by Lyrik Krogfus
The death penalty, also known as Capital Punishment, has been performed in the United States since the 1600s, and is still currently authorized in 28 states. The death penalty is a practice in which a person convicted of a crime is sentenced to death as their punishment. I believe sentencing someone to death is immoral, and one of the worst ways to reduce brutal crime. The death penalty is sanctioned disproportionately to black and brown individuals than white individuals. Abolishing the death penalty could put an end to this historical trauma, save the states millions of dollars (depending on their execution method), limit race being a contributing factor in a court's decision, ensure that innocent people will not be executed, and not increase crime rates.
In order to begin the process of abolishing the death penalty, knowing the history is important. Sentencing guidelines regarding the death penalty were introduced in America in the early 1600s by European settlers and have influenced Americans’ use of the death penalty ever since. At its conception, this form of punishment could be applied to someone for allegedly stealing bread. While years later capital offenses were saved for more severe crimes, this was not always the case for people of color. In fact, the death penalty in America is a part of the South’s distinctive history and is directly correlated to slavery. Slavery shaped the death penalty systems across America, thus making stricter laws for enslaved men and women that resulted in execution. Moreover, the lynching of black people was rampant between 1865 and 1867, including acts of vigilante justice. These vigilante justice seekers were people who claimed to be enforcing the law and its punishments, but without the proper authority. In Bharat Malkani’s article, “Why the Fight for Racial Justice in the U.S. Requires the Abolition of the Death Penalty,” Malkani says, “...by 1856 there were 66 crimes for which an enslaved person could be executed in Virginia, yet just one capital crime for whites” (Malkani, 2020). In addition to the unequal distribution of the punishment, lawmakers at the time believed enslaved people were due more horrifying methods of execution than white people. As such, many of these executions consisted of enslaved people being hanged or burned at the stake while a public display was made of their corpses or body parts. These executions were known as warnings to other enslaved people and just the beginning of the disproportionate use of the death penalty on black men and women.
McMillian v. State is a well-known case that has helped to make history and change the future of death penalty cases. Walter McMillian was a black man who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a white woman in the year 1988 in Monroeville, Alabama. McMillian was on death row for six years with four appeals denied. Without the help of McMillian’s lawyer and advocate, Bryan Stevenson, McMillian would have been put to death. He was one of many black men who was failed by the legal system and wrongly put-on death row. Stevenson is one acclaimed black lawyer trying to combat the unfair sentencing practices and that had led to McMillian’s case. In fact, Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in 1989, which is a private, non-profit organization that represents those who have been unfairly sentenced, wrongly convicted and/or abused in state jails and prisons (“Walter McMillian,” n.d.).
Of course, who is affected by the death penalty is only part of the issue. Another is the actual means of execution. There are different methods of execution that may be used, and each state that performs executions has their preference. Lethal Injection has been the most widely used method since 1976 and has led to 1,347 executions that have taken place in 32 states (“Methods of Execution,” n.d.). Lethal Injection is the act of injecting someone with drugs to purposely cause them death. Electrocution is the second most used method that has taken 163 lives in the nine states it is allowed (“Methods of Execution,” n.d.). Electrocution causes death by electric shock when passing through the body. Lethal gas has been used in 11 executions in six states (“Methods of Execution,” n.d.). Lethal gas execution kills the imprisoned person by placing them within a sealed-in chamber that has either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide combined to pan of hydrochloric acid. Hangings have been used in at least three executions in three different states recently (“Methods of Execution,” n.d.). Hanging is ending someone's life by placing a noose or a ligature around their neck. In the case of all these different execution methods, one commonality is the inflated cost of capital cases. On average, a capital case costs $110,000 more in Oklahoma than non-capital cases. Moreover, “[a] 2015 Seattle University study examining the costs of the death penalty in Washington found that each death penalty case cost an average of $1 million more than a similar case where the death penalty was not sought” ("State Studies on Monetary Costs," 2017).
