Capital Punishment Is Dead Wrong | Teen Ink

Capital Punishment Is Dead Wrong MAG

July 27, 2008
By Anonymous

Murder is wrong. Since childhood we have been taught this indisputable truth. Ask yourself, then, what is capital punishment? In its simplest form, capital punishment is defined as one person taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is the definition of murder. There are 36 states with the death penalty, and they must change. These states need to abolish it on the grounds that it carries a dangerous risk of punishing the innocent, is unethical and barbaric, and is an ineffective deterrent of crime versus the alternative of life in prison without parole.

Capital punishment is the most ­irreparable crime governments perpetrate without consequence, and it must be abolished. “We’re only ­human, we all make mistakes,” is a commonly used phrase, but it is tried and true. Humans, as a species, are famous for their mistakes. However, in the case of the death penalty, error becomes too dangerous a risk. The innocent lives that have been taken with the approval of our own government should be enough to abolish capital punishment.

According to Amnesty International, “The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims.” If there is any chance that error is possible (which ­there always is), the drastic measure of capital ­punishment should not be taken. Also, it is too final, meaning it does not allow opportunity for th accused to be proven innocent, a violation of the Fifth Amendment which guarantees due process of law.

District Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ­argued against the death penalty: “In brief, the Court found that the best available evidence indicates that, on the one hand, innocent people are sentenced to death with materially greater frequency than was previously supposed and that, on the other hand, convincing proof of their innocence ­often does not emerge until long after their convictions. It is therefore fully foreseeable that in enforcing the death penalty a meaningful number of innocent people will be executed who otherwise would eventually be able to prove their innocence.”

As humans, we are an inevitable force of error. However, when a life is at stake, error is not an option. The death penalty is murder by the government. As a nation, we have prided ourselves in our government, its justice and truth. However, can we continue to call our government fair if we do not hold it to the same rules we do its people? Murder by a citizen will have consequences, yet a government-approved ­murder is not only acceptable, but enforceable. What message do we send the American people, and other countries, for that matter, if we continue to be a ­nation that kills its citizens, a nation that enforces the most barbaric form of punishment?

The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty states, “We don’t cut off the hands of thieves to ­protect property; we do not stone adulterers to stop adultery. We consider that barbaric. Yet we continue to take life as a means of protecting life.” No person, government-affiliated or not, has the right to decide if another human is worthy or unworthy of life. Our natural rights as humans, which cannot be taken away by the government, include the right to life. Humans are not cold metal coins that lose value; no act, no matter how heinous, can make a person less of a human being. However, for most it is easy to ­forget that each of the 1,099 executed since 1977 are fellow humans, not just numbers.

According to Amnesty International, “The death penalty violates the right to life.” Capital punishment contradicts our moral beliefs and claims of a fair and just government. The U.S. must join its political ­allies – including Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, South Africa, and most of Latin America – that have abolished the death penalty.

The death penalty is favored by some as an effective deterrent of crime; however, it is proven that states with the death penalty actually have higher murder rates than those without. It is proven that our nation does not need this extreme threat of punishment to prevent crime. In 2006, the FBI Uniform Crime Report revealed that the area of the U.S. that was responsible for the most executions (the South with 80 percent) also had the highest murder rate, whereas the Northern areas that had the fewest ­executions (less than one percent), had the lowest murder rates.

It can be said that the death penalty is the most overlooked form of government hypocrisy; we murder people who murder people to show that murder is wrong. It is this contradiction in policy that confuses criminals and undermines any crime deterrence capital punishment was intended to have.

Many people favor the death penalty as reparation for the wrong done to a victim’s family; however, in most cases, closure is not the result. Losing a loved one, no matter how that person is lost, is unbearable, irrevocable, and shattering. Pain like this is shocking and the victim’s family holds onto the hope that the execution of the murderer will bring relief and closure. Nevertheless, when execution day arrives, the pain is not eased. No relief can be gained, for their pain is an unavoidable, natural process of life. Victims’ families have founded such groups as the Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and The Journey of Hope, which oppose the death penalty. They ­believe that they are different from those who have taken their loved ones and they demonstrate their ­difference by refusing to sink to a murderer’s level.

