Abolition of Capital Punishment
The
death penalty was established for the first time in eighteenth century B.C. by
King Hammaurabi of Babylon who addressed the death penalty for 25 different
crimes. However, many efforts of abolitions from both countries and societies
have been done ever since. According to Snell, the BJS Statistician (2010), for
the tenth consecutive year before 2010, the number of inmates under sentence of
death has decreased. Moreover, during 2010, 119 inmates were removed from under
sentence for certain reasons. Why does
the capital punishment reduce over the time?? Does the world start being aware
of the other value behind justice?? According to Albert Camus, French
philosopher (n.d.), capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders.
Furthermore, capital punishment should be abolished due to its flawed purposes
and subjects.
The
flawed purpose of deterrence’s effect of a capital punishment is one of the
reasons why capital punishment should be abolished. According to Oxford Dictionary (n.d.),
deterrence is a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone
from doing something. Based on the purpose of the deterrence itself, people or
countries usually consider punishment as fairness that potentially builds the
foundation of justice. Yet, capital punishment, as one of the commonly used punishment
for murders might have some weaknesses that make it less effective.
Currently, capital punishment
fails to confirm the Justice among people in terms of its deterrence purposes.
According to Dillulio (1959), general deterrence is designed to prevent crime
in the general population, while specific deterrence is designed to deter only
the individual offender. Ideally, deterrence should contain both types of
deterrence. Yet, capital punishment does not really cover those two main
purposes of deterrence. In terms of general deterrence, death penalty has been
considered as the heaviest punishment to build the society’s awareness of
justice and to prevent the inmates repeating crimes. However, a study of
National Research Council (2012) claims that the effect of capital punishment
has fundamentally flawed. Also, a survey done by Professor Radelet and Lacock
of the University of Colorado (2009) revealed that over 88% believed that capital
punishment is not really deterrent to murder. Moreover, According to the Death
Penalty Information Center, the murder rate in non-death penalty states has
remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death penalty.
Also,
in terms of specific deterrence, death penalty does not give any chance to the
offender to be a better person in future. It has been a debate whether the
consequences of capital punishment abolition can be ideally replaced by
rehabilitation due to its positive impact to the offender, victims, and also
the society. Lucky Simayile, who had been in and out of jail for more than 10
times, grew up in locations around South Africa surrounded by guns and gun
fights. During his service, he was given chances to perform a theatre about the
same theme: ‘Don’t do Crime’ as one of the rehabilitation method. After being
given a chance to go back to the society on parole, he met a founder and
director of the Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in Kwa Mashu, which leads him, in 2009
to be nominated for the Mercury Durban Theatre Award for best supporting actor,
for his role in “Madame President”. Also, Braithwaite (1989), believes that
integrative process can help offenders to repair their offences, and at the
same time, to help both offenders and victims to learn something of each other.
“While the state and the public have a vested interest in prisoners leaving
prison as no more of a social burden than when they went it, if rehabilitative
efforts are to have any real impact, they must take into account the lessons of
the past” (Champbell, 1989).
Flawed subject of punishment,
including the possibility of execution on innocence and the uneven crime level
where the death penalty is put on, will strengthen the idea that capital punishment
should be abolished. Since the death penalty has more massive effects, compares
to incarceration, the case will be more subjective and hence, it is harder to
decide. Moreover, given the fact that a sentence is put based on many factors
and consideration, there will be less accuracy in giving a death penalty.
The
possibility of addressing a wrong punishment by putting an execution on
innocence makes the capital punishment even less effective as deterrence.
Oppositely, it encourages the society to against the justice system rather than
respect the law. According to Potas and Walker (1987), there is always a
possibility that an innocent person may be executed. This idea can be best
illustrated by the case of Timothy Evans, who was executed in United Kingdom in
1950 for murders before it was subsequently found to have been committed by the
notorious John Christie and was posthumously pardoned. This possibly happens
due to the fact that a sentence of a person will not depend on a single party.
Moreover, the consideration will arise involving several parties such as
jurors, prosecutors, witnesses, defendant and the evidence. On the other hand,
leakages in the justice system itself lessen the accuracy of a sentence. Either the justice system or the determining
people can be mistaken, and hence leads to the execution of innocence. According
to International Amnesty (2012), 130 innocent people have been executed in USA
since 1973. “The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by
the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims. As long as human justice
remains fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated”
(International Amnesty, 2011).
The
other weakness of death penalty is that there is no specific standard or level
of crime where people deserve a capital punishment. This allows the same level of punishment to
be put on the different level of crime. For example, two of the Bali Nine, who
were involved in smuggling 8.3 kg
of heroin in Bali,
were end up sentenced to execution. While on the other case, Abu Bakar Bashir,
the leader of the terrorist group which carried out the 2002 Bali bombings,
killing over 200 people, including 88 Australians was only sentenced to 15
years in jail. As reported in "Death sentences anger Australia",
Television New Zealand on 7 September 2006, this comparison was used by the
Australians to criticize the death penalty. The uneven level of crime where the
death penalty is put on will invite more critics rather than represents
deterrence to other future crimes.
In
conclusion, recent cases and statistics have proven that capital punishment is
less effective and therefore should be abolished. The reasons can be mainly
because of its flawed purposes and subjects. A data shown by FBI (n.d.) saying
that in 2008, 14 states without capital punishment had homicide rates at or
below the national rate can be the evidence of the failure of capital
punishment to deter crimes. On the other hand, less accuracy of the subject of
capital punishment might cause an execution of innocence and an uneven level of
crime where the death penalty is put on. It is shown by 140 people have been
released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their
wrongful conviction since 1973, and in the same time period, more than 1,200
people have been executed (Amnesty international, 2012). "What says the
law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!" (Victor Hugo,
n.d.).
References
"Death sentences anger Australia". Television New Zealand.
7 September 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
Abu Bakar
Bashir. (n.d.). In Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved December 28, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakar_Bashir
Amnesty International USA |
Protect Human Rights.
(n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf
Australian Coalition Against
Death Penalty (ACADP).
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://acadp.com/?3e3ea140
Bali Nine.
(n.d.). In Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved December 28, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine
Onwudiwe, I.
D., Odo, J., & Onyeozili, E. C. (n.d.). Deterrence Theory. Retrieved from
http://marisluste.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/deterrence-theory.pdf.
Part I:
History of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center. (n.d.). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved from
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty
Potas, I.,
& Walker, J. (1987). Capital Punishment. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 3.
Retrieved from
http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/F/6/D/%7BF6D67388-75E0-4CBC-8181-E0BF0204D3CF%7Dti03.pdf.
Retrieved
from http://www.antideathpenalty.org/quotes.html.
Retrieved
from www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf
SAFE California | ✔ Savings ✔
Accountability ✔ Full Enforcement. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.safecalifornia.org/downloads/2.6.B_deterrence.pdf
Snell, T. L.
(2011). Capital Punishment, 2010 – Statistical Tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics · Statistical Tables. Retrieved from
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cp10st.pdf.
The Death
Penalty and Deterrence | Amnesty International USA. (n.d.). Amnesty International USA | Protect Human Rights. Retrieved from
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/the-death-penalty-and-deterrence
