Putting to death the death penalty.
Currently, Pennsylvania is one of 31 US states who still practice the death penalty. Growing up, I remember not thinking much of the death penalty. To a kid, our justice system seems straight forward; if you do something really bad, you go to jail. If you do something really REALLY bad, you get put to death. It is interesting how for many, that black and white reasoning never gets further considered. It was not until rather recently that I really questioned the practice of capital punishment. A few years ago, I was contemplating being a police officer. I knew that if I was going to enter into law enforcement I would have to understand both the law and its system. Sounded easy to me at the time, but after a bit of research I quickly learned that our justice system is anything but straightforward. Throughout this time I also was enlightened to just how unjust our justice system can be, specifically in regards to capital punishment.
The main argument I found from those who support the death penalty is the idea of deterrence. 99% of prisoners on death row said they would prefer a life in prison. Ernest van den Haag was a sociologist, professor, and defender of capital punishment. Although I found his arguments to be a tad close-minded, I think he said it well by saying “most of these (deaths in hospitals and other sufferings) are unavoidable. At least death by execution can be avoided by not killing someone else, by not committing murder. One can preserve one’s dignity in this respect if one values it.” However, when looking at the facts it appears that the death penalty actually does not deter. In 2012 the National Research Council stated that studies claiming that capital punishment has a deterrent effect on murder rates are fundamentally flawed. Additionally, the 2014 FBI Uniform Crime Report found that the South has the highest homicide rate of the United States even though the South is where over eighty percent of our executions occur. On the flip side, the Northeast has the lowest homicide rate, and only accounts for less than one percent of executions in the United States.
Nonetheless, I understand why people believe that capital punishment could act as a deterrent. However, I believe the death penalty violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. In a perfect world…well the death penalty would not be needed in a perfect world…but in a perfect world the death penalty would not be a subjective process left up to humans. Unfortunately, the decision and process on who goes to death row, when, and for what, is not a systematic, fair, or just process. The death penalty is imposed disproportionately upon those whose victims are white, on offenders who are people of color, and on those who are themselves poor and uneducated. I think we are MUCH too bias, and too human, in order to fairly, justly, impartially, and humanely have a death penalty. Even if 100 people were “justifiably” executed because of the evil they had committed and would probably continue to commit, if there was even one innocent who got tangled up in the mix, then we did not do the right thing as a society. Too many people who are of a racial minority, have a mental illness, are of lower income, or less educated, will be victims of the justice system when a death penalty is in place.
A study done in 2005 in California found that those convicted of killing whites were more than 3 times as likely to be sentenced to death as those convicted of killing blacks and more than 4 times more likely as those convicted of killing Latinos. Another more recent study done in Washington found that jurors in Washington State are three times more likely to recommend a death sentence for a black defendant than for a whiter defendant in a similar case. According to deathpealtyinfo.org, over seventy-five percent of the murder victims in cases resulting in death penalty are white, even though nationally only fifty percent of murder victims generally are white. People can come up with all sorts of arguments against why this may not be a result of racism in our country, but I believe that ignoring the facts is what has allowed racism and injustice continue. In addition to the injustices based on race, we must also think about the mentally ill and intellectually disabled population. Most would agree that they do not believe that these populations should be punished for their actions to the same extent that we hold the general population. However, this again becomes a very slippery slope. There are a large amount of stigmas and misconceptions surrounding the mentally ill population and the wide severity and variety of diseases only complicates things more. It is difficult to have black and white standards when the subject matter being dealt with is every shade of grey. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally disabled in the Atkins v. Virginia case. In Ford v. Wainwrite (1986) the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute the mentally insane. However, if someone’s mental capacity has been “restored” they can then be executed. Again this becomes a very grey area. Who defines mentally insane or restored from insanity? Who decides what mental illnesses are bad enough to allow exemption from extreme accountability? There are no easy answers to this, which is another reason I believe that the death penalty should be done away with.
Apart from the death penalty being wrong greatly because of the society we live in. I also believe that from a Christian standpoint, we are not acting as Jesus would by supporting the capital punishment. There are many Bible verses (of which I will just named a few) that make me tend to believe the death penalty is not our best option.
The concept of the death penalty is Biblical. Romans 12:17–19 says, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” Similarly, Leviticus 19:18 says, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” There are many verses that command us to love one another, and we must consider 1 Peter 4:8, which says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” God’s Justice is especially concerned with the most vulnerable members of society and the Bible emphasizes the poor and needy (Prov. 14:3, James 1:27, Prov. 28:27, Matthew 18:1–5).
Finally, we must remember what Jesus did when He…the only truly pure, holy, righteous, and perfect person to ever walk on this Earth…was dying on the cross. In Luke 23:34, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Now, it is impossible to know for sure who Jesus is referring to when He says “them.” Some believe He was referring to the criminals who hung on the crosses to Jesus’ right and left that are mentioned in the verses right before His prayers. Others believe that it was the soldiers who were casting lots for Jesus’s clothes who are also mentioned in verse 34. Jesus could have been referring to Pilate, the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees and sadducees, or for all of humanity. Regardless of who Jesus was referring to, the point is that Jesus was the only one who had every right to judge. Yet He being fully good, fully just, and fully holy, forgave us, and asked God the Father to forgive us also. If Jesus forgave the criminals and the very people who were responsible for his suffering and brutal death, how can we who are sinners put other sinners to death. How can we look at someone and say that their sin is worse than ours and that they deserve to die because of it. First of all, who are we to rank sin? Second, who are we to take another’s life. I believe that Jesus was in the business of restoration not condemnation. This does not mean that God’s forgiveness is a get out of jail free card, there are still consequences for our sin, but God wants to restore us (1 Peter 5:10, Romans 12:2). See, God’s justice is not soft on evil but rather seeks to destroy evil, and by allowing capital punishment we are only allowing and catalyzing evil to thrive in this world.
Work Cited
Ernest Van Den Hagg, On Deterrence and the Death Penalty, 60 J. Crim. L. Criminology
& Police Sci. 141 (1969)
Haag, Ernest Van den, and John M. Olin. “THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT: A
DEFENSE.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Grunlan, S. (Ed). Christian Perspectives on Sociology. Reprint edition, Eugene, OR:
Wipf & Stock Pub. 2001.
“What’s New.” DPIC | Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
