Drawbacks outweigh value of capital punishment

Russell McDermott, columnist
Russell McDermott, columnist

A few weeks back Arkansas put itself in the cross-hairs when the state announced it planned to execute eight condemned killers over a 10-day period because the supply of execution drugs was about to run up against its expiration date.

The reaction was predictable. Some were gleeful. This was the kind of justice they believe in and see far too little of these days when the rights of criminals get more attention than the suffering of their victims.

Many others, though, were appalled-even some who support capital punishment. The idea of rushing through so many executions in such a short period of time was unheard of in modern times. It hearkened back to the six-man gallows of Hanging Judge Parker's day in Fort Smith. It seemed less about justice and more about the show of justice.

Truth is, Arkansas' rush to justice probably doomed the whole thing from the start. That much attention is sure to draw heat, and it's sure to make the judges who have final say about whether an execution can be carried out take a closer look.

That's just what happened. So far four of the eight men have been spared the gurney for now. Three have been executed, and at the time of this writing the last faces the needle this evening.

Now, it's hard to argue that any of these killers deserve mercy. Their crimes were horrendous. In each case a jury decided death was the appropriate punishment. And the families of their victims have been waiting a long time for justice and whatever closure execution can bring.

That said, I'm against the death penalty. And I'll tell you why.

It's not anything do with morality. I have nothing against capital punishment in theory. I don't feel anything approaching sympathy for these killers. Nor do I think execution-especially lethal injection-violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Nothing unusual about a penalty that has been used long before the U.S. was a nation. And the needle, the rope, the chair, gas-all are much more humane than what these monsters did to their victims. I'm no bleeding heart. Almost all the people on death row deserve to be put down like mad dogs. But I'm still against it. For a couple of reasons.

That "almost" part. Since 1973, we have seen more than 150 death row inmates exonerated and released from prison. DNA testing has played a big role in that.

But DNA testing isn't automatic for those sentenced to death. They and their lawyers have to navigate the courts and opposition from the state. They don't always win.

So far, no one who has been executed has been definitely cleared by DNA. But the likelihood is that we have put innocent people to death. And probably will do so in the future.

Once it's one, it's done. There is no going back. Even if innocence is established later, a posthumous pardon doesn't do any good. That's one reason I'm against capital punishment.

The second is that it's unfairly applied. Defendants who must rely on public defenders and lack the funds for investigators and expert witnesses are more likely to get death. Race and gender play their roles. Even the part of the state where someone is put on trial can be a deciding factor. 

Until the late 1950s when the law was changed, there was one punishment for willful murder in England: Death by hanging. Didn't matter if you were rich or poor, if a jury said guilty then you would be swinging from a rope within four weeks barring intervention by the Home Secretary or the crown.

Severity and certainty of punishment was one reason England had many fewer murders per capita than the U.S., where a patchwork of state laws made a muddle of the whole thing and still do.

Capital punishment in the U.S. puts the wrongly convicted at unconscionable risk, is capriciously applied and serves little, if any, purpose as a deterrent. In my opinion, the negatives outweigh its value as punishment. Life without parole is a better option. Costs less too when you consider the state's legal expenses.

But I'm not naive. I don't expect capital punishment to go away. It retains a visceral popularity with a large segment of the voting public. And that means it's popular with politicians.

That's what the eight by 10 execution schedule in Arkansas was all about. The drugs were about to expire? Please. The state wasn't seeking justice, it was pandering to the basest of human emotion. But it was never going to go as planned. They had to know that. The "show" was just too much.

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