Is the Death Penalty Effective?

Is the Death Penalty Effective?

Since the dawn of human civilization, capital punishment has been used to eliminate extreme wrongdoers in society. It is undeniable that any civilization can only prosper where there is peace. However, peace cannot be achieved if staunch criminal minds roam freely, seeking to devour ordinary citizens. It should be noted that imprisoning some of the extreme wrongdoers is hardly a permanent solution because most of them devise ingenious ways to break out of the system. This has been evident for years in the United States, with the latest being the New York prison break. The events that followed strengthened the need to withhold the capital punishment in the United States. The paper supports an argument that a death penalty is indeed effective and should be pursued in the modern times to cut on government expenditure, lower crime rates and provide closure to victims’ families.

While many people (including the world-respected religious leaders) have offered a conflicting argument to quash the justice efforts, there is strong evidence that offering second chances to dangerous criminals is a wrong move. In fact, studies indicate that some of the high-profile convicts have crime genes ingrained in their DNA. This implies that subjecting them to the regular prison system is endangering the prison staff and other low-profile convicts. Instead of wasting taxpayers’ money and keeping victims of crime in fear, the government should serve law-abiding citizens by sending a clear message to the potential criminals. 

Cassel and Douglas (61) argues that people inherit traits that increase their chances of committing criminal offences. In their research, there is a clear link between ethnic intelligence and criminal minds. As individuals inherit lowly aroused nervous systems, they are prone to engage in exciting activities. In addition, they become insensitive to particular external events. When these people inflict pain on others or are hurt, their low mental arousal deprives them of a psychological experience. Thus, a punishment does little to deter them from committing crime over and again.

The punishment of criminals by death is implemented when there is a clear proof that an individual committed some of the gravest deeds in the society. Most of the executions take place after years of weighing options and appeals by human rights activists. In the past, before an individual was executed, there were tortures aimed at extorting valuable information from the criminal. Besides, the death penalties were carried out publicly in broad daylight to instill fear on the potential criminals. Over the years, the strict measures have waned due to public outcry and mounting pressure on the need to exclude the capital punishment as an option in a modern system of justice.

In the past, most societies practiced capital punishment to punish religious and political dissidents. However, the modern society is inclined towards painless and humane executions. Painful executions such as hanging, stoning, and use of guillotine have been replaced by modern means of executions including the lethal injection, a gun, and the gas chamber execution. Today, an offender can be accorded full respect as a human beings even during their final times. Gone are the barbaric days when people could be subjected to slow deaths. However, there are modern critics that still view these latest developments as painful.

Provision of Closure

The main aim of the death penalty is to provide closure to the families of the victims. Most of the criminals that are eligible for death penalties have committed some of the worst crimes including rapes, assault, multiple first-degree murders, and child defilement. In most cases, the killers deprive friends and families of their loved ones. The deprivation ignites grief that might not end until the murderer is executed. While the death penalty does not resurrect the victims, friends and families' thoughts regarding the whole ordeal die with the execution of the criminals. The feeling of closure is hard to achieve if the murderer is still alive. In fact, there is a notion that the surviving victims will never achieve real justice unless the murderer is eliminated.

            Walker (33) states that more often than not, families of crime victims desire an elimination of an offender to ensure a closure is achieved at last to a tragic event. He affirms that tragedies can consume the lives of the surviving families if defendants are sentenced to life in prison instead of an execution. In his analysis, the former lacks the same healing effects as the latter. Most see the possibility of an inmate being released sometimes in the future or find a loophole to escape and revert to their old criminal acts. Walker further argues that a relief of a mandatory life sentence cannot be comparable to a death penalty because an inmate will see the light of another day as their loved one never will. While an inmate (though incarcerated) can establish a relationship with friends and families, a victim will not have the same pleasure.        

Sending a Clear Message

A death penalty is the highest form of punishment a criminal can receive. Studies indicate that high-profile criminals do not fear life incarceration. This implies that unless the capital punishment is active in the justice system, criminals can go on a killing spree before the justice finally catches up with them. In the Middle East countries, where executions are effective, crime rates are low. From this scenario, it can be argued that the would-be criminals’ realization that their lives can be terminated should they be detected is enough to turn them away from crime.

