Death penalty -- use it or lose it
Campus Times
November 8, 1996
Cartoon by Stephanie Lesniak
Simply unfolding the newspaper or turning on the 11 o'clock news gives the
daily body count of those killed, those under investigation and those standing
trial for murder. Rarely, however, does it ring in one's mind if those holding
the guns will ever face life in prison, and even more rarely does it ever
occur that they actually receive the death penalty. That stigma exists because
it definitely is a rare occasion that murderers receive capital punishment
in this country.
The death penalty is legal in California and in 37 other states as a form
of punishment for crimes of murder. Despite the ethical issues involved
with playing God or making the punishment fit the crime, the death penalty
is doing little to lessen murder in this country.
Those in support of the death penalty believe that the implementation of
capital punishment secures justice for all. Executions are seen as appropriate
punishment for certain criminals committing certain crimes. Further, death
penalty proponents believe murderers should not be given the opportunity
to murder again. Opponents consider it cruel and unusual punishment, outlawed
by the Eighth Amendment. Yet by failing to declare the death penalty unconstitutional,
but also failing to enforce it, the American court system is creating a
contradiction. This sets an immoral standard that just perpetuates more
inhumanity and does not scare criminals out of murdering their neighbors.
Either way, the problem with the way capital punishment is used now is the
strange combination our judicial system has chosen from the two sides. We
have the contradiction visible through the constitutionality of capital
punishment, however we choose not to use it, with only 0.3 percent of those
on death row executed. Those on both sides of the issue should be disappointed
with this combination. The alleged benefits of capital punishment are nullified
because we fail to implement its use. The moral victory we can claim by
not using the death penalty is lost when it remains on the books. Murder
rates have yet to plummet. With one in 1,900 murderers being put to death
in the last 30 years, the criminals with the guns take little consideration
of their odds of dying at the hands of the government in the electric chair
or the gas chamber.
Regardless of whether the death penalty is needed, humane or morally justifiable,
a change needs to be made in this system. If we must accept the idea of
punishing murder with murder, we should stand by the idea fully and attempt
to justify it by making the punishment fit the crime.
When we tell children they will sit in the corner if they misbehave, we
know we must follow through with our threat. If we know we cannot follow
through with the punishment, we know better than to threaten them in the
first place. Failure to follow through with a threat in any form reduces
us to fools who cannot be taken seriously. In this case, our judicial system
plays that role, with large children carrying weapons and endangering the
lives around them, while members of the system, whose job is to control
them, avoid the writing on the wall. In this case, we add five more words
we hope they can understand-use it or lose it.