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Capital punishment leads the pack among prominent issues that blotches the United

State’s extensive national resume. Homicide, execution and death describe the coarse action that

the American government takes to punish its citizens that have committed capital crimes. The

individual state’s choice to end the life of one of its citizens weighs the country down in its

upward journey as the “model” country. The government is supposed to practice as well as

represent the ideals, values and laws that the American people are responsible for carrying out.

However, the government’s acceptance and practice of capital punishment negates this ideal

because it refuses to obey the law against murder. The government commands citizens not to

murder. Nonetheless, certain states continue to blatantly commit the same crime against its own

citizens. America is a beacon of light for many of its citizens; however, the country’s use of

capital punishment tarnishes this bright light for a portion of Americans. Capital punishment is

governmental murder that should be abolished because it is economically as well as ethically

ignorant and negatively affects the country’s image.

Job loss, lower value of the dollar, the credit crisis and the mortgage crisis are all

consequences of the current American recession. Despite these financially trying times for the

American people, the government still allows certain states to financially abuse the economy

through capital punishment. In the Economist journal article “Saving Lives and Money; The

Death Penalty,” the author refutes any claim stating that a life sentence is more expensive than

sending a person to death row. The author addresses the fact that capital punishment is proven to

be more costly than a life sentence in prison. The article offers numerous reasons which factor

into the high monetary costs of sentencing a person to the death penalty. The time period is

extremely long because of the jury selecting process, the trial itself and the numerous appeals

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that follow. While this meticulous process continues over an extended period of time, the state’s

bill is simultaneously increasing. Due to the nature of the inmates’ conviction and status on death

row, they each have separate cells and are under constant watch. The specialized attention and

living arrangements that they receive costs extra money as well.

The overall cost that the states which practice capital punishment suffer is astronomical.

Between the years of 1978 through 1999, the state of Maryland has had to fork over 186 million

dollars to pay for the costly expenses stemming from their state’s practice of capital punishment.

The burden of capital punishment expenses were also felt by the citizens of Texas. Since 1982,

the death penalty has cost tax payers 250 million dollars. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Kansas

and Colorado are all seeking to abolish capital punishment because of monetary concerns. These

states have come to the conclusion that the benefit of the death penalty is not parallel with the

expensive cost. Kansas is estimated to save 500,000 dollars for every case not seeking the death

penalty. Government officials in Colorado have created a new budget for the money that they

will save by extinguishing the death penalty. The state wants to dedicate the money to an

investigation unit and spend the remaining money on state programs (“Saving Lives and Money;

The Death Penalty” 1). The monetary benefits of extinguishing the death penalty definitely

outweigh the benefits of capital punishment. Not only would the state save millions of dollars,

but they could also emulate Colorado’s plan and spend the money addressing specific issues that

affect the state.

Morals and ethics are words that cannot be applied to the death penalty because it ignores

the basic principles of human life. A chance is the probability that an event may occur. Many

people take unintentional and intentional chances every day based on their own free will.

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However, death is not a chance with which many people play the odds with. Capital punishment,

however, risks ending an innocent person’s life against his/her own will. Every time someone is

sentenced to death row, the government is playing a game of chance with that person’s life.

There are numerous events which prove that an innocent person could possibly serve time and

die for a crime they did not commit. In the article “Injection Reflection; There’s Wide Support

for a Death Penalty, but Those Who Carry It Out Are Increasingly Uncomfortable” Thomas

Evans and Martha Brant support this idea in their findings. They reported that advancements in

DNA testing in this past decade overturned the verdicts of 200 inmates. Out of those 200, fifteen

of them were sentenced to die. This proves that the cases that many people have against them are

not always full proof. Another startling statistic was that overall, 130 people have been

exonerated from death row (“Saving Lives and Money; The Death Penalty” 1). These statistics

show that the government took that life chance and were wrong 130 times. In Illinois in 2000, a

moratorium was placed on executions because thirteen people on death row were found innocent

and exonerated. In these particular cases, innocent people could have been killed, which would

have transformed the government’s attempt to punish a criminal into a massacre of innocent

citizens.

