If you haven’t heard the news, the
wonderfully ignorant state of Ohio has recently decided to resume their use of
lethal injections as a means of “correcting” certain criminal actions, such as
murder. Am I the only one that sees the irony. The issue of capital punishment
is one that, for some reason, is heatedly debated, despite clear and compelling
evidence that it should be abolished. Now anyone that follows any of my
writings could probably guess that I take exception with much of our
correctional policies. For this particular issue, though, let’s just look at
the blatant facts. The usual arguments for the use of capital punishment are,
it helps deter crime, life sentences overuse tax money, and that the criminals
deserve extreme responses to heinous crimes.
If you noticed, throughout the
introduction of this writing, I used the word correction instead of punishment.
You may have also heard prisons referred to as correctional facilities. If this
confuses you, I understand. Most Americans misinterpret our criminal justice
system. Studies have already shown that most jurors do not even understand
their roles properly. No big deal, they’re just the ones standing between you
and a life sentence, or even a death sentence. In simple terms, the system is
supposed to correct negative behaviors and promote criminals, upon their
release, to function within the established structure of our society.
Punishments are not supposed to be methods of vengeance for the affected
parties. They are meant to be deterrents of future crimes.
Deterrents come in two forms. There
are general deterrents, meant to prevent crime of any kind through the looming
threat of punishment, or there are individual specific deterrents, punishments
set upon individuals for a particular crime with the aim of preventing reoccurrences.
What do the data say about the correlation between long prison sentences and
future criminal acts? They are positively correlated, meaning that persons are
more likely to commit crimes after being released from a lengthy sentence. It
makes sense, you spend years locked up with nothing but criminals and then get
released into the outside world, likely with no opportunities or resources.
What do you expect them to do? As for capital punishment, there is a pretty
strong negative correlation between death sentences and reoccurrence. Criminal
punishments in general, however, are not strong deterrents of crime. Evidence
suggests that the severity of the punishment is less important than the
certainty of punishment. Basically, punishment is not a deterrent if someone
does not believe they will receive it. So, let’s just increase the certainty of
punishment for anyone accused of a crime. Well, that would be great if there
were not a disturbingly high percentage of false convictions within our justice
symptom. Those sentenced to death are no exception. Just another reason capital
punishment should be banned.
Now let’s quickly address the issue
of expenses, because it won’t take long. It is a fact, that within the current
legal system, it cost more to execute a prisoner than to keep them locked up
for life. And just in case you were wondering, the cost is largely associated
with appeals, so reduction in cost would almost certainly lead to an increase
in the, already much too high, rate of false convictions.
One reason left. Even if it costs
more, kill them anyway, they deserve it. I mean after all, they did kill
someone in cold blood. You know, just like you want to do. Maybe it is just me,
but I believe that murder is wrong, regardless of who is committing it or why.
Self-defense is one thing, because it is done in the absence of non-lethal
options. Lethal injection is a long time coming though. It is not a means of
correction, and frankly, it is a concept that just seems to be slow to die
despite no reasonable argument for its existence. As a final appeasement to
anyone that still wants retribution for a severe crime, lethal injection is
typically painless or causes only moderate pain, a life in prison, on the other
hand, is a long slow death. So, while I personally believe life sentences could
be avoided with more proactive responses to criminal behavior, let’s at least
take one step in the right direction and abolish capital punishment.
-AMS
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