Death The Ultimate Sanction

Death the Ultimate Sanction

By Joseph Parish

Henry Ford once remarked that "Capital punishment is fundamentally as wrong as a cure for crime as would be charity being wrong as a cure for poverty". Although I am usually an advocate for the death sentence, I have decided to heed Mr. Ford's advice and take the role of the devil’s advocate and oppose such punishment.

It has often been claimed and supported that there are several major advantages used in support of capital punishment. The first contention is that society would be absolutely ensured that the person who committed the crime would never do so again. At first this may appear to hold its own in an argument based on merit, however that is simply not the case. Since the individual will now be dead, he may no longer contribute anything towards social progress in any way. In addition, if the person convicted of the crime was in fact innocent, then the real criminal would still be at large and capable of committing additional crimes.

The second aspect often used as justification for capital punishment is based upon an economical reason; the death penalty saves the taxpayer's money. In opposition of life in prison we can readily save vast sums of money by use of the death penalty, however, under these presumptions why would we not use the death penalty for all crimes and completely do away with prisons entirely? Sounds silly, you can bet your life it is.

Deterrence remains the major assumptions in favor of capital punishment. It is assumed that anyone who may consider committing murder will be deterred by the thought of the death penalty. Although this may at first appear to be a valid argument, it would only apply to those homicides which appear to be premeditated. In addition, the deterrent is lost if the perpetrator of the crime is convinced that he can get away with it.

Another justification is the matter of justice being served. In all reality, this concept borders closely to the religious dogma of an eye for an eye. In short, it is nothing less than an act of revenge. In this case, under proper consideration would this not make our justice system just as guilty of murder as the defendant himself? The idea behind justice being served is likely to be the theory of "pay back". The opponents in opposition of the death penalty equate the acts of the murder and the act of assigning the death penalty to the individual as achieving the same end result. They contend that if these two acts finalize within the same end play results than they are both morally equivalent. What it conveys is, "You did this so we will do this to you." There is a thin line between justice being served and the act of revenge.

The idea of sentencing philosophies and their rated legal factors often present contradictory images of justice. Mandatory death penalties for specific crimes fail to take into consideration any social circumstances associated with the incident. Perhaps the man being judged killed in self-defense or he was merely protecting his child. In the case of the mandatory sentence he is essentially left with a useless defense. It matters not what his reasoning was since he's still going to receive the sentence as established by law.

In any court of law where the death penalty is in effect innocent people have a potential of being executed. Humanitarian and compassionate interests usually top the list of those in opposition to the death penalty. Most law-abiding people express a natural reluctance to kill another human. Even in the military environment the mindset to kill must be nurtured and cultivated in order to transform a common citizen into a military fighting machine capable of eliminating the enemy.

There are several other justifications and arguments in support of both a universal death sentence and the overturning of such practices. These points of reference range from economic issues to the agreement of increased crime statistics. Thomas Jefferson rightly believed that every living human has a right to life. All I can say is if it was accepted by the founding fathers of this great nation than it should rightfully be accepted by me.

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