Death Penalty Has Been a Highly Contentious

¶ … death penalty has been a highly contentious issue in the United States, especially during the last fifty years or so. The reason for this is that human rights have become, more than ever, the basis of the American culture. The death penalty is a complex issue, relating to the rights of both the victims and the perpetrators of crime. The complexity of the issue becomes clear once again in H.L. Mencken's article, "The Penalty of Death," where the author explains the death penalty in terms of human psychology combined with human rights.

In my view, a murderer takes away the right of the victim to live. This is in the first place not a right granted to anyone, and the perpetrator should be punished in kind. Regardless of all "Christian" values and norms, the katharsis mentioned by Mencken is something that I believe should count among the rights of those most directly affected by the murder. Indeed, as Mencken says about the families of murder victims:

"The thing they crave primarily is the satisfaction of seeing the criminal actually before them suffer as he made them suffer." (p. 86).

I do not see why families should be deprived of the right of seeing the perpetrator suffer in order to relieve the emotional tension caused by their loss. The perpetrator acted on impulse, out of emotion. Having deprived someone else of the right to live, and consequently of the right to peace, the criminal deserves to himself be deprived of life in the presence of the victim's loved ones.

As for the death penalty not being a deterrent to other criminals, I believe this is not entirely true. Knowing that a person could be killed for committing murder would have to make anyone think twice before taking a life. Furthermore the fact that these executions happen in the public eye helps to remain familiar with the full horror of not only the execution, but also the crime leading to the execution.

I however agree with Mencken that the primary purpose for the death penalty is to give the family of the victim some peace in knowing that the murderer has been dealt with in kind. At least in this way some human dignity and the right to peaceful living is returned to some of the parties involved. Also, on a wider scale, law-abiding citizens should not be subjected to unnecessary suffering because the rights of a criminal is placed above their own:

"Every law-abiding citizen feels menaced and frustrated until the criminals have been struck down -- until the communal capacity to get even with them, and more than even, has been dramatically demonstrated." (p. 86)

I also agree that the death penalty and the processes related to it should be upgraded to more accurately reflect a fair system. While the murderer should not be granted the right to live, it is also true that we live in an enlightened age. Mencken mentions that it is almost intolerably cruel to subject a murderer to a long waiting period before execution. Quicker execution will not only be more humane, but kinder towards the families of victims as well. To see the murderer executed sooner will bring peace to the family, who can then be free to mourn and deal with their pain without having to wait for an execution.