Generally speaking I am against the death penalty.
Firstly, on the grounds of possible innocence. How many innocent people are you prepared to see executed in order to execute the guilty? Since 1993 there have been 96 people released in 22 states (of the US) whilst they are on death row. The cases of people in Britain have also been mentioned. Once the deed is done the life cannot be returned.
Secondly, I think capital punishment has lost its moral meaning. Given that the taking of life has become more and more meaningless in modern society we have to ask the reasons for this form of punishment. It is not for deterrence, if that were the case the death penalty would cause the number of murders to decrease and they aren’t. In the US statistics show that the murder rate is lower in states that don’t have the death penalty than it is in neighbouring states that do (Iowa/Missouri, Wisconsin/Illinois). It certainly isn’t for rehabilitation. Furthermore, if we are able to lock a person up securely, for life without parole then I don’t think we can forward the argument that they will be a danger to others. The obvious reason for execution is revenge/justice/retribution. But do we achieve this by taking the life of the criminal? If I were offered the choice of spending my life locked up or being given an injection I would take the latter. But life must mean life – without hope of parole.
Thirdly, and here I must profess relative ignorance, isn’t there a view in the US that capital punishment is fundamentally racist? Far more executions (80%) are held for the murder of white victims than black even though whites and blacks are murdered in equal numbers.
Finally I will leave the ethical view on capital punishment to those of you who have religious convictions. Personally I am agnostic. Smoothbrain, I am surprised to hear you say that as a Catholic you should be ‘for’, capital punishment. Bishops in the US have been campaigning for abolition for over 25 years and the big man himself said:
‘ The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.’ --Pope John Paul II, January 27, 1999, St. Louis, Missouri.
One or two other points. Moiraine, it is interesting that it was the anti-capital punishment groups that wanted the execution televised because they felt it would further their cause.
Countries with the most executions in 1998 are (in order) China, The Peoples Republic of Congo, USA and Iran.
Few countries sanction the death penalty against people under the age of 18 when they committed the crime. Between 1990 and 1997 executions of offenders under 18 were carried out in Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Yemen. Nine were in the USA.
Capital punishment in the UK was only totally abolished in 1998, up to that time it was available for people who committed High Treason or piracy on the high seas. The British Parliament now has no power to reopen the debate on capital punishment.
A comment from a survivor of the Oklahoma outrage, which I think, is very interesting. Royia Sims, now living in Tennessee, ‘I’m not going to waste my time travelling, for him to make an idiotic statement and then fall asleep’
Bah – my longest post ever, & I promised myself I would never get serious on this board (except for the cricket of course).
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Save Chip - Don't let Sarah win!
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[This message has been edited by Donut (edited 06-11-2001).]