Capital punishment has been in existence for and an overwhelmingly controversial topic for many years. Today it still holds high as a topic for debate. Capital punishment is “The lawful infliction of death as a punishment [also known as] the death penalty”(Zalan). Capital Punishment is surrounded by much debate today along with many factors such as morality, race, the 8th amendment, costs, and the credibility of the judicial system. All of these lend to the political, economic, cultural, and religious influences of the debate. Capital Punishment raises a main question of whether the government should have the authority to take one’s life away which stems to the main question today as to whether or not Capital punishment should be abolished. This paper will address this question while answering other sub questions.

The Death Penalty debate has strong connections surrounded by politics, religion, culture, and economics. To understand this we must explore both sides of the debate. The first factor is that of morality and the 8th amendment. The 8th amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, no excessive fines imposed, nor cruel unusual punishments inflicted” (constitution.laws.com). The constitutionality of the Death Penalty has been bought to the Supreme Courts attention many times such as in the 2008 case of Baze v Reez. In this court case two defendants Raphael Baze and Thomas Bowling brought a civil suit against the state of Kentucky claiming that lethal injection creates a “unnecessary risk of pain and suffering” (Legal Information Institute ) therefore violating the 8th amendment. The Supreme Court held that lethal injection was constitutional. In the case of Willie Francis the constitutionality of Capital Punishment came into question when in Louisiana the young adult was sentenced to death by electrocution twice due to the chair not properly working the first time. The question presented was whether or not Louisiana had the right to re-execute Francis because the 8th Amendment forbids methods of execution that “cause torture or a lingering death” (King). In this case the defendant was spared from a “second execution”.

The Supreme Court along with those who are pro Capital punishment sees it as a chance for “retribution and deterrence” (New York Times). They hold an emphasis on an eye for an eye and that it is only right for those who take the lives of others to have theirs taken as well. It is seen as a “deserved punishment [that] protects society morally by restoring this just order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has done” (ProCon.org).  There is even a religious truth to this thought. In the Bible it says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image” Genesis 9:6 (Andy). Many people who follow the Christian religion strictly would interpret this as God putting the power in government and man to go out and kill others as a consequence. On the other hand Abolitionists call for society to move from the “eye for an eye revenge mentality of civilization in order for advance[ment]” (BalancedPolitics.org). They speak on the hypocrisy of the death penalty which I will emphasize later.

Many people are back and forth about Capital punishment because they believe race plays a role in it as well. Data has been collected and it has been found that most of those who were/are on death row and were executed were Whites followed by Blacks then Hispanics. There is also the finding that “in 96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both” (Deathpenaltyinfo.org). However in states such as California and Louisiana the defendant was three times more likely to get the death penalty if the victim was white.

The issue of costs that come along with the death penalty is a very important factor because not everybody realizes how much is coming out of their pockets and going toward criminal executions. Those for the death penalty see it as a way to clear up space in prisons and one less person to pay for but in actuality millions are spent on just on execution. For example in Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million which is three times the cost of them being kept in a maximum security prison for 40 years (Deathpenaltyinfo.org). For this reason many people are anti-death penalty because they know it will cost significantly less to house the convicts is prison rather than spends millions more to have them executed.

The last point I will hit upon is the credibility of the Judicial system. Many defendants who are on death row appeal their cases to the Supreme Court who is required to review the case. However, “it takes the votes of four of the nine justices to hear a case” (Associated Press). Innocence is always the main question and since 1976 there have been 143 exonerations according to CNN which also reports that the number of people who preferred the death penalty has declined due to the belief that “at least one person in the past five years has been executed for a crime he or she did not commit” (Mears). The Innocence Project is one of the main groups who work with DNA to overturn death sentences and “wrongful convictions causing the execution of innocent people” (McElroy).

I myself have been conflicted over the idea of Capital Punishment and over the years have gone back and forth between being for it and then against it. What steers me away from it the most is the fact that there are innocent people on death row. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, there have been 143 exonerations. This means that 143 innocent people were sentenced to be killed. This is an unsettling number. It is said that “No system of justice can produce results which are 100% certain all the time. Mistakes will be made in any system which relies upon human testimony for proof” (ProCon Headlines) When convicting people they must be guilty beyond a measurable doubt but there is always room for human error. Nobody should be sentenced to death unless the evidence is hit on the nail 100% and there is no doubt whatsoever. There have also been 1355 total executions since 1355 according to deathpenaltyinfo.org with Texas holding the most with 507 (15 this year). Of this number I wonder how many were innocent. There is also “no credible source that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long term imprisonment [and] States that have the death penalty laws do not have lower crime rates or murder rates than states without such laws. (Procon Headlines)” This statement brings up the question of why do we have the death penalty? Is it supposed to deter people from crime because it’s obviously not. Lastly I would like to address the hypocrisy I see in Capital Punishment. I do not understand how it is we try to teach ad tell people not to kill by killing those who kill others. What are we proving? It would be better to give these people life imprisonment because not only would be increase chances of exoneration if innocent (we can’t bring back the dead) but we also save money.

There will be many biases on this topic. The bias of survival fits here because there will be relics (durable) left I’m sure of the electric chairs and there are already gas chambers in museums. Everything is documented and filed away so the information I’m sure will be available at the researchers’ fingertips. These journals, files, and books will all be part of history (firsthand accounts, diaries from inmates, etc.). The main bias here will be that of the protected and self-serving. Perhaps for a historian looking back at this the struggle would be to relate if the Capital punishment law is altered in anyway. It is important for all generations to know about the death penalty because history has a way of repeating itself. No history should be ignored no matter how bad it seems.

Copyright 2015 – Michelle J. Burton

Works Cited

Andy. “What Does the Bible Say About Capital Punishment?” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

King, Gilbert. “Can the State Kill Someone Twice? The Strange and Disturbing Case of the Death of Willie Francis.” History News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

McElroy, Wendy. “May I Kill A Stranger? Show Your Support: May I Kill A Stranger? Musing about Capital Punishment.” History News Network. History News Network, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Mears, Bill. “Executions, Death Sentences Remain Steady over past Year.” CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

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Press, Associated. “Justice Sotomayor Finds Fault with Ala. Judges Who Override Juries and Impose Death Sentences.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Zalan, Kira. “A Punishing Debate.” US News. U.S.News & World Report, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

“America’s Retreat From the Death Penalty.” Nytimes.com. New York Times, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

“An Overview of the 8th Amendment.” 8th Amendment. Http://constitution.laws.com/, n.d. Web. 14 Nov.

“BalancedPolitics.org.” – Death Penalty (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against, Advantages & Disadvantages). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

“Baze v. Rees (07-5439).” LII. Legal Information Institute, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

“Facts About the Death Penalty.” Deathpenaltyinfo.org. Death Penalty Information Center, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

“Top 10 Pros and Cons – Death Penalty – ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.