The discussion of the death penalty isn’t usually discussed in a partisan manner. People on all sides of the aisle struggle to find their ground on how they feel about the issue. This isn’t an issue that sways elections or is asked about in debates — but it should be. Capital punishment affects more people in the United States than people realize and we have a responsibility as citizens to pay attention to it.
Anthony Ray Hinton, a man who was wrongfully convicted due to racism, spent 35 years of his life on death row because he couldn’t afford more than a court-appointed attorney. His autobiography illustrates the lives of many different men he spent time with on the row. He tells the story of Horrace Dunkins, a man whose execution was botched. They executioners had to electrocute him twice for 19 minutes in the chair. This type of incident is not uncommon and raises the question, does the death penalty fall under cruel and unusual punishment?
Stories of men and women dying from cardiac arrest when the IV with the mysterious death drug wasn’t entered correctly, men catching on fire from the electricity, and men who were found innocent after they had already been put to death are all unacceptable. One case of this should have been the line to stop capital punishment, instead, there’s been thousands and it’s still being practiced today.
It is estimated that one in 25 men on death row is innocent, according to a study conducted by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This should be alarming to all people. Hinton is only one in thousands who couldn’t afford a properly equipped lawyer. In fact, Hinton was told by the officer who interrogated him that the officer didn’t care whether Hinton was innocent or not, all that mattered was there was going to be a white judge, a white jury, and a white man saying he shot him. He is not the only one who has experienced this.
Of the total amount of executions carried out since 1976, 43 percent have been people of color. Currently, 55 percent of people awaiting executions today are people of color. These percentages are disgustingly disproportionate.
The chance of the state executing someone for a crime they did not commit is a crime in itself. We murder people for murdering innocent people, and then the US turns around and does the same.
There is the argument of taxpayers spending their money on imprisoning someone for life versus giving them an execution date. The misconception is: it’s more expensive to put someone on death row and execute them than keeping them in prison for life. According to some, it’s ten times more expensive to sentence someone to death row. The execution itself is hard to gauge because there is a lot of secrecy around the injection drug and how much it costs. The costs come from the legal help, the trials, and the appeals. Capital cases are more expensive and take much longer to resolve. On average, it’s estimated about $470,000 more per case.
Morally, it brings the question, how can we as a nation justify taking lives when it hasn't deterred crime in any way? Of the 25 states that have the highest murder rates, 20 of them of them have the death penalty.
It’s the only punishment in the United States that does to the person the crime that person committed. If someone robs a person’s house, the US doesn’t go and rob that person’s house. However, if someone murders someone, the US, in turn, murders them.
Overall, the death penalty should fall under cruel and unusual punishment. There are men and women sitting on death row today that didn’t have the funds for a proper attorney, they were convicted on flimsy evidence, the jury gave them life but the judge overturned it and said death penalty, they have low IQs and don’t understand what’s happening, or maybe they’re just guilty.
Do we risk killing an innocent man or woman as a nation? Do we spend the the extra billions of dollars on capital punishment when it’s done nothing for crime rates?
My vote is no.
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Kailee Missler is a sophomore studying strategic communications at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think? Let Kailee know by tweeting her @kaileerenee99.
