Abolishing the Death Penalty in the Era of Hope
The outcome of the election for President, and for state and local legislators, not only demonstrates how much Americans want change. It confirms Americans' commitment to our fundamental values of equality and fairness. It gives me reason to hope that we will soon see the end of the death penalty.
The American public simply cannot maintain the death penalty and be true to these deeply held values. There are too many instances of innocent men and women being sentenced to death, of people of color, both defendants and victims, being treated more harshly, and dealt with as if they were expendable.
This is why New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007, and why we fully expect other states will follow.
Americans can't square our values of what is right and lawful with the operation of the death penalty in practice. As we learn more about it, support for the death penalty has dropped over the years, to 63%. Support declines even further when we learn about alternatives to the death penalty, and are given the opportunity to choose life rather than death.
With the current economic downturn, all government programs -- including the death penalty -- should and will be evaluated on whether they deliver on their promises and whether the "benefits" they confer are worth the cost. Measured against this stricter standard, the death penalty comes up short. Having failed to deliver on the promise of accurately selecting only the guilty to receive the punishment, it also fails miserably at being cost efficient, and worse, it siphons precious resources from helping crime victims heal and move on with their lives, or preventing the tragedy of murder from occurring in the first place.
Americans would be appalled to discover how much of their tax dollars support the flawed, ineffective death penalty system. For example, it costs Florida $51 million a year to enforce the death penalty above what it would cost to sentence first degree murderers to life in prison without parole. Imagine how that money could be spent on better ways to ensure public safety, such as hiring and training more police to protect our neighborhoods, and enabling them to purchase the equipment they need to do so, such as updated patrol cars, and more efficient information technology systems,
As newly elected and incumbent state legislators take their seats in statehouses next year, they should remember that constituents expect them to provide leadership and creative thinking on a range of social problems, including criminal justice reform and the death penalty. To paraphrase one commentator's post-election analysis, Americans want a more pragmatic and concrete approach to our nation's problems, not rhetoric and symbolic nods in that direction.
An honest assessment of the problems associated with the death penalty is long overdue. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and its more than 100 affiliates looks forward to engaging state legislators in a reasoned, thoughtful discussion about capital punishment and its alternatives.
Diann Rust-Tierney is the Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
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The U.S. is the only western democracy that has the death penalty! This puts us in same company as China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. I don't see any change soon, as our new President is an ardent backer of said penalty!
It's amazing to me, but not surprising, that Conservatives, in spite of their proclaiming distrust of government, continue to support the death penalty wholeheartedly. That those who claim to distrust government so mightily, would hand over to that same government the right to execute people based on an unwarranted trust in the faulty notion of an infallible justice system is beyond any logic or reason.
Thanks to the advent of modern DNA testing, we have loads of evidence of people who have been falsely convicted and sentenced to death only to have later been found to be innocent based on scientific evidence. Many have spent years or decades on death row before evidence emerged of their innocence. Not every death penalty case is so lucky to have such evidence unearthed. Our judicial system is inherently fallible and often reaches the incorrect conclusion based on hearsay, bungled investigations and the prejudices of judges, prosecutors, and juries.
To support the death penalty is ultimately to support the execution of innocent citizens by the authority of the state. If O.J. can be found innocent, how many more who are innocent are found guilty?
You supporters of the death penalty need to ask yourself the question: Is the vengeance for a single, or many crimes, no matter how heinous, worth the execution of an innocent human being? How is that better than the crime itself?
Maybe before abolishing the death penalty we should actually put into practice. The endless appeals process is reduculous.
Never mind that dozens of people have been exonerated after spending years on death row. Without the "endless" appeals process, they would have fried and that would have been the end of it.
We have put it into practice and executed some innocent men that were exonerated after the fact by DNA evidence.
Not one innocent man should be put to death. Therefore the death penalty should be abolished. The system works against any guarantee of guilt or innocence. I'd rather put someone in prison for life who at least has the chance of proving their innocence than just execute them without true due process.