Capital punishment is immoral and a violation of natural rights. It is wrong for everyone involved: the prosecuted innocent, criminals, victims’ families, and our nation. We need to replace the death penalty and capital punishment with life without parole, a safer and more inexpensive option. The death penalty does not guarantee safety for innocent victims, it does not follow the goals and promises of our nation, it does not effectively deter crime, and it does not give closure to victims’ families. Nothing good comes of hate, and nothing good can ever come from capital punishment. It cannot continue to be accepted by a nation that claims to have liberty and justice for all. The death penalty is murder on the sly and it’s dead wrong.



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This article has 473 comments.


Emmalee SILVER said...
on Jan. 27 2010 at 8:01 am
Emmalee SILVER, Rayville, Louisiana
9 articles 14 photos 65 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon

Eye for an eye. If one steals, they should have everything taken. If one molests, they should be molested. Most importantly, if one kills, they should be killed. It's simple knowledge.

on Jan. 20 2010 at 8:12 pm
it doesnt say their presence is an error, just that we're humans, so we're flawed, we're not perfect which means there will always be a margin of error, and if there is an error there is risk that an innocent life could be taken ( and this has happened) and that this is not a risk anyone should be willing to take

.... said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 8:10 pm
thats exactly what the article is critisizing...the point is that there is no such thing as "lawful" taking away of rights, no matter who does it or why. just because the government does it, does not make it different; one human is taking the life of another, and this is wrong. so youre not actually clearing anything up....

roxy said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 8:02 pm
no the murderer didnt think about that, which is exactly why we should! youre saying that because the murderer got to kill someone we get to too? a little immature and vengeful sentiment for a government...

madison said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 7:57 pm
so, the lives of humans, innocent humans, mean less to you than the condemnation of a killer?

also, the article never states anywhere that they WANT a murderer alive, just that it is morally barbaric to kill them in return

Olivia said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 7:48 pm
im not saying that if the death penalty rises murder rates rise, im saying that the death penalty does not prevent crime, as the states that have it still continue to have high murder rates, even though the death penalty should make the murder rate less, because people are afraid of the more drastic consequence, my point being that the death penalty doesn't serve it's purpose to deter crime

on Jan. 19 2010 at 9:02 pm
Jack_Walton SILVER, Gray, Tennessee
6 articles 1 photo 44 comments

Favorite Quote:
In a mad world, only the mad are sane. - Akira Kurosawa

If murder is morally and ethically wrong, why did the murderer murder someone in the first place?

on Jan. 19 2010 at 8:54 pm
Jack_Walton SILVER, Gray, Tennessee
6 articles 1 photo 44 comments

Favorite Quote:
In a mad world, only the mad are sane. - Akira Kurosawa

"In 2006, the FBI Uniform Crime Report revealed that the area of the U.S. that was responsible for the most executions (the South with 80 percent) also had the highest murder rate, whereas the Northern areas that had the fewest ­executions (less than one percent), had the lowest murder rates."

Pardon me, but it sounds like you are saying that if the death penalty rises, that means crime rises. Actually, it's the other way around. If the MURDER RATE rises, then of course the death penalty rate is also going to raise. If the murder rate falls, the death penalty will fall. The two factors depend on each other.

Chrissy_L GOLD said...
on Jan. 19 2010 at 4:45 pm
Chrissy_L GOLD, Ramsey, New Jersey
13 articles 0 photos 66 comments

Favorite Quote:
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

I entirely agree. The very notion of an innocent man or woman rotting away in jail sickens me; I can't bare to consider those innocent people whom we have killed. Innocent people can be freed from jail, but what of those for whom we were too late? Should we dig up the bones and present them with a whole-hearted apology?

In this case, the judge has now murdered an innocent man. Should we go after him, too, and make him pay? No! We're punishing violence with further violence...

on Jan. 19 2010 at 3:55 pm
boston418 SILVER, Weymouth, Massachusetts
5 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Eliot

so happy this finally got published in the mag! Congrats!

on Jan. 19 2010 at 4:43 am
i dont entirely agree with u. i mean yea when innocent people die it suxs but if they didnt have the death penalty then wat will happen i a 18 year old kills someone and instead of being killed gets wat 30 years that would make him/her 48 and then they could get out of prison and kill more INNOCENT people. People in the streets today kill more INNOCENT people then the death penalty does. so just keep that in mind

on Jan. 7 2010 at 9:42 pm
ryanisfluffy BRONZE, North Tonawanda, New York
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

I suppose you have a decent argument... rather textbook though, if I might say so, it sound's like you just saw a seminar about capital punishment. :)

some things don't really work though. I mean, just because states that have the death penalty don't lower the numbers, who's to say that that directly correlates or doesn't correlate to the fact that there is a death penalty?

