The death penalty: Making use of capital punishment

Written by Ryan McEwan Friday, 20 November 2009 08:00

I refuse to argue that life isn’t sacred, because it is.

I will argue, however, that when a person is willing to take the life or lives of others, their life is no longer sacred.

We execute certain convicted felons because it is safer than incarcerating them for life. The problem with our legal system is that it is ever-changing and new legal precedents are set daily.

Take James Moore, who in 1962 was convicted of raping and killing 14-year-old Pamela Moss. Moss’ parents decided to spare Moore the death penalty on the condition that he was held for life without parole. In 1982 the sentencing laws changed and ever since Moore has been up for parole every two years.

What about Kevin McDuff? In 1966 McDuff was convicted for murdering two boys and raping and murdering their female companion. Though sentenced to death by electric chair, the Supreme Court overturned the decision and gave him life without parole in 1972. 

Due to overcrowding in the prison system though, McDuff was quietly released from jail in 1989. Despite years of “rehabilitation,” McDuff soon began kidnapping, raping and murdering women again.

After a nation-wide manhunt in 1992, McDuff was arrested again and convicted for another three murders, though officials suspect he may have been responsible for as many as nine new murders.

The problem is, these are just two examples and there are many others. We have the death penalty because there are some individuals who do not believe life is sacred, who are willing to take lives and no amount of rehabilitation can change them.

The prison system isn’t a perfect system. Capital punishment is meant to be a deterrent, though many advocates of abolishing the death penalty say it doesn’t deter. Why doesn’t it deter criminals? Several reasons:

For starters, the legal process necessary to execute criminals takes an average 11.2 years according to North Carolina Wesleyan College Web site. It is so difficult to execute a prisoner, and the execution takes place so long after the crimes are committed that it doesn’t have the effect necessary.

Second, because our Constitution states that we have a right to be free from “cruel and unusual” punishments, the death penalty has become a quiet and peaceful process. We no longer need to hang people in public to show criminals what happens when life is taken. We no longer use hanging at all, or the gas chamber, or firing squads, as these are deemed too “cruel.” Nowadays most states favor lethal injection as a painless way to end someone’s life.

Do you think these killers worried about “cruel and unusual” when they stole the lives of innocent victims? Do you think they tried to make things as quick and painless as possible? Doubtful. Odds are they murdered because of a moral ambiguity they possessed that showed a lack of reverence for human life.

Some would argue that we should abolish capital punishment for fear of falsely executing an innocent person. If there were any argument that would work on me, this would be it.

However, do you know why the average inmate spends 11.2 years on death row? It is because the appeals process is so long, that we have to be so certain of their guilt, that it is extremely rare for us to execute an innocent person.

But statistics show that despite what some would argue, the death penalty does act as a deterrent. According to Dudley Sharp of Justice for All (www.jfa.net), “from 1995 to 2000, executions averaged 71 per year, a 21,000 percent increase over the 1966-1980 period. The murder rate dropped from a high of 10.2 (per 100,000) in 1980 to 5.7 in 1999 - a 44 percent reduction. The murder rate is now at its lowest level since 1966.“

As John McAdams, associate professor of political science at Marquette University said, “If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call.”

With the recent execution of John Allen Muhammad, aka the DC Sniper, I am reminded that this country is a safer place because of the death penalty. Muhammad did not share my belief that life is sacred, so why should I feel his life is? I’m sure the families of the many victims he left would agree.

Ryan is a graduate student studying emergency management.

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