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the death penalty is more expensive than other alternative punishments. It is a common misconception that the death penalty saves states money, and that sentencing a person to death is more cost-effective than incarceration and rehabilitation. However, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, “[s]ome of the reasons for the high cost of the death penalty are the longer trials and appeals required when a person’s life is on the line, the need for more lawyers and experts on both sides of the case, and the relative rarity of executions” (“Costs,” n.d.). Some of these awfully expensive trials do not result in a sentence to death and thus end with the incarcerated person spending their life in jail, but at a higher cost due to their legal defense against the death penalty sentence. We can see the cost of the death penalty best in Texas, the state to carry out the most executions since 1976. It costs taxpayers $2.3 million per capital case, versus $750,000 for a life sentence case (“Costs,” n.d.).
The Death Penalty Information Center prepared cost studies that took into consideration every cost connected to sentencing someone to death row. For instance, legal costs become a big problem for almost all people who face the death penalty. Often, affording their own lawyer is too expensive for the defendant, so the state assigns a public defender and pays for the costs. Pre-trial costs like the time, expense of processing and acquiring forensic evidence, the research conducted into the background and history of the defendant get added on to the costs because these considerations make the trial longer. Moreover, jury selection in capital cases can take more time than other trials because they must find a jury pool without harmful biases, which can be challenging. Additionally, the trial itself can last four times longer than other non-capital trials. Meanwhile, the defendants are kept incarcerated for the duration of their case, which means they are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day with increased security to prevent self-harm or the perceived risk of violence to others. While this amplified isolation can cause those waiting for execution to die naturally, there are also those who seek appeals. Every imprisoned person is entitled to a series of appeals, at taxpayer’s expense. These appeals are important and may prove innocence.
If the death penalty was abolished, money spent on capital cases could be put towards other community resources. For example, places like public schools, healthcare and housing could get more funding. More funding for schools could lead to better education, while more funding to our healthcare system might lead to people getting the medicine they need, both of which could (in turn) lower crime rates. Additionally, if that funding was moved from capital cases and toward more affordable housing, it would meet a basic human need that so many people do not have. The money currently going toward capital cases could make a stark difference in each state, especially in low-income minority neighborhoods—neighborhoods which are disproportionately impacted by the death penalty.
Racial bias against people of color who have been convicted of a crime has a strong impact on whether the defendant will be sentenced to death or not, especially if the victim in the case is white. Early in the twentieth century, “...89 percent of the executions involved black defendants, most for the rape of a white woman” (Death Penalty Information Center). Many of these cases were false accusations and were racially charged. In court, it did not take much evidence to convict a black person when the universal system was not made to protect people of color. Not only could a black person be killed within prison walls from capital punishment, but a mob of white people would take it upon themselves to lynch a black man in broad daylight and then go on about their day and leave the body hanging.
The elimination of race being a contributing factor when sentencing someone to death has only partially been fulfilled. In August 2009, North Carolina became the second state to pass the Racial Justice Act, which meant courts could consider statistical evidence as proof of racial bias when it comes to the death penalty. It was passed by both the North Carolina State Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives. Despite a law being passed to examine racial bias within the court room, to this day black men are still on death row because of racially biased sentences. According to Equal Justice Initiative’s website, “African Americans make up 42% of people on death row and 34% of those executed, but only 13% of the population is Black” ("Walter McMillian," n.d.). The court system convicts those who are most vulnerable in our society. Black people are the least protected in America, let alone within the prison system.
As of April 1, 2020, there are a total of 2,607 inmates on death row. Black incarcerated persons make up 1,078, while 1,102 are White, 352 are Latinx, 27 are Native American, and 27 are Asian or unknown (Death Penalty Information Center). While these numbers can get confusing, the racial demographics of the country must be kept in mind. If the black population only makes up 13% of the total population, yet nearly half of the inmates on death row are black, then racial bias has a clear impact on sentencing.
Many black people would still be here today if it were not for capital punishment. From the time of slavery, the death penalty has served as another form of white supremacy and control over black people. The death penalty has become class warfare against the poorest and the most powerless people in our society. Abolishing the death penalty would end the racial bias in a court's decisions when sentencing black people. The need for abolishing the death penalty does not only regard innocent black people, but all black people whether they committed the crime or not.