And what say you about those who would prefer the death penalty to life in prison? isn't it inhumane to make them suffer mind numbing boredness for the rest of their lives? And you talk about how nobody should decide whether or not another human being should live or not. Did that murderer ever think about that? I'm sorry but i'm going to have to disagree with you here.

M.W.M. BRONZE said...
on Jan. 2 2010 at 11:24 am
M.W.M. BRONZE, Undisclosed, New Jersey
4 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Test everything. Hold on to the good." -Paul of Tarsus (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

So, I'm not sayin' whether or not Capital Punishment is right or wrong...

But, just remember, people who support CP do not believe it is "murder". Murder and Killing are two different things. Murder is the unlawful taking away of a human life. Murder has been divinely defined as immoral. However, "killing" may be justified in some circumstances, therefore it wouldn't be Murder.

Supporters of CP feel justified (I'm not saying whether or not they are) that CP is the "lawful" taking away of someone's life. Therefore, it wouldn't be murder.

Just clearin' some stuff up ;)

on Dec. 28 2009 at 7:29 pm
Sassafrax BRONZE, Naperville, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
It's ok if you don't listen to me, wel'll just see if you do after your spine's been shoved up a tree trunk. :)

you say that we've been taught that murder is wrong from the start. however, the murderer didn't learn that so what are we going to do? and sometimes, murder is more humane than being in jail/tortured for twelve years.

on Dec. 28 2009 at 9:52 am
-alice- PLATINUM, Colorado Springs, Colorado
21 articles 0 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
I care very little if I am judged by you or any other human court; indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. -1 Corinthians 4:3-4

I disagree with you. Yes, there are innocent people who die because of this, and that's horrible. However, do you really want despicable people who have done something to deserve the death penalty actually alive? Think about it, there is a mass murderer who is thrown into jail. He escapes and kills a hundred other people! Do you really want him being thrown in jail and escaping again and again or just kill him?

on Dec. 26 2009 at 5:25 pm
Moonlight BRONZE, Heiskell, Tennessee
4 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The boundaries which divide life from death
are at best shadowy and vague.
Who shall say where one ends,
and the other begins?"
Edgar Allan Poe

I agree with you. We are taught that murder is wrong from the day we can understand what murder is, yet the most influential thing in our lives, our government, allows the thing they say they stand against. "An eye for an eye makes the world blind." Our world is far more advanced then it was 200 years ago, yet we still have this crule, inhumane act of punishment? It's stupid, no offense to anyone who believes in it, but that is what I believe not only as a Christian, but as a human.

Jigjoo GOLD said...
on Dec. 17 2009 at 6:53 pm
Jigjoo GOLD, Many, Louisiana
10 articles 8 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
Hello. My name is Muerte, and I will be your assassin today.

I would rather die a swift death by lethal injection than be barred from the rest of the world for decades.

cabi816 GOLD said...
on Dec. 14 2009 at 1:24 pm
cabi816 GOLD, Greenville, South Carolina
14 articles 0 photos 1 comment
It economically cheaper to stop capital punishment because appeals cost the country more each year than the cost of keeping an inmate incarcerated for their whole life. While some people may think that an eye for an eye is fair and thus justifies capital punishment, does anyone have the right to take the life of another?

olivia said...
on Dec. 14 2009 at 1:15 am
it is used in this article as being a fundamental and obvious truth of universal ethics, murder is wrong. we as people decide that murder is wrong, by making a society legitimized by social contract we have made a moral code declaring this to be true. and in this article, my point is that there are no differences between one type of murder and another; all are the same and all are wrong, even if "justified" by the governemnt

on Dec. 9 2009 at 2:04 pm
SilverQueen SILVER, Reseda, California
6 articles 0 photos 10 comments
Just a quick clarification on what the Bible says about forgiveness: God does not say He will forgive people who feel remorse over what they've done. He forgives those who a.) feel remorse, and b.) accept Him as their Lord, which means they promise to obey Him for the rest of their lives.