“Congress or any state legislature may prescribe the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, for murder and other capital crimes” (law.cornell.edu). Any state may issue the death penalty, but is it ethical to do so? The system has many flaws, it is costly, it denies basic human rights, and has and could be the reason of many innocent deaths. This practice of the death penalty is outdated, unethical, and too flawed to be actively used in our criminal justice system.

The death penalty has been around for hundreds of years. The Hammurabi code mentions it and it was around well before the code was even written. In fact, “The first death sentence historically recorded occurred in 16th Century BC Egypt where the wrongdoer, a member of nobility, was accused of magic, and ordered to take his own life (Reggio).” In the middle ages capital punishment involved torture. We have moved away from violent ways of the death penalty and now use lethal injection, but not too long ago the electric chair was still widely used. An abundance of crimes used to be punishable by death that by todays standards would be considered absurd. For example, in 1700s Britain crimes “included stealing from a house in the amount of forty shillings, stealing from a shop the value of five shillings, robbing a rabbit warren, cutting down a tree, and counterfeiting tax stamps (Reggio).” Today the crimes punishable by death are murder or crimes related to death. People have been trying to get rid of the death penalty for quite some time now; “The first great reform era occurred between 1833-1853. Public executions were attacked as cruel (Reggio).” Most executions at this time were still public, usually in the form of hangings. With this first push of efforts by those opposed to the death penalty many states passed laws that provided for private hangings. In 1846 the first state, Michigan, abolished the death penalty. Rhode Island followed in 1852 while Massachusetts made the death penalty only receivable for first degree murder and in 1853 Wisconsin abolished the penalty after a botched hanging that left the man struggling for eighteen minutes after the hanging had started. Present day there are twenty-three states without the death penalty and twenty-seven that still practice it.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty or the NCADP have made efforts in getting rid of the death penalty and have summarized their progress with the statement of “Together with our state and national partners we have won a string of victories for the death penalty abolition movement. Six states in six years have said no to capital punishment” (NCADP). This shows that there are people that realize that capital punishment is an unethical practice and care enough to do something about it whether it be through petitions, protests, etc. There are 32 states with the death penalty still in effect (Death Penalty Information Center). Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty, that is just over ⅓ of the United States. Over one hundred countries such as England, Australia, and Canada have completely gotten rid of the death penalty years ago.

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights outlines what all people should be entitled to at birth. Capital punishment or the death penalty violates articles 3 and 5 of 

the Declaration. In article 3 of the declaration it states that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person” (UN). The United Nations or UN is stating that all humans have the right to live a fair life and the death penalty violates this because it denies the right of life. Article 5 reads “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (UN). Since capital punishment can be seen as so extreme it is also sometimes looked upon and considered as inhuman treatment/punishment. Due to the violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and among other reasons, two thirds of the world’s countries have banned Capital Punishment.

There are a few important cases regarding Capital Punishment. The one of most significance is Furman vs. Georgia in 1972. This court case labeled the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment if it violated one of these four guidelines: “1) it was too severe for the crime; 2) it was arbitrary (some get the punishment and others do not, without guidelines); 3) it offends society's sense of justice; 4) it was not more effective than a less severe penalty (Reggio).” This was one of the first big steps to stop the free use of the death penalty in modern day United States. Even today some of these rules are violated more than not it is unintentional, but to fully eliminate the errors the death penalty must be removed completely.

Capital punishment is costly due to criminal investigations and the long due process, “A 2003 legislative audit in Kansas found that the estimated cost of a death penalty case was 70% more than the cost of a comparable non-death penalty case” (Amnesty USA). The death penalty system can cost a drastic amount more than a system without the death penalty in effect, such is the case in Maryland where it costs 3 times more. Not only is it costly, but the death penalty is funded through the government and the government gets its money from taxes. Instead of the taxpayer’s dollar going towards other activities that are beneficial to society such as crime prevention, emergency services, schools, and public health it is funding an outdated punishment. Even more so “the astronomical costs associated with putting a person on death row - including criminal investigations, lengthy trials and appeals - are leading many states to reevaluate and reconsider having this flawed and unjust system on the books.” (Amnesty USA). This is just a logical issue in which the states are asking themselves: Why pay more for a system that has this many flaws? With any logic at all the simple solution is you do not pay for it; you just get rid of it.

The sentence can be wrongly sentenced or given out putting innocent lives at risk, which has led many states and countries to discontinue its use. According to a Columbia University study “state courts are overworked -- and underfunded -- to the point they can no longer monitor the quality of cases passing through the system” (CNN). This is shown in the BBC documentary Crime and Punishment - The Story of Capital Punishment through the case of Edward Johnson, a man on death row in Mississippi. Despite having evidence suggesting that he was innocent, Johnson was executed in a gas chamber May 20, 1987.  Amnesty International states an intimidating fact that “Since humans are fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated.” (Amnesty USA). For instance, in 1991 the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four were declared innocent and released from prison after 15 years. If the death penalty had still been in effect during the time they were sentenced, the accused would have been executed. There have been instances where the accused are not so lucky. People have been executed and later found to be in fact innocent. Humans make mistakes and are not perfect which leads to someone being given the death penalty who is innocent causing the system to be flawed to the point where it has no place in the criminal justice system.

There are some that say the death penalty has a place in the criminal justice system. They say “Justice is better served” (Messerli). Essentially meaning that the crime such as murder should be matched by a penalty similar like capital punishment. This seems logically sound but in reality, this is just the easy way out when compared to a life behind bars. Another argument is

“Science can now effectively eliminate almost all uncertainty as to a person's guilt or innocence” (Messerli). The key word is “almost.” “Since 1973, 144 people on death row have been exonerated. As a percentage of all death sentences, that's just 1.6 percent. But if the innocence rate is 4.1 percent, more than twice the rate of exoneration, the study suggests what most people assumed but dreaded: An untold number of innocent people have been executed.” (Levy). That is just since 1973. Imagine how many live could have been saved if the death penalty had been abolished a very long time ago. The fact that there is even a chance an innocent person could be accused and be sentenced to death shows that there is no place for capital punishment. That would be the exact opposite what the criminal justice system was put in place for, instead of protecting the innocent it would be punishing the innocent.

Another claim pro death penalty parties have is in regards to crime deterrence. It is believed that with a death penalty system in place the crime rate will go down. This point seems logically sound until you see the statistics. In fact, states without the death penalty have lower murder rates historically and present day than states that enforce the penalty. The rate is based on murders per one hundred thousand population, so a five percent rate would be the equivalent of five thousand murders per one hundred thousand population. In ten year increments starting from 1995 through 2015 the average murder rate in states with the death penalty have been 8.59%, 5.87%, and 5.15% respectively. Now, looking at states without the death penalty since 1995 the rates are 6.78%, 4.03%, and 4.13% (Death Penalty Information Center). From 1990 to 2015 there is not a single year where states with the death penalty have a lower average murder rate than states that do not have the penalty. This is twenty-five years of evidence that the penalty does not deter crime.

Capital punishment violates articles 3 and 5 of the Declaration of Human Rights. Capital punishment is expensive and can be unintentionally given to the innocent. Justice is not better served through the penalty; it is sometimes the easy way out. This death penalty system does not deter crime. With a system this flawed there is no way it should be allowed to be a reality. Over one hundred other countries have already figured this out.
