THE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE
Troy Davis was a hardworking man; he was a drill technician and athletic coach. His colleagues thought of him as likable and incredibly positive. Davis was hoping to join the Marines and make his family proud, as his father was a war veteran. Now Davis’s dad cannot even give his son a hug or kiss. The state of Georgia has blood on their hands. On September 21, 2011, Troy Davis was given lethal poison into his veins until he departed from this world.
Legal Murder
The first notable claim from the Heritage Foundations, The Death Penalty is Appropriate, is “The supreme court has held the death penalty to be constitutional.” This claim has significance because the author supports the death penalty, right of the bat the reader knows the position. During 1972, the case Furman v Georgia ruled in three separate occasions the death penalty was unconstitutional. The constitution is steadily changing over time; American Law Professor Jack M Balkin states,” I treat constitutions as frameworks for politics, not completed projects. Constitutions are never completed. They are like Heraclitus’s river — they are always changing,” According to the Harvard Law Review, the constitutions eighth amendment states “no cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” although the death penalty is still used even though someone’s life is being taken away.
Another claim worthy of mention is, “In order to make the death penalty fair, officials must make the criminal justice system work as it was intended.” This claim is saying the death penalty can be applied fairly because it is part of the “working” justice system. According to Aclu.org, “The death penalty system in the US is applied in an unfair and unjust manner against people, people of color are far more likely to be executed than white people, especially if the victim is white.” The authors claim does not make sense because the justice system is not perfect, it is unfair within itself. The criminal justice system must be completely fair for the death penalty to be applied as intended; minorities are more likely to face the penalty, meaning there is some type of imbalance within the system.
“The death penalty serves three objectives: general deterrence, specific deterrence, and retribution.” This claim means the penalty serves as a fear factor and a deterrent for individuals that break the law. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Deterrence is probably the most commonly expressed rationale for the death penalty.” This quote shows that the penalty is used to enforce power over people in a way that is meant to create fear.”General deterrence, is the message that gets sent to people who are thinking about committing heinous crimes that they shouldn’t do it or else they might end up being sentenced to death.” This shows that deterrence allows people to think before they act upon a crime. Although often times this method does not work. For example, Humans rights careers says, “The American South has the highest murder rate in the country and oversees 81% of the nation’s executions.” Even though the death penalty is used the South still has the highest murder rate in the country; deterrence isn't always effective.
Would you like to be a witness to an execution? …
In opposition of the death penalty, humans’ rights career in 5 reasons why the death penalty is wrong, gives different points stating how the penalty is not right. The first notable claim is, “It’s inhumane.” According to The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, In the United States, research shows that 3% of executions between 1890–2010 were “botched.” The term botched refers to causing extreme pain to the prisoner. Inhumane things refer to anything that causes extreme harm or pain to a humane being , which the penalty does.
Humans’ rights careers states, “The death penalty disproportionately affects certain groups.” This shows that the penalty is applied unfairly to specific types of people. Humans rights also says, “black people make up over 40% of the prisoners with a death sentence.” This statistic validates the authors claim because it portrays how much higher the death penalty rate is for black individuals. This claim seems accurate; the death penalty is systematically used to harm minorities, specifically black individuals.
Another claim by Human’s rights careers is the fact that the death penalty “can’t be undone if new evidence is revealed.” Basically once the execution takes place there’s no going back, even if new evidence comes along proving innocence , its too late. “In the US, the rate of error is extremely high.” According to Humans rights careers, often times mistakes are made in the execution process and “159 people have been released from death row.” This shows that once the death penalty occurs and a persons life is taken its too late to bring them back.
Don’t Bet Their Life On It
The death penalty should not be allowed unless the person is a major threat to society and even in that circumstance life without parole is a better option. As as a nation we must protect our citizens liberties and rights ; our founders stated clearly in the constitution things that are humane and things that are not. As time goes on the interpretation of humane has became literal We must be less eager to put citizens on death row and more open to coming up with humane solutions like: life in prison, rehabilitation, and offender re-entry support programs.