Advocates of the death penalty believe that punishing a capital crime convict through the

death is a necessary and fit punishment. The only hole in their argument is that there is always a

chance that the person begin punished is innocent. In her book, Wrongful Capital Convictions

and the Legitimacy of the Death Penalty, Karen Miller analyzes the Legitimation Crisis and

Relegitimizing surrounding the death penalty. Miller uses actual case summaries in which people

were exonerated to support her claims. One particular case involved a man named Frank Lee

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Smith, an innocent man punished for a crime he did not commit. On April 18, 1945 Smith was

arrested for murdering 8-year-old Shandra Whitehead. He was accused of stabbing, beating and

sexually assaulting her which led to her death. The basis for his arrest and conviction was an

eyewitness testimony. From 1986 to 1990, Smith consistently applied for appeals and was

constantly denied. He was sentenced to be executed in 1990, but he died of cancer in January

2000. In December of 2000, DNA tests exonerated him and pointed to another person.

In the case of Smith, he was one of the innocent and unfortunate many that have had to

suffer life on death row. For Smith and the other people that have been exonerated, the chance

that the government took on their behalf without their consent was nowhere near worth it.

If everyone convicted of a capital crime were wealthy, then they would more than likely

be represented by the best of the best. However, everyone convicted of a capital offense is not

rich and the concern of being able to afford proper defense is a major concern. If a person does

not have the financial capabilities to find a good lawyer, then their chances of being sentenced to

death row is increasingly higher.

 Image 1: Depicts a man on death row attempting to receive an appeal.

The political cartoon “Capital Punishment” by Mike Luckovich comments on inadequate

representation and how it decreases a person’s chance of being found innocent and being

acquitted. The cartoon implies that if a person does not receive a fair trial and their appeal is not

taken seriously because they are not represented well, then it is an automatic death sentence.

The founding fathers created the constitution as the framework and foundation for the

basic principles o f the United States. The government’s acceptance of Capital Punishment

infringes upon the eighth amendment of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The United States has

progressed in its method of terminating a prisoner’s life; however, the current method can still

not be categorized as humane. There is nothing merciful about sedating, paralyzing and then

stopping the heart of someone (Thomas and Brant 1). There are also existing cases in which

lethal injection has been the perfect example of “cruel and unusual” punishment. The London

article “The American Way of Death: A Botched Execution in Ohio Should Quicken the End of
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Capital Punishment” reported on a failed execution of Romell Broom who was convicted of rape

and murder. Broom’s execution in Ohio was prolonged for two hours in order for the technicians

to find a sturdy vein. Michael Kronewetter’s book Capital Punishment also divulges the brutal

experience that another death row prisoner underwent with lethal injection. In 1992, it took

authorities in Arkansas a whole hour to insert the needle into Ricky Ray Rector’s vein. During

their search for a usable vein, they even went to the length of digging into his arm with a scalpel.

After enduring all that, it still took him a full nineteen minutes to die.

The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines lethal as extremely

harmful; devastating. Regardless of the fact that the word caries numerous negative and dark

connotations, advocates for the death penalty still believe that it is a humane form of killing

someone. However, if a person had to categorize the word lethal in a box with humane or cruel,

the word would certainly fall under the cruel category.

Capital Punishment is an attempt made in vain to solve capital crimes because there is not

sufficient evidence to even show that it deters crime (Kronewetter 18). Against Capital

Punishment: The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America 1972-1994 explains that the death

penalty is less effective in preventing murders than life in prison with hard labor. It is also

inefficient because Texas and Oklahoma are the biggest supporters of the capital punishment, but

have the highest crime rates compared to states that just have life in prison (“Saving Lives and

Money; The Death Penalty” 1). In particular, Texas is the biggest capital punishment hypocrite.

They are responsible for executing more people since 1977 than any other state. However,

Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth have murder rates among the top 25 cities in the country

(Kronewetter 5).

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 Punishments are penalties that someone undergoes for committing unacceptable acts. For

example, Parents punish their children in order to teach them appropriate behavior and show

them what is and wrong and right. A parent’s goal behind establishing numerous punishments is

to stop their child from displaying bad behavior. If the punishments that the parents are creating

for their children is not progressing their child from displaying bad behavior, then they search for

a new more effective way to address the situation. The same basic logic can be displayed to

capital punishment. The government uses capital punishment as a sanction against people who

have committed a capital crime. The problem with this form of punishment is that it has proven

to be ineffective. If the death penalty is not clearly fulfilling its goal of reducing crime and

murder, then what is its purpose in the American society? The death penalty does not abate the

number of heinous crimes committed and therefore is unnncecesasary.

