Why the Death Penalty?
I support the death penalty for committing the crime of slavery because it is justice. Slavery is a heinous crime that leaves victims scarred for life. It is also interesting that historically in times and places, the death penalty was used for the crime of adultery. Stoning to death is still the penalty for adultery in Saudi Arabia. (There are a few exceptions for the convicted.) [1]
Rule of Law is paramount in a prosperous society. It means there are laws, and if they are violated, there will be a just punishment. Vigorous enforcement of Rule of Law allows for a civil society where people have freedom and human rights, from which economic growth can flourish. Economic growth means capital becomes available to invest in medical research and the development of health care services and products that save lives. Enforcing Rule of Law means a better life for all citizens.
Law enforcement isn’t perfect. The criminal justice system isn’t perfect. But that doesn’t mean we give up on trying to enforce Rule of Law. When a convicted criminal is given a just penalty for the crime, the country is safer for the other 330 million. The increased safety is an invaluable benefit for all citizens.
In a Firing Line debate in which William F. Buckley Jr. defended the death penalty, Buckley quoted Samuel Johnson as saying, “If from a long boat cast adrift, he spied the profile of an island and could detect the outline of the gallows, he would know that he was approaching a place civilized enough to attach the highest importance to human life.” [2]
The death penalty is also a deterrent to commit heinous crimes. Not all are deterred. But most people want to live. Most criminals want to live. The deterrent effect of the death penalty is undeniable.
It is true that the death penalty is less of a deterrent when actual executions are rare compared to the total number of homicides. A total of 1568 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s. [3] This compares to approximately 750,000 homicides from 1980-2019, an average of 18,750 a year. [4] There is not a conviction for every homicide, but the numbers are 1 execution for every 478 homicides.
The authors of Freakonomics write that, “Even among prisoners on death row, the annual execution rate is only 2 percent—compared with the 7 percent chance of dying faced by a member of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation crack gang.” [5] The numbers point out that it is more dangerous to be a gang member in Chicago than to be on death row in Texas.
Nevertheless, the death penalty is just and at least a deterrent to the degree that it is applied. The major objection is to ask what if an innocent person is executed? That can happen, and it would be tragic. An innocent man can confess to a brutal crime he didn’t commit. That has happened.
Death penalty opponents therefore want to ban the death penalty in order to save an innocent life. That is noble, but the sad truth is that it is impossible to prevent the death of innocent people. In fact, innocent people die frequently. Police and fire fighters are a start. Over 30,000 die in auto accidents each year. But we don’t ban cars.
There are many risks in life. We have to intelligently assess the risks and weigh the costs and benefits. The fact is that society has made many judgments that the benefits exceed the loss of life in many situations. Thus, the benefits of individual transportation outweigh the loss of tens of thousands of innocent people.
I support the right for citizens to own guns for self-defense. Yet guns are also used to commit crimes against innocent people. But it is precisely because there are those who wish to use guns to commit crimes that the right to self-defense is an invaluable benefit, some would classify it as a human right.
All manner of deaths of innocent people occurs daily. I grew up in Southern Arizona where it gets hot. People therefore want pools in the back yard to enjoy cooling off. And too many innocent young children have drowned in back yard pools. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 350 children under the age of five drown in pools each year nationwide. [6]
But we don’t ban back yard pools to save innocent lives.
Innocent children also die from heat after being left in a car on a hot day. According to Kids and Car Safety, over 1,051 children have died in hot cars nationwide since 1990. [7]
Again, we don’t ban cars to prevent one innocent child from dying in a hot car.
Innocent people die from being attacked by dogs. Pit Bulls are especially dangerous. In the 13-year period of January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2017, canines killed at least 433 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% of these deaths. [8]
We don’t ban ownership of Pit Bulls to save one innocent life.
Innocent people die in National Parks. From 2007 to 2018, there were a total of 2,727 deaths at a U.S. National Parks site. A man in 2016 was boiled to death and “dissolved” after falling into one of Yellowstone’s famed thermal pools. On Sunday, October 4th, 2020, a 25-year-old-man fell to his death at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona. When authorities recovered his body, they found the remains of other hikers who had suffered the same fate. [9]
We don’t ban people from visiting National Parks to protect innocent life.
Innocent people die—from sex. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be fatal. In one study, it was researched that between 1999 and 2010, an estimated 31,351 STD-related deaths occurred among reproductive-aged women. [10]
But we don’t ban sexual activity to save an innocent life.
