Thoughts on Executions

I realize I've been writing a lot about the death penalty and executions recently. I admit that I find the idea of a government executing someone to be a peculiar idea. In effect, the person has been judged to have been such a horrific person that he or she must be eliminated from this earth as punishment. Despite my fascination with the death penalty, I strangely do not have an opinion on it. I cannot say whether it is right or whether it is wrong. I know that the majority of the people in Tennessee, where I live, believe strongly in the death penalty. I know other states' populations do not. I know various countries across the world take their stances on the spectrum of approval and disapproval.

It seems that the death penalty is viewed by the public as punishment for past deeds, prevention of future bad deeds, and a way of compensating the remaining victims. In fact, direct to that last point, a family member of the victims of one of the Tennessee inmates scheduled for execution lamented about the delay of West's execution (it was delayed within 30 hours of the actual time set for the execution). He talked about how West had an initial trial and multiple appeals -- the relative was ready for the execution and for vengeance (made evident by the call for a death penalty two times over).

I do not believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for wrong-doing in most cases. To begin with, if our society is going to have the death penalty, I believe it needs to be saved for the most egregious cases. While that is what the statutes calls for, the death penalty is no longer saved for those egegrious cases, rather, it seems to be thrown around as an option in the midst of public furor. It is almost like it is a form of judicially-backed and -driven media hype. In addition, if the death penalty is going to serve as a punishment, then we had better be damn sure that the person committed the crime with the requisite intent to where the State is going to be responsible for permanently removing this person from society. I believe in the power of transformation, and I do not believe in issuing such a permanent damnation that eliminates the ability for such transformation. In addition, given that falliable people are the ones determining guilt and innocence and then the death penalty, I find the punishment to be too great where there are so many weak links in the chain leading to death.

As for the argument that the death penalty deters future crime, I think it is prudent to divide this argument into deterrent for the actual defendent and deterrent for potential defendents. Looking at the actual defendant, I see no added value from the dealth penalty that life in prison without the opportunity for parole would not have. If prisons truly work to reduce crime, then locking someone up for the rest of his or her life, should deter him or her from committing other crimes. The added punishment of death would not multiple the deterrent effect. Looking at defendants in general, and without any current research done on this, I'm inclined to say that the majority of the men and women on death row did not contemplate getting the death penalty when they acted. Rather, they acted without thoughts to the judicial consequences of their actions. I have no idea how many defendants chose to perpetrate their crimes of choice another way because of the death penalty, and I have a feeling that information will never be available for study.

I have no belief that the families of a victim will receive any sort of relief or closure from an execution. An execution only extends the chain of misery and dispair. It does not have ability to heal. It cannot -- it exists only because of anger and hurt. Again, I believe in the power of transformation, and I do not think such transformation can come from ending another's life. All too often, people pull out the Old Testament as support for their crusade to execute. I find that argument outdated and out of sync with the other positions those advocates take on other subjects.

With all of that said, I have worked on death penalty cases, and I believe in upholding the law, as it has been written. In Tennesssee, we have the death penalty for certain egregious cases. A jury of the defendant's peers found him or her guilty, and that same jury voted unanimously to apply the death penalty. Those findings by the jury carry signficant weight, and they are enough for me to work within the system created.