My take on capital punishment is that it’s not actually that important an issue. With pretty much anything that you can say about the death penalty, you can say something similar about life imprisonment without parole (especially with the way that the death penalty is actually practiced in the United States). Would you lock an innocent man in a cell for the rest of his life to keep 19 bad ones locked up?
Virtually zero chance of recidivism? True for both. Very expensive? Check. Wrongly convicted innocent people get screwed? Check—though in both cases they have a decent chance of being exonerated after conviction before getting totally screwed (and thus only being partially screwed). Could be considered immoral to do something so severe to a person? Check. Deprives people of an “inalienable” right? Check (life/liberty). Strongly demonstrates society’s disapproval of a crime? Check (slight edge to capital punishment, though life sentences would be better at this if the death penalty wasn’t an option). Applied disproportionately to certain groups? I think so, though I don’t know the research. Strong deterrent? It seems like the death penalty should be a bit stronger, but the evidence is unclear on that. Provides closure to the victim’s family? Execution seems like more definitive closure, but they have to wait until years after sentencing to get it.
The criminal justice system is a big important topic, and I think it’s too bad that this little piece of it (capital punishment) soaks up so much of our attention to it. Overall, my stance on capital punishment is ambivalent, leaning against it because it’s not worth the trouble, though in some cases (like McVeigh) it’s nice to have around and I could be swayed by a big deterrent effect. I’d prefer for more of the focus to be on this sort of thing (pdf).
Good post. I have never seen strong evidence that the death penalty has a meaningful deterrent effect but I’d be curious to see links one way or the other.
I lean towards prison abolition, but it’s an idealistic notion, not a pragmatic one. I suppose we could start by getting rid of prisons for non-violent crimes and properly funding mental hospitals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_abolition_movement I can’t see that happening when we can’t even decriminalize marijuana.
My take on capital punishment is that it’s not actually that important an issue. With pretty much anything that you can say about the death penalty, you can say something similar about life imprisonment without parole (especially with the way that the death penalty is actually practiced in the United States). Would you lock an innocent man in a cell for the rest of his life to keep 19 bad ones locked up?
Virtually zero chance of recidivism? True for both. Very expensive? Check. Wrongly convicted innocent people get screwed? Check—though in both cases they have a decent chance of being exonerated after conviction before getting totally screwed (and thus only being partially screwed). Could be considered immoral to do something so severe to a person? Check. Deprives people of an “inalienable” right? Check (life/liberty). Strongly demonstrates society’s disapproval of a crime? Check (slight edge to capital punishment, though life sentences would be better at this if the death penalty wasn’t an option). Applied disproportionately to certain groups? I think so, though I don’t know the research. Strong deterrent? It seems like the death penalty should be a bit stronger, but the evidence is unclear on that. Provides closure to the victim’s family? Execution seems like more definitive closure, but they have to wait until years after sentencing to get it.
The criminal justice system is a big important topic, and I think it’s too bad that this little piece of it (capital punishment) soaks up so much of our attention to it. Overall, my stance on capital punishment is ambivalent, leaning against it because it’s not worth the trouble, though in some cases (like McVeigh) it’s nice to have around and I could be swayed by a big deterrent effect. I’d prefer for more of the focus to be on this sort of thing (pdf).
Good post. I have never seen strong evidence that the death penalty has a meaningful deterrent effect but I’d be curious to see links one way or the other.
I lean towards prison abolition, but it’s an idealistic notion, not a pragmatic one. I suppose we could start by getting rid of prisons for non-violent crimes and properly funding mental hospitals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_abolition_movement I can’t see that happening when we can’t even decriminalize marijuana.