4 Reasons why Death Penalty in U.S.A should be Abandoned
Capital punishment, in the United States, is considered as a highest penalty for a felonious criminal activity committed by an individual. In the United States, the capital punishment was imposed by most of the colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence. Though the methods used to impose the death penalty differed between the Statement Governments during the early days after the Declaration of Independence, most of them have started using lethal injection as a method to impose the capital punishment after its reinstatement in 1970.
Over a period of time, the number of people opposing the death penalty is getting increased dramatically. According to Gallop Survey conducted in 2012, nearly 33% of the people including several religious bodies, psychologists and human resource professional have opposed the capital punishment in the United States.
Death Penalty and Its Ability of Deterrence
Most of the people argue that death penalty will act as a best deterrence but the statistics show otherwise. As per the recent data revealed by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the homicide rate in the United States is relatively same for all the years in between 2010 and 2013; it was recorded that approximately 4.5 per 100,000 were the victims of the homicide during these four years. Moreover, the Southern part of the United States, where 80% of the total death penalty executions took place in between 2010 and 2013, accounts for higher number of the homicide rates.
As per the principle of deterrence, the capital punishment should deter people from engaging such activities in future but it is very clear from the statistical data that the capital punishment is not really influencing the behaviours of people and thus it does not really serve the purpose of its existence.
Death Penalty vs. the Principle of Reformation
The criminal justice system is in place in order to provide appropriate penalty to the criminal and give him an opportunity to learn from his past mistakes so that he can again come back to the society as a good human being. Imposing a punishment that does not give an opportunity for criminals to get rehabilitated indicates that the criminal justice system is not serving its purpose. The implementation of the death penalty leads to the same situation. After the capital punishment is imposed, the convicted person will never be alive to be taught and get rehabilitated; this perishes the basic idea of forming the criminal justice system and the principle of the reformation.
The death penalty is highly criticised by the religious groups because it treats human race as non-humans and initiates the cycle of destroying the human race. Since it treats human race as non-human, it opposes the fundamental principle of constitution which states that the criminal should also be treated as a human being and in a dignified manner. This argument clearly shows that the death penalty principle of reformation contradicts each other.
Death Penalty and Costs Associated with it
Death penalty is considered to be an expensive practice as most of the States including Washington DC is spending 33% more on the cases that seek execution than on the cases that don’t seek death penalty. As per the Seattle University, the death penalty for Washington DC is costing up to $3.07 million every year. The higher prosecution costa and defence costs are major reason for increasing the costs associated with the capital punishment. In fact, States spend three to four times more towards prosecution and defence costs for capital punishment cases than the non-capital punishment cases.
The States like California and Washington DC have spent $4 billion and $24 million respective on death penalty after its reinstatement in 1970. It is also forecasted that the State of California is expected to spend another $1 billion on the capital punishment in coming four to five years period of time. The increasing spending on the capital punishment has apparently become burden to the taxpayers within the country.
The National Bureau of Economic Research has indicated that the huge costs that are being spent by governments of various States on the death penalty are negatively impacting the infrastructure projects such as developing highways and constructing sewage systems etc. because the government is often turning to amass the funds for capital punishment from the public revenues. In fact, the Government of the United States has diverted approximately $1.6 billion from the societal development to carry out capital trials during the period of 1982 and 1997.
Death Penalty and Irrevocable Mistakes
The criminal justice in the United States, or in any other country for that matter, is not producing 100% results in imposing the capital punishment penalties. More than 87 people who were proved as innocents when they were on the death row during the last three decades. This clearly shows that they would have executed if they were not proven their innocence even though they did not commit the crime.
As per the statistics released by National Academy of Science in 2014, one in every 25 people who are executed through capital punishment is an innocent person. These kinds of irrevocable mistakes completely contradict the basic principle of the criminal justice system which emphasizes on letting a criminal go rather than making an innocent suffer for the crime he or she did not committed for.