Yes....whi
Too many Americans are locked up...peopl
It makes no sense to incarcerate such a huge portion of our population.
Who do you want let out first, the crack dealers or the rapists.
I am a very very liberal person, i support gay rights, abortion, womens rights, all that stuff, but im very for the death penalty.
The only regret is our endless appeal system...i
You would not be for the death penalty if i were your own facing it. The truth is the death penalty has been broadened to include innocent actors associated with someone involved..
And by the way...do not regret the "endless appeal" unless you are willing to give up that right for yourself.
I would imagine. What does the Death Penalty accomplish? Would it not be better to accomplish a better purpose on earth when one has been accused and proven. To prove one's truth thru the history of life instead of death. That is the truth we all may seek. If criminals are not treated like criminals when they are released from penance in our country. To be banned from employment instead of given a chance due to a previous record. Perhaps these sad folks go back just to get room and board due to the fact that they were forfeited from finding a decent living due to that. They become homeless. And they go back (because they may have nowhere to go). I welcome anyone's opinion on this. I do understand business liability. Then again, what does it cost for rehabilitation of perfectly fertile minds and bodies to embody a concept of a better country regardless of cost? And we call our country in the name of Jesus. Give me a forgiven break!!! I am open to ideas. Always counterbalanced. And in fact always concerned.
Has there been a mistake in an execution where the state executed an innocent person?
Many, many times, which is why I would insist on there being rock hard evidence before
condemning anyone. For example, if a child had been raped and murdered, and the semen
sample matched the suspected killer's DNA, I would call that very conclusive.
It would be the perfect message after closing down Gitmo.
Not only a message of hope, but a message of justice and democracy.
and I'd love to see Dubya's Chief Torture Officer in jail :
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Excellent commentary, Ms. Rust-Tierney. Someday this country will grow up.
You'll find links to sources for this at www.deathp
Canada abolished the death penalty quite some time ago. 1976, I believe. So far we haven't been overrun by murderous criminals running amok because they're not deterred enough.
because its too damn cold to commit a crime, and canada has 1/10 the population of the US...
The Hatfields and the Mc Coys tried the death penalty out for its two main features, revenge and remedy. It turned out to be just a hot headed and frustrating exercise for generations and failed to remedy anything, same as our death penalty. All we get is some measure of revenge, there being no seeming remedy. There is confusion as to whether the revenge provided by our law is taken for society as a whole or only for the survivors of the victims of the crime for which the penalty was carried out. The Hatfields and the Mc Coys administered the death penalty outside of the law, suddenly and without notice. Society administers the death penalty slowly and in cold blood and within the law, our laws.
According to the usual measures of civility, we have fallen below the level of an Appalachian feud, and would do well to at least lynch the convicted criminal in a heat of passion.
Either act still falls way below the standards of any decent state of humanity.
We have to find a better way to deal with the conduct which causes the death penalty to be carried out. It's not about them. It's about us.
Great article.
Just wish you'd provided links to better prove what I suspect is true.
In any case, proponents of abolishing the death penalty are up against an arugment that wins time and again: Liberals want to molly coddle criminals. Prisoners have more rights and protections than law-abiding citizens.
I'm being somewhat facetious here, but wouldn't it be grand if our 1040's categorized where our tax dollars were being spent? Or better yet came with a table of how all US tax dollars are divvied up?
Unfortunately, given the cost, I imagine the push from the Right would be to stop the appeals process and hang em high in the courtroom.
The best argument for abolishing the death penalty is based on a fundamental (as evidenced by the Declaration of Independence) right to life, not “equality and fairness.” But adopting this argument, however, would put death penalty opponents squarely in the middle of the abortion debate. Until death penalty opponents cease to countenance the taking of innocent life by abortion, their arguments to stop the death penalty for the vilest criminals – imposed after a lengthy, painstaking deference to due process – will largely fall on deaf ears.
Very heartening. The States seem quite backward to many other parts of the world because of its overwhelming support and enforcement of capital punishment. I hope that this issue gets considered -- as the economy and the war will -- as an opportunity for change for the better.
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