Why Capital Punishment is a Moral Mistake

Troy Davis was convicted of murder in 1991. Prosecutors were not able to produce a weapon or any physical evidence that supported the allegation. The evidence against him was entirely that of the testimony of nine witnesses and now seven of the nine have gone on record stating that they lied; three of them have named another man who actually did the killing. Despite this new evidence, the Supreme Court of the U.S. has refused to even hear the facts and approved of Davis's execution.

Why such a cold-blooded attitude? What is accomplished by this? Is there any evidence that their decision is a moral one? What is most surprising is that seven of the nine justices are Roman Catholic and the Catholic church teaches that capital punishment is immoral in the same way that it teaches against abortion. Why do they lay aside their pro-life views in this case?

DNA testing has shown that about one in five capital cases are decided wrongly by juries. With such a high mistake rate, why is the Supreme Court (and many Americans) so set on defending the system?

Capital punishment is a moral mistake simply because once we take the life of a man (or woman) there is no chance to re-think the situation. It arrogates to human beings the all-knowing power that belongs only to God. In this case there is a high probability that the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the killing of a man who did not commit the crime, while the real killer goes free. But we will never know because the justices have decided that killing is more important than truth.

Why do so many Christians support this kind of reckless disregard for the sanctity of life? What makes them so blood-thirsty? It certainly is not the spirit of Christ. What is it?

Comments

[Gianluca]

Monte thank you for your post. It seems to me that death penalty is one of those brutal, immoral, and primitive provisions that is refraining our society to advance.

FOR GOODNESS SAKE IT IS THE YEAR 2009!!! This is the future, death penalty is such a drag back to the dark ages. How can the United States, which in so many ways is symbol of innovation, progress, and human achievement be one of the few "developed" countries that still associates with such a practice!

I think there should be more talk about this topic.

I posted an entry on my blog on this topic, some time last year. Here is the link:

http://gianlucabruno.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/death-penalty-time-to-end-it/

[Dudley Sharp]

What nonsense;

There have been 17 DNA exonerations out of the past 8000 death row cases.

Of those 9 were released from prison, after long being released from death row, because of legal issues, other than DNA, which had previously removed them from death row.

Meaning, there have been 8 cases where DNA exoneration removed an inmate from death row.

8 out of 8000.

That is 1 case in 1000.

Not 1 case in 5.

Please efact check, next time.

[Dudley Sharp]

The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents

To state the blatantly clear, living murderers, in prison, after release or escape, are much more likely to harm and murder, again, than are executed murderers.

Although an obvious truism, it is surprising how often folks overlook the enhanced incapacitation benefits of the death penalty over incarceration.

No knowledgeable and honest party questions that the death penalty has the most extensive due process protections in US criminal law.

Therefore, actual innocents are more likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment and more likely to die in prison serving under that sentence, that it is that an actual innocent will be executed.

That is. logically, conclusive.

16 recent US studies, inclusive of their defenses, find for death penalty deterrence.

A surprise? No.

Life is preferred over death. Death is feared more than life.

Some believe that all studies with contrary findings negate those 16 studies. They don't. Studies which don't find for deterrence don't say no one is deterred, but that they couldn't measure those deterred.

What prospect of a negative outcome doesn't deter some? There isn't one .

The evidence is compelling and unrefuted that death is feared more than life.

Of all the government programs in the world, that put innocents at risk, is there one with a safer record and with greater protections than the US death penalty?

Unlikely.

In choosing to end the death penalty, or in choosing not implement it, some have chosen to spare murderers at the cost of sacrificing more innocent lives.

[Monte]

Dudley, what is the source of your statistics? According to the official record of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, there have been only 4,958 executions since 1930 and the vast majority of these never had DNA testing. Have a careful search, I could not confirm any of your numbers.

I did find:

"A 23-year-long study released on June 12, 2000, states that two-thirds of all capital punishment cases contained flaws serious enough to warrant that they be retried."
(www.infoplease.com)

The Christian Science Monitor reported "the 100th former death-row prisoner to be exonerated since 1973, when the Supreme Court found the death penalty unconstitutional." (www.csmonitor.com/2002/0412/p01s02-usju.html)

The NYT 4-19-2004 reported "a comprehensive study of 328 criminal cases over the last 15 years in which the convicted person was exonerated suggests that there are thousands of innocent people in prison today. ... The study identified 199 murder exonerations, 73 of them in capital cases."

The NYT on Oct 1, 2007 reported "a 2007 study, Professor Gross analyzed 3,792 death sentences imposed from 1973 to 1989 and found that 86 death row inmates, or 2.3 percent, had been exonerated through 2004."

National Center for State Courts states that "DNA testing has proven essential in proving the innocence of many inmates on death row. As of May 22, 2007, DNA evidence has played a substantial role in exonerating 124 people since 1993." (www.ncsconline.org/wc/CourTopics/FAQs.asp?topic=CapPun)