Steven (178) observes that implementation of a death penalty wields a deterrent effect because the states lacking this law have higher annual rates of homicide. He adds that a single execution deters up to 20 homicides but he admits that to an extent, a lengthy jail term has a positive effect on homicide statistics. He believes that the existence of the law itself in some countries has instilled fear in criminals because they are fully aware of the extreme measures to be taken should they find themselves on the wrong side of the law. While the author falls short of recommending death penalties, he admits that criminals would receive the strong message and refrain from participating in high-profile offences.

Economic Benefits

More often than not, the best alternative to capital punishment is life imprisonment. In countries where death penalties have been abolished, there is a surge in the number of prisoners. The prisoners are not denied their basic human rights such as food, clothing, and shelter. Therefore, the government is obliged to spend enormous sums of money on catering for prison requirements. It adds the burden to the taxpayers, hence diminishing the economic performance. A scrutiny would reveal the fact that loyal citizens are offering material support to thieves, rapists, and murderers, who do not deserve the financial support.

            Ogletree et al. (33) states that more than half of Americans believe it is costlier to keep first-degree murderers in prison. The majority of the interviewees favored execution at all circumstances. There are critics that claim the cost for court proceedings in a death penalty case to be higher but the authors proposes a review of the lengths of trial, pre-trial and appeal procedures to cut on expenditures. In fact, the magnitude crimes committed by hard-core criminals are so high that a revocation of some trial rights should be considered. As a first step, appeals to high-profile cases should be limited to minimize government expenditure.

Tit for Tat

A murder should be answered with another murder. Most subjects of death penalty deprive their victims of rights to their lives. There should be no argument against the justice system’s deprivation of the criminal to the right of life. In fact, a criminal’s life should be taken in the severest way possible, given the magnitude of their deeds and the implication it has to the victims’ friends and families. A justice system short of a death penalty has no proper response to murder crimes, hence no justice to victims.

Capital Punishment Is not Cruel

One of the justice provisions is the lack of toleration to cruelty. The critics to the death penalty have based their arguments on the cruelty of the means used to take criminal lives. However, their arguments are baseless and fabrications of the truth, especially if the modern means of executions are considered. Least of all, hanging involves a snap of the neck in microseconds. The subjects hardly feel the separation of their lives from their bodies. The electric chair execution involves a strap of a metallic conductor to the brain, leading to the instant death as soon as the circuit is completed. The brain is shut off immediately due to the direct electric conduction to the brain. In fact, the brain has no time to register the pain.

For young subjects of the death penalty, a life imprisonment is lengthy and boring. If the motivation of the sentencing is based on the taking the criminal out of their mystery, a death penalty (especially to youthful crime masterminds) is the most appropriate choice. It is hard to imagine a barely 20-years-old murderer spending a lifetime in jail – it is an injustice to a young soul.

In summary, hardened criminals have no place in the society. Locking them up is an endangerment to the lives of low-profile convicts. While there is a heavy controversy surrounding the issue of capital punishment, the pros outweigh the cons. A judge should have the concerns of the victim’s families and friends when making the final judgment regarding the fate of the criminal minds. A failure to give a death penalty is a miscarriage of justice and a disservice to the society. The human rights activists should spend their time championing for the rights of the law-abiding citizens rather than the criminals that take lives of their victims. Otherwise, it will not be long before the people realize that the activists are complicating their viewpoints.

Works Cited

Cassel, Elaine, and Douglas A. Bernstein. Criminal Behavior. Psychology Press, 2013: 54-78. Print.

Ogletree, Charles J, and Austin Sarat. The Road to Abolition?: The Future of Capital Punishment in the United States. New York, N.Y: New York University Press, 2009: 30-32. Print.

Steven P. Lab. Crime prevention: Approaches, practices, and evaluations. Ohio: Anderson, 2014: 177-178. Print.

Walker, Ida. The Death Penalty. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub. Co, 2008: 33-35. Print.