Capital punishment



Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the act, committed by government, of putting to death a prisoner. It is a violation of multiple human rights, the most notable being the right to life and the right to protection from torture. It is staunchly supported by most conservatives. Some have sense and oppose it (even Bill'O!). Nearly all liberals oppose it, because liberals have common sense.

Innocence
Since 1973, 130 people have been exonerated from death row. Exonerations are not commutations, and are given solely upon the basis of distinct evidence of innocence. 1,136 executions have taken place in the United States since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976, which means that there is an average of one exoneration for every eight executions. Proponents dispute the 130 exonerations, but this is pretty quickly refuted. The 130 exonerees are not in prison. If they had not been exonerated they would have been. Duh.

A Northwestern University study has shown that 39 people have been executed in the United States in the face of extreme doubt about their guilt. The late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun put it pretty well when he said, "The execution of a person who can show his innocence comes perilously close to simple murder."

Leonel Herrera
Leonel Herrera was one of those excuted despite very grave doubt about his guilt, this video shows what was wrong.

Death Penalty - Mistake

Deterrence
Proponents claim that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to would-be criminals and therefore saves innocent lives. This is obviously a stupid claim, as many murderers are mentally ill, and as such would not consider the consequences of their actions, whilst others commit their crimes in the heat of the moment, so-called crimes of passion, when they are obviously not thinking about the outcome. What a dumb claim. Many murderers commit suicide afterwards. Now will the death penalty deter people who are suicidal, really?

But it's not only dumb, it's factually incorrect. States with the death penalty have on average murder rates 42% higher than states without the death penalty. So it may increase the murder rate, however correlation doesn't imply causation. Therer is clearly no evidence that the death penalty reduces murder.

Human rights
As noted above, the death penalty violates the right to life and the right to protection from torture. However, many other people are harmed through the application of the death penalty, not just the condemned. The condemned's family are just as innocent as the victim's family, but they have to suffer the death of their loved one. This is an unnecessary death, and unnecessary pain, inflicted by the government. Makes you wonder, no?

Cost
The death penalty does not only kill and torture innocent people, double murder rates, and violate human rights, it also wastes taxpayer money.

In Florida, for instance, it costs approximately $24 million per execution. Heck, in California, it costs $250 million per execution. Whilst proponents like to claim that this is because of the constitutionally-enshrined rights to due process and appeals, most of the cost is actually pre-conviction, so that just isn't a valid claim.

Public opinion
The public have been brainwashed in the United States. They believe that the death penalty is applied fairly, occasionally, humanely, that it doesn't put innocents at risk, that it decreases the murder rate, and that it saves money. Obviously there is no humane way to put someone to death, because it simply isn't humane to take away someone's life. The actual process itself is by no means physically harmless, Amnesty International claims that Lethal Injections in the United States can cause physical torture. There is further mental torture waiting decades of death row to be killed.

One day the public will realize that the death penalty is stupid.

Moratorium in the 70s
Back in the day, the Supreme Court had some cool justices on it, like Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, William O. Douglas, Harry Blackmun, etc.

In 1972, in the case Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme dudes voted 5-4 to put a moratorium on the death penalty, declaring it unconstitutional. In 1976, there were a majority of neocons on the court, and the previous ruling was ignored, when in Gregg v. Georgia (yes, Georgia likes the death penalty and so does the rest of the Bible Belt), it was reintroduced. Since then it's been completely stupid. Like it was before.

Here's what Justice Marshall had to say:

"When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue."

Abolition in states
There are, of course, several cool states that have decided to outlaw it themselves. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have all outlawed it (special credit to Michigan for being the first to outlaw it, in 1846. D.C. has also outlawed it. Recently, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson outlawed it.

You've probably realized that no southern states have outlawed it. Not that we would have expected them to.

I can't tell you why California still has the death penalty, because it's generally a cool, liberal state. Probably Arnie's fault.

Texas
Texas executes more people than all other states combined. During George W. Bush's six years as Governor of Texas, the state executed more people than had any state under any Governor at any point in history. Weak.

Founding Fathers' thoughts
"I shall ask for the abolition of the punishment of death until I have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me." &mdash; Thomas Jefferson

"I should not regret a fair and full trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment." &mdash; James Madison

If your IQ's below 70 you live, it your IQ's 72 you die.
Teresa Lewis was killedby lethal injection despite having an IQ of only 72 by one test and a different psychologist assessed her at IQ 70. The more intelligent men who helped her were not executed. If she'd done the IQ test on a different day or done a different test her IQ might have been lower. 

Pretty-much-sums-it-up-completely-quote
"One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity… The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by emulating his murderer. Capital punishment’s fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded… One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty." &mdash; William Brennan

Lethal injection
The most popular method of execution in the United States currently is the lethal injection which can become physical torture if anyone messes it up. Why don't they check the blood of executed prisoners in time if there is nothing to hide? Incidentally this unfortunate man who was tortured to death was probably inocent of the murder they killed him over. 

Prisoners suffering the lethal injection are paralysed and therefore can’t indicate if they are in pain. The procedure looks clean and painless but only the victims know what really happens and they can’t tell us.


 * More on Lethal Injections as Torture

People who oppose it

 * Michael Dukakis
 * John Kerry
 * Jeremy Irons
 * Mike Farrell (from M*A*S*H)
 * Caroline Kennedy
 * Robert F. Kennedy (well, he was seriously considering supporting an abolition bill in 1968, when he was a Senator from New York)
 * Eric Holder
 * Cherie Blair wife of Tony Blair
 * Michael Bloomberg
 * Laura Bush might oppose it. When a reporter asked her if she agreed with her husband's view on the death penalty, she said, "Well, if I don't, I'm not going to tell you."
 * Russ Feingold