The other day someone asked me, “What type of people are actually against the death penalty?” While responding to her inquiry it dawned on me just how many people in our society are utterly clueless about this very important topic.As a public service to the community I am going to answer her question publicly. The following are several types of people who are against capital punishment:People who are against killing innocent citizens are against the death penalty. It is an unquestionable fact that humans and their organizational systems are fallible. The legal system has made, and always will make horrendous mistakes. Unless an omniscient being emerges and makes her services available to the courts, innocent people will be wrongly convicted. In the past 25 years, 69 Americans who received death sentences were later released when incontrovertible evidence emerged that proved their innocence. Other poor souls haven’t been so lucky. During this century, more than 25 innocent people have been put to death by our government. These tragic and easily preventable deaths are too high of a price to pay for the substanceless symbolism of tough crime prevention via executions.People who are against institutionalized racism are against the death penalty.Several years ago a study conducted in Georgia found that individuals convicted of killing whites were four times more likely to be sentenced to death than convicted killers of non-whites. This reprehensible discovery was of little surprise to capital punishment opponents. Minorities, particularly blacks, make up a disproportionate percentage of death penalty cases. A similar study in New Jersey found that prosecutors sought the death penalty in 50 percent of the cases involving a black defendant and a white victim, but in only 28 percent of the cases involving black defendants and black victims. Capital punishment adversaries find this sort of prevalent racial injustice reason enough to do away with the death sentence.People who want to implement effective crime deterrents are against the death penalty.There is no correlation between capital punishment and lower murder rates. This fact can’t be stressed enough. Capital punishment has absolutely nothing to do with deterring crime. It is simply used as a bloody act of revenge. The fact that capital punishment doesn’t reduce crime is well documented. One of the more recent pieces of documentation comes from Sen. Kermit Brashear, R-Neb., who wrote a report on capital punishment in Nebraska. The report found that “There is no conclusive evidence as to the deterrent effect of capital punishment.” On a separate note, it went on to say that Nebraska would actually save money by not having a death penalty.People who are concerned about the well-being of the murder victim’s family are against the death penalty. Many people hold the false perception that capital punishment is warranted simply to ease the suffering of the victim’s family. In truth, family members are often at odds with each other in regard to their personal feelings on execution. What they require during this grievous time in their lives is emotional and monetary support. What they don’t need is a bitter argument over life and death which serves only to heighten their anguish.The death penalty is a disgusting practice of institutionalized mob rule. It serves no legitimate role in crime prevention, occasionally puts innocent people to death and furthers the suffering of victims families. Overall, capital punishment is a political tool fed to the gullible masses that cheapens the value of human life and disgraces us as a nation. It must be stopped now!
Robert Nekervis can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to read next week’s scathing article which lists the typical personality types of death penalty supporters.
