by David Guzman

Created on: May 11, 2009

The death penalty is an ineffective, expensive, inefficient, discriminatory, and morally corrupt penalty that places the United States and the company of such distinguished nations as China, Iran, and North Korea. It distinguishes the United States from virtually the entire Western world, with the sole exception of Belarus.

The death penalty is ineffective because it does not serve as a deterrent. Statistics compiled by Amnesty International show that states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than states without it. However, a few examples can show this much more vividly than some dry statistics compiled by an advocacy organization. Does anyone seriously believe that the death penalty deterred Tim McVeigh from committing his atrocity in Oklahoma City? Quite the contrary: he expected execution and considered himself a martyr to his vile cause. Charles Manson committed the Tate-LaBianca murders while California had the death penalty. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because it was declared unconstitutional after his conviction. The fact that it was in effect at the time of the murderers deterred neither him nor his equally deranged followers. His case shows a further in adequacy of the death penalty as deterrent. Had he been executed he would have gained notoriety much the same as Bonnie and Clyde; however, life in prison has made him into something of a buffoon in the eyes of the public.

Perhaps the argument could be made that the death penalty is in fact a deterrent because it has "prevented" many murders. This argument is specious. You can ask as many non-murderers as you wish why they have not murdered anybody, and the answer you will receive will be something to the effect that it is wrong or immoral, or that they have not had a reason to kill anybody. You will not find that they say they do not commit murder because of the death penalty. If you ask people on death row whether the death penalty was a factor in their decision, the answer (assuming you are not laughed out of the room) will be "No," or they did not expect to be caught.

The death penalty is expensive and inefficient. After a death sentence is handed down, there are years, often decades, of appeals. Tying up the courts and the time of numerous attorneys is obviously expensive, and this expense is borne by the taxpayers. And this does not include the cost of incarceration. Death penalty prisoners cannot do any work or anything of economic value: there are no offsets

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