Death Penalty

            A subject of contention and strife is the death penalty.  Do we or don’t we.  Do we never use it or only sometimes.  What will be the determinate factor for using the death penalty or not using it?  It’s a conundrum.

             There is a belief that there is a direct connection between race, prison and the death penalty.  However, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/) the race of defendants executed are somewhat equal between Black/Hispanic and White/Other.  There are similar percentages of death row inmates as well.  However, there is an inequitable percentage in the race of victims where 76% of victims are white while 24% of victims are either Hispanic, Black or Other.   

From a moral position, it can be argued that there is a risk of executing the innocent or that there is no effective deterrent in killing someone as a form of justice or retribution and punishment.  Many advocate various alternatives.  Public opinion is equally split.

 What do we do with people who have committed heinous crimes?  Law enforcement faces many problems with these ultimate defendants from lack of resources to the defendant’s own problems of drug/alcohol abuse, family problems, mental illness, lack of education and gangs.  There are complaints for those who are prisoners of our supermax facilities as well centering on the practice that these inmates are kept in solitary confinement and never allowed to interact with any of the other inmates. (Harpers Magazine/February 2012, p.19)

Given all the pros and cons for and against the death penalty, I believe there is a truly useful purpose for using this form of punishment.  However, given today’s current use of it and especially the enormous cost and time it takes to carry out a sentence I lean on the side of not using the death penalty currently. 

We must go back and create a better foundation for deterring people from committing such crimes in the first place.  Education is the first key.  The second key is adequate resources to combat drug/alcohol abuse, family violence and especially mental health.  If we truly put our best foot forward and are consistent over a long period of time, I believe we will see a positive change in the number of crimes committed. 

Currently, I believe that we should look at longer sentences and true life sentences as deterrents even if that means that some inmates are in a long term or permanent state of solitary confinement.  We should also revisit on a state by state basis the determining factors that would result in a capital case. Perhaps even before a person commits a death penalty crime, but is in our judicial system on lesser offences, we should be looking at addressing at least some of the factors that brought that person to this place.  Provide proper education, mental health care and drug or alcohol addiction help as a way to deter a return visit to our courts. We need to find a balance.