Death Takes A Holiday

The CT state legislature just passed a law prohibiting capital punishment. The measure passed by just 2 votes. The governor has stated that she will veto the bill but she's under intense pressure to allow it to pass into law so we'll have to wait to see what happens. This issue has been making headlines recently usually because someone on death row is exonerated due to modern technological advances such as DNA testing. This is very often one of the two reasons that capital punishment opponents want it outlawed. The other reason is based on the religious belief that the Bible teaches us that it is wrong to kill. Both reasons lack substance. First of all, let's assume that the only time CP would be administered is when there is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that the person is guilty of a heinous crime such as sexually assaulting and killing a child which is all proven by DNA and all the other stuff. In that case there's no possibility of a mistake so there goes that argument. The second reason is based on a misinterpretation of the Bible. The correct translation from the original Hebrew is 'thou shall not murder'-not kill. An important distinction. In fact it goes on to say 'an eye or an eye', etc. There goes that argument.

Now let's turn to the pro CP people. They say CP deters crime. Wrong. It doesn't. The crime rate hasn't changed one bit in CP states as opposed to the 15 or 17 (I forgot the number) states that don't have it. They also argue that it costs more to house a convict than it does to kill him. Wrong again. When you take into consideration the cost of appeals, etc. it comes out to be more costly to administer CP. Finally, pro CP people say that the punishment should fit the crime. But is it appropriate for a civilized society to handle crime in this fashion? Isn't that a contradiction?

All the reasons put forward by both sides are wrong. Complicating all of this is the fact that the Supreme Court has already ruled that CP does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment-but it leaves it up to the states to decide on their own. On top of all that is the emotion involved. For example if someone killed one of my family and was convicted by overwhelming evidence, I would happily push the plunger-or push the button-or pull the trigger-whatever. But it wouldn't be just for vengeance. It would also be to make sure that once and for all that person would never be able to do it again. Ever. For that sole reason I think under certain rare circumstances, capital punishment is appropriate. So there you have it. Now you can stop agonizing over the issue.