Death Penalty

What if they are wrong? Today is the day they have scheduled to execute Troy Davis in Georgia. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a cop but seven of the nine witnesses later recanted their statements. They say they were coerced by the cops. Not only that but a woman has come forward to say she met a guy at a party who said that he committed the crime, not Troy Davis.

What if they are wrong? What if the other guy really did do it? If there is any doubt at all, and it appears there is doubt all over the place, wouldn’t it be better to keep him alive until everyone is absolutely sure that he should die for the crime?

I have always had a problem with the death penalty. It just seems like an ancient way to handle criminals. It seems so primitive to put someone to death for killing someone else. After all, we don’t cut off the hands of thieves, we don’t castrate rapists and we don’t do anything else that would be considered “an eye for an eye”. We are a modern society. We are living in the 21^st century and are more advanced than we were before.

Yet we still kill people for killing people. We still consider it justice to take the life of someone because they have taken a life.

Maine doesn’t have the death penalty. But 35 states do have the death penalty. Thirty-five out of 50. Thirty-five states causes the United States to be labeled the only country in the western world who still murders it’s own citizens.

There are 192 recognized countries in the world. Out of those countries, 23 executed people in 2010. Most of those countries are in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Places that are considered the third world or a little behind on civilized behavior.

I think it is time we move beyond killing people as a form of punishment. It isn’t a deterrent to murder. People don’t stop themselves by killing another person by thinking to themselves “Oh, wait, I shouldn’t do this. I might be put to death by the state”. Really don’t think that ever crosses anyone’s mind.

So if it isn’t a deterrent, if it is akin to murder by the state, if there is a strong possibility that we are putting to death innocent people and if we are only one of 23 countries in the world that still practice the death penalty, maybe it is time for the death penalty to go away.

Oh, forgot to mention that it is more expensive to execute someone because of all the appeals than it is to just keep someone in prison the rest of their lives. Yup. Cheaper just to keep them locked up for the rest of their lives than it is to put them to death. I also think that is a greater punishment. To be stuck in prison with no chance of release for the rest of a person’s life would be a bigger punishment than to be put out of their misery by being executed. Then, 25 years from now when the DNA or other evidence comes to light that proves that someone is innocent, we don’t have to live with the guilt of killing someone who really never committed the crime.

I guess my whole point is that the death penalty is cruel, out-dated and ineffective. If you don’t believe that, then consider that if there is any possibility, ANY possibility that someone is innocent, then shouldn’t we not kill them until all doubts are gone? Do we even want to risk for one second the chance that we have executed an innocent person? What if they are wrong??