**Unequal application of the death penalty. **
• It has been clearly shown that the death penalty is most often sought and applied to minorities and to people who have the least resources - people who are poor, mentally ill, or retarded and thus may be able to seek qualified legal counsel. Other studies have shown that a person convicted of murder is far, far more likely to be sentenced to death if the victim is white.
Deterrence.
• Harries and Cheatwood studied differences in homicides and violent crime in 293 pairs of counties. Counties were matched in pairs based on geographic location, regional context, historical development, demographic and economic variables. The pairs shared a contiguous border, but differed on use of capital punishment. The authors found no support for a deterrent effect of capital punishment at the county level comparing matched counties inside and outside states with capital punishment, with and without a death row population, and with and without executions. The authors did find higher violent crime rates in death penalty counties. (Rowman and Littlefiled Publishers, Lanham, MD (1997))
• The abolition of the death penalty in Canada in 1976 has not led to increased homicide rates. Statistics Canada reports that the number of homicides in Canada in 2001 (554) was 23% lower than the number of homicides in 1975 (721), the year before the death penalty was abolished. In addition, homicide rates in Canada are generally three times lower than homicide rates in the U.S., which uses the death penalty. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the homicide rate in the U.S. in 1999 was 5.7 per 100,000 population and the rate in Canada was only 1.8. Canada currently sentences those convicted of murder to life sentences with parole eligibility. (Issues
Direct.com, 8/4/02)
• Since the death penalty was reinstated, over 80% of all executions have occurred in the South, the region with the highest murder rate. The Northeast, the region with the lowest murder rate, has accounted for less than 1% of the executions.
• A survey by the New York Times found that states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty. The Times reports that ten of the twelve states without the death penalty have homicide rates below the national average, whereas half of the states with the death penalty have homicide rates above. During the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48% - 101% higher than in states without the death penalty. “I think Michigan made a wise decision 150 years ago,” said the state’s governor, John Engler, a Republican, referring to the state’s abolition of the death penalty in 1846. “We’re pretty proud of the fact that we don’t have the death penalty.” (New York Times, 9/22/00)
• The average of murder rates per 100,000 population in 1999 among death penalty states was 5.5, whereas the average of murder rates among non-death penalty states was only 3.6. A look at neighboring death penalty and non-death penalty states show similar trends. Death penalty states usually have a higher murder rate than their neighboring non-death penalty states.
Life Without Parole.
• Most jurisdictions offer the option of life without parole… thus the argument that the person convicted could be released to kill again won’t hold water. LWOP is offered in the following jurisdictions: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Federal Statute Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Military Statute, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington DC, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Only Alaska, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas do NOT have LWOP.
**Suggesting that an execution will bring about healing or peace for those who loved the victim. **
• For example: “When the prosecutors in Houston, TX., promised to give the murderer the death penalty I was extremely gratified – at first. In fact, I went to the trial every day because I thought that hearing the judge pronounce the sentence of death would bring me some relief. Instead of healing, I found myself focusing on my anger and hatred, which only seemed to increase the pain I felt over the loss of my mother. Eventually I came to realize that capital punishment was not the answer because wishing for another human being to die wasn’t helping me heal.” – Celeste Dixon [whose mother was murdered in 1986].
**Human fallibility. **• Since 1971, 131 people have been released from death row in the United States after being shown to be innocent. Several of these people had come within days of execution at one point. 36 of these people had spent 10 or more years on death row… but at least they were alive when our error was realized.
Someone suggested in an earlier post that a significant number of people have been released after being shown to be innocent is proof that our system works. I respectfully disagree. I think it is highly possible that innocent people have been executed. To quote:
“Has an innocent man ever been executed? Probably. The judicial system is designed to promote fairness, but anyone who expects perfection is asking for an impossibility. Any revamping might make the system better, but because human nature is involved, it won’t make it perfect. By far the question people ask me most is how I feel about the death penalty. I can only tell you this: Apparently, our society believes that some people need to be removed permanently and completely. As the warden, and a servant of the taxpayer, I tried to do the best job that I could. As a human being, I see it as a sad affair. But it is as a Christian that I struggle most. I have watched men being put to death for hideous crimes and wondered at that moment if we were doing the right thing.” – Jim Willet, Texas prison warden.
