Death Penalty

A contemporary of mine, for lack of a better word, makes the case for the death penalty in his most recent blog, citing specific examples where he sees no other justifiable recourse.  The case against the death penalty, however, is made not in defense of the heinous crimes and criminals.  If a civilized society is to be assessed by the manner in which it treats its criminals, perhaps the death penalty should boil down to a fundamental value judgement:  Is it worse to put an innocent man to death or to relegate a guilty one to a life behind bars instead of adhering to Hamurabi's Code (which predates the Christ debacle by a substantial margin)? In my estimation there is no debate.

Typically the most heinous crimes, or the cases with which it is easiest to identify with the victims, incur the loudest cries for the death penalty.  Subsequent anger and outrage is projected often with little regard for the truth.  Atrocious crimes should incur harsh penalties, but, institutionally, reason has to prevail over blood lust.  

With regard to public policy making, you cannot differentiate between clear instances of guilt and flimsy guilty verdicts.  A jury of "peers" distinguishes guilt from innocence.  An added layer of discretion would only further separate this system from a remotely consistent path to the truth or justice. Policy makers who preach the desirability of executions as a deterrent address their own inability to understand and address the underlying causes of violent crime.   

• Only the United States of all the western industrialized nations engages in this punishment.
• State-authorized killings is immoral contradicts the morality it seeks to uphold. It epitomizes the tragic triumph of violence over reason.
• Capital punishment is always irrevocable - forever depriving an convicted of the opportunity to benefit from new evidence that could overturn a conviction.
• The death penalty violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law. It is applied randomly, discriminatorily, and panders to the public's potentially flawed reception to the crime in question. 
  

Maybe, someday I'll back some of this up with some facts.  Right now, however, it's getting close to bed-time, so, for now, I'll close by drawing your attention to the West Memphis 3.