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Capital punishment in our modern age is as ineffective as it has always been and for the same reason: People capable of murder are already so far beyond the capacity for rational thought that they cannot make the connection between their actions and the threatened consequence their own death.

It's reasonable to argue that no one in their "right mind" would choose to take another person's life (which is why insanity should never be a defense in a murder case). There is an essential disconnect in the mind of someone who commits murder. This by no means absolves them from responsibility for the crime, but it clearly makes takes them beyond the realm of rational though that could and would respond to such a deterrent as the death penalty.

Those who see the death penalty as a deterrent are largely those who would never sanction taking a human life under other circumstances. These are the people capable of rational thought and caring about the consequences of their actions.

Further, even if the target audience for deterrence were viable candidates for prevention or rehabilitation, the punishment is so unevenly applied and poorly enforced as to be virtually useless. The number of minorities, poor people and the mentally disabled sitting on death row is wildly disproportionate to the rest of society as a whole. You are far more likely to face the death penalty in this country if you are a poor, uneducated, mentally challenged minority. This is not because wealthy, intelligent, educated and privileged people don't commit murder, but rather because they have better resources to defend themselves against murder charges.

Finally, the lengthy appeals process means many inmates sit on death row for decades, diluting even further any impact the death penalty might have as a deterrent.

This is not to say that the death penalty should be abolished. Rather, we should stop positioning it as a deterrent and accept it for what it can be: a way to prevent future crimes being committed by those who cannot be rehabilitated. Societal experience demonstrates time and again that those who so lose touch with their humanity as to be capable of murder are not able to be rehabilitated. Capital punishment may also provide a sense of justice and closure to the families of the murderer's victims.

But are those perceived benefits weighty enough to take priority over the very real possibility that an innocent person will be put to death? As a society can we afford to punish the innocent in order to catch the guilty?

The problems with the death penalty's ineffectiveness exemplify the fundamental problem with our criminal justice system: It suffers from an identity crisis. Is our system meant to rehabilitate the criminal? Is it intended to punish the offender? Or protect the innocent public?

Rather than wasting our time debating the merits of a punishment that has never deterred a single murderer from committing a crime, we should first focus on answering those fundamental questions.

Learn more about this author, Viv Corridor.
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