multiple appeals on the condemned's behalf.
The second issue at hand is the use of the death penalty to deter others from committing crimes. Those in favor of the death penalty cite records of violent crime during highly publicized death penalty cases; these records generally show a decline in violent crime during the case, and an increase back to the normal levels after the trial concludes (Bailey). Those opposed to the death penalty look to the Netherlands, where no executions have taken place since the early 1900's, but no increase in crimes punishable by death has occurred (Block).
The third argument is more objective; it is the issue of morality. Is it moral for people living in a civilized society to legally kill one another? The pro-deathers say it is. They make the argument of Lex Talionis. Which means "a life for a life". If an individual deprives another of his life, then the murder should be expected to pay for his deeds with his own life. The death penalty opposition says that the practice of executions is medieval, and has no place in a modern society.
The final argument is a Constitutional one; it regards the 8th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It appears to those opposed to the death penalty that this amendment clearly forbids executions, which they deem to be cruel. However, the death penalty supporters bring the alternative to executions into the Constitutional argument. They state that being incarcerated until death is a much more cruel punishment than being executed after spending only a small amount of time in prison (most condemned inmates spend approximately 10 and a half years on death row before execution (Bureau of Justice Statistics)).
Besides these main points, there are other issues that must be considered before drawing a conclusion on the debate over the death penalty. The possibility for convicted murderers to kill others, either in prison, or in the outside world after escaping. The possibility of executing an innocent man, an issue brought to light in the 1960's with the popular television program The Fugitive. There are many arguments both for and against the death penalty. Both those opposing and those supporting the death penalty mold and crop statistics to conform to their own best interests. The only way to determine for sure which policy is best is to amass data from all sides of the debate and carefully go over it, noting what statistics from both sides are based on. Only after finding a common starting ground, will you be able to find the best policy regarding the use of the death penalty.

WORKS CITED
Bailey, William C., "Murder, Capital Punishment, and Deterrence".
Journal of Social Issues, 1994.

Block, Eugene B., "When Men Play God: The Fallacy of Capital Punishment".
San Francisco: Cragmont Publications, 1983.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. "Capital Punishment 1996".
December 1996.

"Capital Punishment: Life or Death?"
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/spring/cap/group1.htm

"UAA Justice Center: Focus on the Death Penalty"
http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/