“Oh Donald”
The Ethics of Death Row and its Prerequisites
President Donald Trump recently announced plans to make drug dealers become a part of a group that consists of other dangerous criminals who currently sit in death row. When assessing the characteristics of the criminals who are currently on death row, the definition of a drug dealer comes to mind. A drug dealer is a person who sells drugs to open and willing consumers. In contrast, the criminals who are on death row murdered unwilling, and often times, innocent victims. There is a big difference between the two types of “criminals” and it has a lot to do with the other person involved. If someone was willing to buy drugs off someone, it obviously was their choice; they wanted to buy it. The drug dealer first-handedly did no harm. On the other hand, we have a serial killer who preys on its next victim. Their victim did not have a choice. The killer made it for them, and the harm was unrepairable.
What factors even play a role in determining what is considered a capital crime, and what is not a capital crime? Better yet, who actually decides that? A jury decides who receives capital punishment, but what actually defines if an act is considered a capital crime? According to ProCon.org, all capital punishments involve or are a mixture of either: murder, treason, and sexual exploitation to children. The website specifically says to children, and I wonder why that is only directed to children. It is not wrong to include children into the prerequisite of capital crime; however, one naturally would ask why grown men and women are left out.
I had recently attended a lecture for my Gender and Sexuality’s course, Violence Against Women, and our focus was directed towards investigating a popular TV show called, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. In this show, detectives and lawyers collectively investigate in order to gather as much information as possible so that they could prove that the victim was raped or assaulted. Typically in the show, and in real life, the victim is always female. I remember the class discussing and asking questions as to why the justice system does everything possible to belittle and degrade a woman’s credibility? Our professor said something to the class and it had an imprinting effect on me, she asked if we have ever noticed that the show Law and Order has had the same storyline since it was created. Which was something I have never thought about and it is a problem. It shows how society as a whole has not changed and has not seen the effects that rape and sexual assault have on people, more specifically women. The fact that the show has been going on for more than 18 years, and continues to have the same storyline can show how rape and sexual assault has a lot to do with the way society is systematically built to oppress women in general. When it is time for the woman to talk to the police and file a report, that woman and women in general are discredited and devalued at questioning, at the court stands, and even at the sentencing of their rapists.
If one were to question a woman’s credibility, it would cause confusion and sentiments of shame. Shame because the woman is already in a vulnerable state, and she would feel like she has to go out of her way to not only survive a traumatic experience, but also to go out of her way to try and prove she isn’t lying. Rape without the company of murder is not considered a capital crime. Why? Rape is such a traumatic experience that can leave one with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological disorders. Disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder that cannot be cured, meaning it sticks with the victim for the rest of their lives. However it is treatable, which means that there are methods in which one can participate in that will help ease the discomfort that comes with the flashbacks. Rape is not asked for, yet the flashbacks that come with such an experience never seem to leave the victim without questions. Questions as to why it happened to them, what they could have done differently, and how could the situation be ‘fixed’?
As a disclaimer, I would like to state that I am not endorsing drugs in any way, I am just stating the irony of Trump’s decision to even think the two crimes are equally heinous. If a drug transaction means getting death row, then why wouldn’t a bloody, and uninvited rape mean receiving death row? If Trump believes that drugs are worth receiving the death penalty, and not the violation and rape of anyone, not limited to just children, then one must question themselves what morals our president has. An exchange between two willings participants, the vendor and customer have a mutual and consensual interaction. Whereas rape obviously is not consensual. Even today, many drug dealers are receiving a very high and long sentence for their crime, and rapists such as Brock Turner only pay a few months in prison. According to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, out of every 1000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will not spend a night in jail for that crime. (RAINN) Most of the cases that do involve drug dealers,the majority of them are of a minority group. This can be seen as an example of how minority groups are so underprivileged that they resort to drug dealing as their source of income. When there are mouths to feed, rooves/ roofs to build, one will do what they have to do in order to survive. Their reasoning behind the crime, in my opinion, is a good reason and it is valid. The crime itself is not “good” just because they are selling products that hurt and negatively affect the customer, which should still be punished, but not as severely as the death row or even how it is now.
When asked if rape should be punished as a capital crime, only four justices said that “capital punishment for rape was always unconstitutional.” (Death Penalty for Rape) Little more than half of the justices believed that capital punishment for rape is constitutional. Every case is different and contains different elements which make the case more “severe” in the eyes of the law, but rape will always be rape regardless of the situation. And it is a real problem that our society faces, and President Donald Trump seems to be slapping women across their faces by implying that drug dealing is more important than their bodies and mental health.