The Criminal Justice System in America treats those who are wealthy, white, and guilty better than those who are people of color, have a lower socioeconomical status and are innocent. Many innocent people have been killed on death row for crimes they did not commit. We can see this by how the exoneration rates have risen, which suggests the Criminal Justice System had failed the previously incarcerated by putting them in prison to begin with. Exoneration is when the conviction of somebody for a crime is proven innocent or reversed. Many times, wrongful convictions can be traced to witnesses lying in court, coerced confessions, and incorrect forensic evidence. Given the racial bias in the legal system, African Americans are disproportionately affected by such wrongful conditions, and therefore make up 47% of exonerations even though they are only 13% of the population ("Walter McMillian," n.d.). There is no way to tell how many innocent people have been executed, the Death penalty Information Center explains, “Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients’ lives can still be saved” (Death Penalty Information Center). Because of this, the government ends up contradicting itself; the law claims that killing an innocent person is an intolerable crime, but when an innocent person is killed because of capital punishment, it is dismissed.
On September 21, 2011, Troy Anthony Davis, a black man, was killed by the state of Georgia by lethal injection. Davis was convicted of killing a police officer, a crime he did not commit. Months before Davis’s execution, people around the country had serious doubts about the case and urged Georgia to re-examine his case. The NAACP, the Innocence Project, and Amnesty International defended Davis and his innocence. Moreover, seven out of nine witnesses recanted their testimony against him. Unfortunately, Davis is now another statistic on how America has failed black men. According to the Innocence Project, innocent black people are seven times more likely to be wrongly convicted of murder than innocent white people (Sleby, 2020). These wrongful convictions are only the ones that have been brought to the public's awareness, it is highly likely that many other people are on death row who are innocent. The remaining question is how many innocent lives will it take to end this harsh, inhumane punishment?
Thanks to those fighting for the abolishment of the death penalty in the United States, there would be many more executions, more legal death penalty states, and more wrongly convicted innocent people. Angela Davis is one particularly important woman who helped shape America in many ways, one of which is becoming a well-known death penalty abolition activist who brings awareness to bias, errors, and inmate cruelty within the process of abolishing the death penalty for good. Davis and others have built and managed national organizations to put an end to this flawed practice within states. One of Davis's organizations is known as Critical Resistance, a 20-year successful mass movement to the abolition of the death penalty (Fosado, 2007).
The death penalty was and still is ineffective when it comes to the punishment of a person convicted of a crime. Sentencing someone to death is a fundamental concern because of how many people value some lives over others. It is curious to me why it is okay for the state to kill a person, but it is a crime when it is outside of the Justice System. There are many people who proclaim to value life in all the ways they do and argue that capital punishment is okay and necessary at least in criminal cases that involve loss of life. We can abolish the death penalty and still support the victims of these heinous crimes. In many cases, surviving friends and families do not seek revenge for the death of their loved one. The state taking a life for a life does not necessarily give them closure. “A University of Minnesota study found that just 2.5% of victims’ family members reported achieving closure as a result of capital punishment, while 20.1% said the execution did not help them heal” (Death Penalty Information Center).
There is no actual data proven that the death penalty prevents crime. States without the death penalty have lower murder rates than states that still use capital punishment. On Amnesty International's website, 88.2 % of experts in criminology reported they do not think the death penalty deters murder. They also believe that existing research does not support deterrence theory. Studies have shown, “in 2004 in the USA, the average murder rate for states that used the death penalty was 5.71 per 100,000 of the population as against 4.02 per 100,000 in states that did not use it” (Berlin, n.d.). States that endorse the death penalty continue the cycle of violence they are claiming to have the goal of eliminating. The purpose of this form of punishment does not make sense.
Many oppose the abolishment of the death penalty and argue capital punishment is a good punishment for certain crimes. According to the website, Bible Baptist Publications, there are three good reasons to support the death penalty. One of the reasons presented is that the death penalty honors God. As explained in this website, “The death penalty was first instituted by God Himself in Genesis 9:6: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made the man” (Melton, n.d.). Many Christians believe this to be true and follow the rules of the bible when it comes to the justification of putting someone on death row. They believe that God wants to bless our nation but cannot do that with killers running loose or sitting in prison with free meals, housing, education, and counseling. The second reason is that they believe the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. They state that executions that happen within each state deter crime by making the murder rates fall fast and even suggest executions should be televised every night so people can see what these people convicted of a crime deserve. Bible Baptist Publications also states that the death penalty is good for the environment. They state, “God said that the land is POLLUTED and DEFILED when killers go free. In God's word, environmental pollution is associated with SIN, not carbon monoxide and lead poisoning” (Melton, n.d.). They back up their statement by saying the best way to clean up America is justice.
