Introduction
In this essay, I will argue that the death penalty should be banned in the United States and all over the world as well. In general, this type of punishment and the rationale of its application remain highly controversial and disputable. On the one hand, “the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948 by the United Nations (“Death penalty,” n. d.).
Therefore, the majority of countries across the globe have abolished the death penalty both in law and in practice for all crimes (“Death penalty 2021: Facts and figures,” 2022; World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, 2021). However, 55 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the United States, retain the execution of the death penalty. Moreover, the number of executions and death sentences is continuously growing. Thus, according to Amnesty International, 2052 death sentences and 579 executions worldwide are recorded in 2021, up to 39% and 20% more in comparison with the previous year, respectively (“Death penalty,” n. d.).
In the United States, the death penalty has been allowed since 1977, regardless of multiple limitations related to an offender’s mental health and age at the time of crime commitment (ACLU, n.d.). Nevertheless, with the use of evidence-based materials, I want to support my position and prove that the death penalty should be abolished worldwide, as this practice is inhuman, discriminatory, and inefficient in relation to crime deterrence.
Arguments
Violation of Human Rights and Democratic Values
First of all, the death penalty should be banned, especially in the United States as a Western country, as an inhuman, unconstitutional, and barbaric practice that does not correspond to the values of democracy and the protection of human dignity and fundamental civil rights. In addition, the existence of the death penalty forms a particular attitude to justice and decreases the value of life in a civilized society. Moreover, it does not provide offenders an opportunity for repentance and the correction of mistakes, which is popularized in relation to other people.
Denial of Redemption and Religious Opposition
The execution of the death penalty is opposed by religious teaching as well. According to the Catholic Church, its social teaching “has opposed the death penalty in nearly all circumstances as inconsistent with promoting a culture of life” (Barry, 2019, p. 1548). For religious people, any life is created by God and sacred – that is why other people should not be responsible for deciding when and where it ends.
As previously mentioned, the death penalty is a barbaric practice, as no method can ensure the absence of suffering for a prisoner. In the present day and throughout history, five methods are available in the United States, including electrocution, hanging, firing squad, the gas chamber, and lethal injection (ACLU, n.d.). All of them are associated with a painful and agonizing death that contradicts the human right to be free from inhuman treatment and torture.
Systemic Bias and Racial Disparities
At the same time, while the law should be applicable to everyone equally, many cases show that punishment substantially depends on a person’s social status and the money he has. In the present day, it is commonly known that “Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly five times the rate of White Americans.” Therefore, the same discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status remains in relation to the death penalty as well (Carrega, 2021, para. 1).
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (n.d.), between 1976 and 2005, Black offenders murdered 94% of Black victims, and 86% of White victims were murdered by Whites; however, “since the revival of the death penalty in the mid-1970s, about half of those on death row at any given time have been black” (para. 37). The incarceration and the death penalty are carried out disproportionally against racial and ethnic minorities due to racial bias, prejudice, and structural racism that determines their less advantaged socioeconomic status and a lack of opportunities to ensure less severe punishment.
High Financial Costs of Capital Punishment
Finally, the death penalty is cost-efficient for the country’s criminal justice system. It may sound surprising, as life imprisonment is expected to be more expensive and unfair to taxpayers in comparison to the execution (ACLU, n.d.). However, suppose all relevant and litigation costs are taken into account. In that case, the death penalty requires more expenditure than a murder trial, which means it takes much longer in comparison with a usual one.
The extended time of public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and court reporters, along with the costs of additional security and separate housing, creates a more substantial financial burden for taxpayers than the prosecution of other cases. For instance, “Florida, with one of the nation’s most populous death rows, has estimated that the true cost of each execution is approximately $3.2 million, or approximately six times the cost of a life-imprisonment sentence” (ACLU, n.d., para. 112). Thus, punishment may have not only less barbaric but also more cost-efficient alternatives.
Counterarguments
Justice and Fairness of Punishment
It goes without saying that the necessity to ban the death penalty has significant counterarguments that justify this method’s continuous application. Thus, one of the most considerable arguments in favor of the execution is its justice. While the death penalty may be regarded as an inhuman practice, as the life of every person should be considered, a substantial number of people suppose that taking a murderer’s life is fair.
