A Member Series: Why I DO/DO NOT Support the Death Penalty

Give us your point of view. Do you support or not support capital punishment and why? Have your say.

Member Post by Steve Kagwa

Capital punishment can be traced in the early days where people were put to death through bloody ways, from crucifixion to stoning. The world has changed, and the developing and developed countries which still execute its citizens have changed their methods of execution to less painful ways like lethal injection.

I do not support the death penalty because of many reasons. One of the main reasons why I do not support the death penalty is due to the fact that an innocent person may be executed. A court, a government or judicial system may make a wrong judgment and by so doing, execute an innocent person. Can they ever bring back life to a person once they realize the person was innocent? Mr. Brandley, from Texas was on death row and had already spent several years in prison after exhausting all his appeals. He was accused of killing a girl and was convicted based on circumstantial evidence, but no physical evidence was ever presented. Just six days due to his execution day, he was released after a woman came up with new evidence that led to his release. If the lady came a week later, then Mr. Brandley could have been dead today. Think of the many people that have been unlucky and executed, even when innocent.

A lot of people think that it deters crime, but the truth of the matter is that capital punishment does not. Most people think that a criminal who has being killing people or doing any kind of crime when executed, will prevent other to be criminals from engaging in criminal activities. Well, to be honest, that is not the case. Studies conducted in California, Oklahoma and London shows a significant increase in crime where an execution took place. This can be well explained by the brutalization theory which states that when a state, city, government or country takes a person life by executing them it devalues human life in the eyes of its citizen, thus making them to more likely to engage in crime even more.

If we were to look at this in terms of finances, then believe it or not, executing an individual is much expensive than imprisoning a person for life. Costs do accumulate where the juries go the extra mile of taking special efforts to provide much information upon which to base its determination of guilt or innocence, defense lawyers do whatever they can to make sure their clients do not go down. When all costs from, those of expertise witness, to those of investigators are added up, the amount goes up. Do not forget, the longer the trial the higher the cost on the courts. For example in Texas, a death penalty case would cost the courts more than twice it would cost to imprison an inmate for life in a single cell.

Those are just but a few reasons why I do not support the death penalty, as much as it may bring closure to the family, it does not bring the victim back to life, and as we know, two wrongs can never make a right. So, for those who do not support capital punishment, let us fight it until it is abolished.

Works Cited
Marzilli, Alan. Point counterpoint. Philadelphia: Chelsea house publishers. 2003. Print

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