The suggestion from the Bible Baptist Publications to televise public killings is absurd and using sections of misinformed religion is extremely dangerous. These misinformed counterarguments become distractions for those fighting to abolish the death penalty. This fear tactics that the only way to deter violent crime is the threat of punishment by death is simply that. Again, there is no evidence that proves the possible punishment by death impacts actual crimes rates.
It could be a hang-up for some when discussing the appropriateness of the death penalty for serial killers. This specific group of people often do not show or express remorse for their Ville actions. If there is no remorse, rehabilitation would not be possible. Many times, the most appropriate form of accountability would be to assess for sanity, and if deemed criminally insane, I believe they should receive hospitalization, not death or imprisonment. The goal would be to treat their sickness.
Abolition is a political vision and an organizing strategy that directly is in opposition of U.S. Criminal Justice System as it stands. The vision is a society in which capital punishment is no more and, instead, communities should be safer because they are equipped to care for themselves and one another. Abolition suggests that the system is working exactly as it was designed, so we need a new system for accountability. Therefore, the death penalty needs to be abolished rather than reformed, because reform suggests that the system is broken, and needs updates. Abolition of the death penalty does not suggest people stop doing terrible things, but it does recognize our current reliance on this form of punishment does nothing to reduce crime, it instead perpetrates violence and dysfunction. The death penalty should be dismantled so other more effective ways of accountability can be utilized and created.
I am proposing that tackling the abolishment of the death penalty is a giant step in the right direction of creating an entirely new Justice System. Death Penalty abolishment starts at prevention. People need to have access to basic resources within their communities. When people are fighting for these basic human needs, we know crime will occur. Teaching kids from a young age healthy ways to get their needs met will build confidence in their knowing help is available and where they can go to get this which helps to alleviate the burden of living in constant crisis. Offering alternatives to the Criminal Justice System with intervention services such as food support, parenting classes, help with job search, childcare, rental assistance and mental health services should decrease a variety of different leveled crime rates. Focus rehabilitation services on changing destructive patterns, teach or reteach basic life skills like anger management, and continue building a system worthy of people's trust.
Specifically, I propose that the death penalty should be abolished be abolished in all 50 states. Abolishing the death penalty can put an end to the historical trauma, should save the states millions of dollars depending on their lethal method, limit race being a contributing factor in a court's decisions, ensure that innocent people will not be executed, and should not increase crime rates. Taxpayers are paying more money to execute an imprisoned person than keeping them imprisoned for crimes they may or may not have committed with lethal injections costing the most. Black and brown people are sentenced to death at a higher rate than white people, revealing a broken justice system, with no data supporting the effectiveness of lowering crime rates for this sentence of death. There have been too many cases of innocent people being falsely accused and punished to death by a state that is supposed to keep them safe. The next steps are to develop a community-based strategy to overcome a system that was not made to protect those who are not rich or white.
References
Berlin, M. E. (n.d.) Death penalty. Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/
Costs. (n.d.) Death Penalty Information Center, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs
Fosado, Gisela. (2007). Women, prisons, and change, S&F Online, https://sfonline.barnard.edu/prison/intro_03.htm
Malkani, B. (2020, June 23). Why the fight for racial justice in the US requires the abolition of the death penalty. The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/why-the-fight-for-racial-justice-in-the-us-…
Melton, J. L. (n.d.) Capital punishment: Three good reasons for supporting the death penalty. Bible Baptist Publications, https://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/punish.html
Methods of Execution. (n.d.) Death Penalty Information Center, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/methods-of-execution
Selby, D. (2020, September 21). Nine years after the execution of Troy Davis, innocent black men are still being sentenced to death. Innocence Project, https://innocenceproject.org/troy-davis-pervis-payne-race-death-penalty…;
State studies on monetary costs. (2017) Death Penalty Information Center, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs/summary-of-states-deat…
Walter McMillian. (n.d.). Equal Justice Initiative, https://eji.org/cases/walter-mcmillian/