This belief is supported by statistics as well – according to the finding of the Pew Research Center (2021), “60% of U.S. adults favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, including 27% who strongly favor it” (para. 3). In other words, individuals agree that punishment should be an adequate response to the severity of a committed crime.
At the same time, this argument may be regarded as highly controversial. First of all, while murder may be viewed as an abhorrent crime, the death penalty is murder as well, and justifying it does not alter its nature. In this case, people who execute others for legal reasons are murderers as well. At the same time, life imprisonment does not imply the absence of revenge or respect for a victim.
It is challenging to estimate the severity of punishment for every prisoner, and for some of them, knowing that they will stay incarcerated for the rest of their lives is more intolerable than death. In addition, public support should not determine the necessity and validity of the execution, as it may lead to an unreasonable violation of human rights. It is the responsibility of competent experts in the sphere of criminal justice to decide whether the death penalty should be applied.
In addition, as any justice system is non-ideal, mistakes are inevitable; however, in the case of the death penalty, they may have tragic and irreversible consequences. According to Amnesty International, “Since 1973, for example, more than 184 prisoners sent to death row in the USA have later been exonerated or released from death row on the grounds of innocence” (“Death penalty,” n. d., para. 11). At the same time, multiple people were nevertheless executed regardless of insufficient evidence of their guilt. While life imprisonment may be later reconsidered due to the invention of more efficient investigation techniques, the death penalty is irreversible.
Deterrence of Serious Crimes
Another considerable argument in favor of the execution is crime deterrence. In other words, people believe that as life is the most precious gift any person has, a fear of losing it will deter them from committing a serious crime. At the same time, there is no sufficient evidence in support of this statement.
In contrast, according to ACLU (n.d.), in the United States, death-penalty states do not report lower crime rates in comparison with non-death-penalty states. Moreover, the existence of the death penalty may impact people’s perception of lethal force in conflict management and lead to more homicides. In addition, it is essential to remember that a large number of crimes are committed under the influence of strong emotions when people poorly control themselves.
In this case, they do not think about the consequences and the examples of other people. Committing crimes, people are frequently driven by poverty as well, having no alternatives for their existence. Thus, the improvement of people’s quality of living, the creation of workplaces, and governmental support are more efficient for crime deterrence than execution.
Conclusion
The death penalty may be regarded as a highly controversial subject. While the majority of countries all over the world have abolished the death penalty, some of them retain this practice. Fair punishment and the ability of the death penalty to deter people from crime commitment are regarded as a substantial argument in its favor. However, I strongly disagree with them and argue that the United States and other countries across the globe should ban the death penalty.
First of all, I do not believe that taking a murderer’s life in response to his abhorrent action is fair. It goes without saying that for the relatives of victims, wishing a murderer to die is a natural reaction. However, death is not always the most just and awful punishment.
Knowing that he will spend the rest of his life in prison may be even more appalling for a criminal. In addition, killing and torturing a person put an executor on the same level regardless of the existence of legal justifications. While it is already challenging for mental health, knowing that an innocent person was executed is even more devastating.
At the same time, mistakes in the criminal justice system are inevitable; however, in the case of the death penalty, they are irreversible. The seriousness of mistakes is aggravated by the existence of discrimination as well. In other words, while wealthy criminals may avoid prosecution, racial and ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to injustice and execution due to their socioeconomic status, which does not provide an opportunity to ensure a fair trial.
References
ACLU. (n.d.). The case against the death penalty. ACLU. Web.
Barry, K. M. (2019). The death penalty and the fundamental right to life. Boston College Law Review, 60(1545), 1545-1604.
Carrega, C. (2021). Black Americans are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of Whites, new report on state prisons finds. CNN Politics. Web.
Death penalty. (n. d.). Amnesty International. Web.
Death penalty 2021: Facts and figures. (2022). Amnesty International. Web.
Pew Research Center. (2021). Most Americans favor the death penalty despite concerns about its administration. Pew Research Center. Web.
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. (2021). 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty – Women and the death penalty, an invisible reality. World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Web.