However, the numbers on deaths by STDs are staggering. AIDS killed 324,029 men and women in the USA between 1987 and 1998. That number has been frequently compared to the approximately 404,000 U.S. combat deaths in World War II. [11]
It is easy, and perhaps noble, to logically conclude that homosexuality and sexual promiscuity should be discouraged to prevent the death of innocent people. The U.S. Army warns that the chance of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, or sexually transmitted infection (STI), is increased with multiple sexual partners. [12]
Yet not only is promiscuous sex, or risky sexual activity, not banned, it is mostly celebrated. Many who support banning the death penalty to prevent the death of one innocent person go apoplectic at the thought of discouraging sexual activity by homosexuals, and denounce anyone who would make that suggestion as a racist, fascist, Nazi, and homophobe.
However, the truth is that engaging in risky behavior is unavoidable. I take risks daily. I drive on interstate highways often, and frequently drive on a two-lane highway where the speed limit is 45. One simple lapse of concentration by a driver and I can be killed or paralyzed. I have also flown on various sizes of airplanes. I don’t wear a mask to protect myself from the flu virus that kills tens of thousands of innocent people each year.
I eat food that can contain Salmonella. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year. Salmonella can be found in a variety of foods, including chicken, beef, pork, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and even processed foods. [13]
We haven’t banned fried chicken to prevent the death of innocent people.
In short, while it may sound noble to ban the death penalty to avoid the death of one human life, the truth is that there is no criminal justice option that absolutely prevents the death of innocent people. Banning the death penalty only allows more innocent persons to be murdered, or to become victims of slavery.
I understand the risks. I could be accused of committing a murder when I was at the bowling alley miles away from the attack at the time the murder occurred. I stand the chance of being convicted and executed. That would be horrific. I could also be shot and killed while at a grocery store. That would also be horrific. But my perception is that the risk of death at the grocery store is far greater than the risk of execution. I therefore support a vigorous application of the death penalty to reduce the risk of getting shot at the grocery store.
Emotions run deep on the issue. But I have no problem with the execution of the man who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995, killing 168. That was justice, and it was a message to future criminal psychos that there is nothing noble about mass murder.
On March 13, 2023, a jury in the federal death penalty prosecution of Sayfullo Saipov in New York City unanimously found the defendant guilty of murdering eight people in 2017 by deliberately ramming a truck onto a crowded Manhattan bike path. Neither Saipov nor his attorneys contested his involvement in the crime. Yet somehow, the defendant was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. [14]
That is also a tragedy, and it makes the lives of all Americans more vulnerable to the next psycho who wants to go on a killing spree of innocent people.
We must make efforts to help ensure no one is convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and everything reasonably possible should be done to prevent the murder of innocent people, and abolish the crime of slavery. That is how everyone would feel if they were to become a victim of slavery.
Justice Percell
References
1. What is the punishment for adultery in Saudi Arabia?, Life in Saudi Arabia.net
2. A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That the Death Penalty is a Good Thing, YouTube.com, Firing Line Debate
3. Executions Overview, Death Penalty Information Center, Executions Overview
4. United States Crime Rates 1960 - 2019, Disaster Center.com
5. Levitt, Steven D. and Dubner, Stephen J., Freakonomics, HarperCollins, 2020, p. 123
6. Grim Statistics On Child Drownings, Moms Team, Moms Team.com
7. HEATSTROKE, Kids and Car Safety, 2022, Kids and Cars.org
8. U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities: Breeds of Dogs Involved, Age Groups and Other Factors Over a 13-Year Period (2005 to 2017), DogsBite.org, 2018, Dogs Bite.org
9. An Analysis of Deaths in U.S. National Parks, 2022, PSBR.law
10. Mortality From Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Reproductive-Aged Women: United States, 1999–2010, McElligott, , Kara A., MD, MPH, 2014, National Library of Medicine, National Library of Medicine.gov
11. The AIDS epidemic’s lasting impact on gay men, Rosenfeld, Dana Dr., 2018, The British Academy, The British Academy
12. Protect yourself in the war against sexually transmitted infections, Hauschild, Veronique, Army Public Health Center, 2021, Army.mil
13. Salmonella, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.gov
14. Federal Jury Returns a Life Verdict in New York for Sayfullo Saipov, Death Penalty Information Center, 2023, Death Penalty Info.org