by Forrest Baker

Created on: September 11, 2010   Last Updated: September 12, 2010

The death penalty may be thought of as a crime deterrent, however it has never and should never be used as such. The death penalty is our ultimate judgement of law. The one deciding vote that offers no remorse to the guilty, no recompense once carried out. It should be used as a mechanism of justice alone, not as a potential deterrent for those who trespass into those most heinous of crimes where it may be applied.

Over the last several centuries there have been many crimes, be it crimes of passion, or crimes of greed, or crimes of murderous intent, that have been granted the ultimate punishment of death. Some may regard the Death Penalty  as a deterrent for people from acting on those desires, however it has been executed far too many times to lend credence to that claim. While it may frighten some people into obedience for fear of the repercussion, all too often people are willing to act regardless of punishment.

The use of the death penalty has been dependent upon the cultural understanding of what a heinous crime is. Its usage adjusts with culture. For instance, back in the cattle rustling days of the U.S., it was worth a persons life to steal cattle. This was understandable as the theft of cattle could and often times would endanger the household from whom the cattle was stolen to possible starvation or destitution. Today we would look on cattle theft as nothing more then a throwback to a bygone age and hardly worth ending someones life over.

We have become jaded, less inclined to pass the ultimate judgement of death. When we hear of a mother who throttles both her children in cold blood, we feel that in some way the victims deserved what they got and that by acting to end said mothers life, we would be descending down a road to barbarism justifying the act by hiding behind the belief that had we had this ultimate punishment more readily available, the mother would never have throttled her children for fear of her own life.

What we forget is the Death Penalty is not about a deterrent. It is not about barbarism. It is a question of justice, of balance. It is not a decision reached out of out of anger or apprehension, rather it is an understanding of balance. A final condemnation given out in only the most awful of cold-blooded circumstances.

Learn more about this author, Forrest Baker.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.