Death penalty: arguments, history, and modern practice

Death Penalty

Society's primary responsibility lies in working towards assuring the physical and psychological well-being of its honest and upright citizens. Implicit in the preceding statement is that government and other social institutions must bring about a social environment that is safe and free of crime, especially serious offenses that can endanger lives. Viewed from this perspective, it appears that perhaps the death penalty is a necessary recourse for any society, which wishes to prevent the reoccurrence of severe crimes. Further, and more important, imposing the death penalty plays a pivotal role in society being able to uphold the values of justice, innocence, and social well being.

The ongoing debate on whether the death penalty should be retained or abolished concerns itself with the issue of justice from differing perspectives. The abolitionists, for instance, argue that the death sentence runs the risk of executing some convicted people, whose innocence is proved retrospectively. Further, they contend that the death sentence only serves as a form of retributive justice for the families of victims (Kane, 2003). This view point can, however, be countered effectively by the fact that the death sentence actually delivers a far more all-encompassing form of social justice. For, by imposing the death penalty, society is ensuring that it "...sends a powerful moral message that the innocent life... was so precious, and the crime... committed so horrific that...forfeits...own right to remain alive." (Jacoby, 2003)

Of course, the ideal lies in ensuring that undeserved injustice does not occur in the first place. Indeed, practitioners of justice, sociologists, and philosophers have long espoused the view that the ultimate form of justice is the absence of injustice in society. This philosophy implies ensuring the safety and security of innocent citizens so that they enjoy life free of fear. The question that, therefore, arises is whether the mere imprisonment of hardened criminals is an effective enough measure. The answer to this question can easily be determined by looking at the number of incidences of prison outbreaks that lead to murderers escaping only to find more victims. Take, for instance, the case of Arthur Shawcross who was paroled after serving 15 years for the brutal rape and murder of two children, and went on a killing spree taking 11 more lives before he was caught again (Pataki, 1997). Such examples are sufficient to establish the need for the death penalty in ensuring that the rights of the innocent are accorded higher priority than any rights that criminals arguably deserve.

Social well-being, as observed earlier, implies the absence of crime in the community. To achieve this, society needs to employ effective deterrents such as the death penalty. Indeed, available statistical evidence indicates that as the number of executions has increased over the last ten years, the number of murders has simultaneously reduced: "Since 1990, [Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas] have performed half the nation's executions...murder rates in these four states have fallen faster than anywhere else in the country." (Sneider, 2001)