Introduction
The death penalty, additionally referred to as capital punishment, has been debated for a long time. State legislatures have used a variety of execution methods for centuries, each one being justified as a more eminently civilized and compassionate way to put prisoners to death. The electric chair substituted the hanging towards the end of the 19th century, making the U.S. the first and sole country to electrocute convicts (Gilani, 2023).Â
While some people rely on ethical aspects and claim that it is immoral to deprive an individual of their fundamental right to life, others argue that the death penalty can help deter future crime. Nevertheless, while being highly debated and arguments against the death penalty rely on ethical perceptions, some arguments can be supported with facts, making this procedure impractical and illegal according to particular conventions. The capital punishment system should not be maintained since it not only violates recognized human rights but also leads to risks of sentencing an innocent person and involves severe financial burdens.
Human Rights Violation
The first argument that should be introduced is that the death penalty violates fundamental human rights. Two essential human rights—the right to life and the right to be free from brutal, inhuman, or demeaning treatment—are violated by the death sentence (Ellmann, 2020). It degrades societal morality and the value of those in this society. According to the international conventions on human rights, every person has an undeniable right to life. Article 6, which was ratified by the United Nations in 1966, specifies that in nations that have not abandoned capital punishment, the sentencing to death can be enforced only for particularly heinous offenses (Death Penalty Information Center, n.d.).
The International Covenant on Human Rights forbids the use of capital punishment for offenses committed by individuals under the age of eighteen and forbids the execution of pregnant women (Organization of American States, n.d.). Therefore, it is internationally recognized that human life is valuable and must be respected regardless of the crimes committed. This additionally emphasizes that executing an individual only shows the system’s flaws since it punishes those with the same approaches it condemns.
The Risk of Executing Innocent People
Besides the ethical aspect of capital punishment, there are significant risks of executing innocent individuals due to flawed judgment in the system. However, the topic of innocence received little to no consideration when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the execution of capital punishment illegal in 1972 (Norris, 2019). Nevertheless, mistakes and institutional misconduct started to arise frequently, necessitating retrials. Some defendants were exonerated and freed once they had access to better-qualified legal representation, fair jury selection, and scientific testing. The total number of individuals who were rehabilitated after being erroneously accused and sentenced to death has increased to 185 as a result of research by the Death Penalty Information Center (Bloodsworth, 2021).
There have been recorded exonerations in 29 states and 118 different regions, and incorrectly convicted for the death penalty have occurred almost everywhere in the nation (Bloodsworth, 2021). Therefore, although many people expect the justice system to be nearly perfect and to sentence those who commit crimes, the system proves to be flawed. The ability to sentence people to death only leads to major mistakes.
Besides mistakes of judgment, there are mistakes involving bias. An examination of hundreds of innocence cases indicates unsettling racial prejudice and institutional wrongdoing trends (Lippman, 2020). The misbehavior of police, prosecutors, or other government employees was a factor in over seventy percent of the exonerations (Bloodsworth, 2021). Over fifty percent of erroneous executions involved both wrongdoing and false accusations in eighty percent of the cases. Eight of the nine exonerations required over thirty years to complete (Bloodsworth, 2021). Thus, it can be seen that the death penalty can involve both errors based on poor judgment as well as sentencing connected to racial bias, which makes many individuals vulnerable and at risk of being victims of wrongful accusations.
The Cost of the Death Penalty
Lastly, besides the likelihood of mistakes and the fact that capital punishment is immoral, conducting such procedures is highly costly. For example, Louisiana is one state that still practices capital punishment. In its present state, the death penalty has been legal in Louisiana since 1977, and there have been 242 executions since that period (Cohen et al., 2019). Of those who were given death sentences, 28 have already been sentenced to death, 66 people are still on death row while their convictions or death sentences are being challenged in court or via appeals, and 138 death sentences have been overturned (Cohen et al., 2019).
Since 1977, ten more people who were found guilty have been cleared and freed (Cohen et al., 2019). These figures may not seem significant to some people. However, when a financial analysis of the expenditures involved in the process is conducted, it becomes evident that it is more expensive to sentence a convict to death than to sentence them to life in prison.
The state’s investments in this system are significant. Louisiana has invested more than $200 million in its capital punishment system over the last fifteen years, yet just one execution has taken place as a result (Cohen et al., 2019). The expense to the State of Louisiana for the upkeep of the death penalty system in Louisiana, including charges, protection, legal proceedings, and prisons, is at least $15,600,000 (Cohen et al., 2019).
The state must contribute at least $281,000,000 to sustain a death penalty system from the time of the arrest to the punishment for a crime committed after 2019 (Cohen et al., 2019). In this case, existing for hundreds of years, the death sentencing in Southern states has become not only a moral but also a financial burden (LaChance, 2022). As a result, it might be more reasonable and less expensive to sentence a person to life in prison than to conduct a death sentence.
Conclusion
To conclude, the capital punishment system should not remain in place since it violates accepted human rights and poses a danger of convicting an innocent person, and entails significant financial constraints. The initial argument that has to be made is that the death penalty violates human rights. The execution of innocent people because of poor judgment has significant risks in addition to the immoral component of the death penalty. Lastly, conducting such processes can be quite expensive, besides the possibility of errors and the moral wrongness of the death penalty.
References
Bloodsworth, K. (2021). DPIC adds eleven cases to innocence list, bringing national death-row exoneration total to 185. Death Penalty Information Center. Web.
Cohen, B., Johnson, C., & Quigley, W. P. (2019). An analysis of the economic cost of maintaining a capital punishment system in the Pelican state. Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law, 21(1), 1-53. Web.
Death Penalty Information Center. (n.d.). Human rights. Web.
Ellmann, S. (2020). And justice for all: Arthur Chaskalson and the struggle for equality in South Africa. NewSouth Books.
Gilani, S. (2023). The ethics of capital punishment and a law of affective enchantment. Social & Legal Studies, 32(1), 3-27. Web.
LaChance, D. (2022). The death penalty in black and white: Execution coverage in two Southern newspapers, 1877–1936. Law & Social Inquiry, 1-24. Web.
Norris, R. J. (2019). Exonerated: A history of the innocence movement. NYU Press.
Organization of American States. (n.d.). American convention on human rights. Web.