A strong cultural value that it rooted in the hearts of many Americans is the Christian

faith. Advocates continually use the bible as a backbone to justify capital punishment. They often

rely on the bible verse from Exodus chapter 21 verses 23 to 25 which states,

“And if mischief follow, then though shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,

hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, and wound for wound, stripe for

stripe.”

Advocates interpret this and similar bible verses as religious support for capital punishment.

Even though there are excerpts from the bible that may support capital punishment, there are just

as many bible verses that uphold the opposing side of this argument. Verses 38 and39 from

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Mathew Chapter five specifically counters the previous verse that has become cliché upon the

pro-death penalty community. The verse reads,

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say

unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn

to him the other also.”

This verse not only clearly states that reciprocating an action is not always the right path to take,

but it also turns one of the advocates biblical justifications paper thin. There are also other

numerous bible verses that provide concrete reasoning why the death penalty should be

abolished. One of these verses, located in Exodus chapter 20 verse 13, stems from the Ten

Commandments. These commandments are viewed as the set of laws that God created for his

people to follow and live by. The sixth commandment distinctly states that “Thou shalt not kill.”

This verse in the bible holds special precedence because it is not just simply a verse; it is the law

of the Lord. The government’s persistence to carry out the death penalty is a public transgression

and bold deviance against the one of the Ten Commandments.

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 Image 2: Glenn Foden depicts a fictional satan’s view of capital punishment

The cartoon “Death Penalty-US” by Glenn Foden makes a statement that the death

penalty is morally wrong because it pleases the devil twice as much. The person that murders is

committing a sin and then the state executes the murderer which is a sin as well. The government

is supposed to lead by example and take the moral high road; however, they choose to stoop to

the level of the people they are punishing. This sends conflicting views to the American public

because the states are committing the crime that the government forbids. The image shows that

killing someone, regardless of the reason or how, is murder which is against the sixth

commandment. For many Americans this point is extremely important because no one lives

above the Lord’s law.

America is the optimal country. If the world were a high school and the countries were

the students, the United Sates would the most popular student in school. America is the nation

that many countries aspire to be and opposing countries are jealous of. However, the reputation

of this widely recognized and adored country is negatively affected by the country’s practice of

the death penalty. In the world’s high school, capital punishment is a fashion don’t that the

America is dealing with. Capital punishment used to be incorporated among societies in every

nation, but as time has progressed, countries have advanced past this inhumane form of

punishment as well. In fact, America is one of the few big democracies that still carries out the

death penalty (“The American Way of Death: A Botched Execution in Ohio Should Quicken the

End of Capital Punsihment”1). This makes the country seem as if it is stuck in the dark ages

when it comes to its particular choice of disciplinary action. As a member of the United Nations,

it is also unfitting that America still carries out the death penalty because the UN will eventually

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seek the abolishment of capital punishment. According to International standards, article 3 of

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the

security of person.” The death penalty obviously opposes this declaration because the “right to

life” is stripped away from a person as soon as they are sentenced to death row. This form of

disciplinary action also violates points four and nine in the Resolution 1984/50 of the UN

Economic and Social Council. The fourth criterion is that people are only allowed to be

sentenced to death row if they are guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. The high number of

exonerations and cases in which an innocent person has been convicted outright break this rule.

The ninth criterion for capital punishment is that it must be carried out with minimal suffering

(Kronewetter 137-138). The amount of times that an execution has gone astray combined with

the inhumane aspects of lethal injection blatantly disregard this. Capital punishment is a leech

that sucks away America’s credibility for governing its country to other nations.

George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman stated, “Murder and capital

punishment are not opposites that cancel one another out, but similar that breed their kind”

(Kronewetter 53). The United States use of capital punishment is a lack of bad judgment on the

states that practice it and on the government for continuing to allow it. The benefits that

advocates for capital punishment present are watered down excuses in comparison to the

negatives. The death penalty is costly, ethically unjust and brings negative attention to the

country. America should be held to a higher standard than just simply resorting to the same evils

that sentenced the convicts with a dose of the “three drug cocktail.”