Death to the Death Penalty

Sunday 10^th October marked the 8^th anniversary of World Day against the Death Penalty. This year it was dedicated to the USA who has executed 52 people and handed out 106 death penalty sentences in 2009 alone.

The main method of execution is by lethal injection; however there are some states, such as Florida, who use the electric chair, gas chamber, hanging or firing squad. Do you think this is right? Is it acceptable for the government to allow the ending of someone’s life in such extreme ways? I did not know that some of these radical methods were still used and now that I have become aware of this, it has changed my whole belief in the death penalty. Over the centuries we have developed to become a much more moral population, but if society still permits hanging and gas chambers as a form of killing it reverts us back to a time when we did not have respect and value for the human race.

The death penalty costs vary from state to state however California has the most expensive system in America. In 2008 a report on the state’s capital punishment system was released. It found that it was spending $137million per year on the death penalty. This is a ridiculous amount of money to be spending on a system that justifies ending people’s lives. Surely there shouldn’t be a price tag on the death of a human being, regardless of whether they are innocent or guilty. The same report also estimated that if the same inmates were given a maximum punishment of life without parole it would only cost $11.5million per year. With statistics like these it’s hard to understand why capital punishment even exists. Is it really worth all that money just to kill someone? We should be promoting world peace and how to help governments save money on unnecessary projects, not endorsing the legal ‘murder’ of human beings.

Some people agree with capital punishment as they believe it’s a deterrent to crime. I can understand this as it may put off people if they know they could be killed themselves, however in a survey of America’s top academic criminologists 88% of them rejected this belief.

Only 35% of the American public oppose the death penalty with 35 of the states being retentionists. These facts and figures do make you a little scared as to how extreme and ignorant people can be. Admittedly I was one to agree with capital punishment as I believed it would help prevent crime and really teach people a lesson. However, is it genuinely right for us to decide how and when to stop someone’s heart from beating?

The actual process is truly terrifying and has many potential problems. The drug pancuronium bromide is used to induce paralysis and stop breathing whilst potassium chloride stops the heart. If given whilst the prisoner is conscious they will feel excruciating pain and due to paralysis will not be able to express their agony. I consider injecting a drug that ultimately masks any pain is unethical and a form of torture.

The death penalty is a violation of human rights and I believe there is nothing that can justify it.