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Personally, I think that the death penalty is an unnecessary measure that should not be imposed, as it fundamentally misrepresents the goals of the justice system. As a form of punishment, death sentence is generally understood as the last measure, a punishment reserved only for the most reprehensible criminals. It is technically constitutional, as current amendments only consider cruel or excessive punishments to be forbidden. However, this status does not make the practice beneficial or worthwhile for society.
The existence of the death penalty makes one consider the ultimate goals of the prison system as a whole. Typically, it is said that justice can be either retributive or restorative (Burgess). The latter refers to the capacity of justice to help people reform and integrate back into society. Restorative justice helps prisoners acquire skills needed to find legitimate jobs and live fulfilling lives after their sentence. The former, however, embodies the concept of eye for an eye , mentioned by Samuel in his post. It fulfills a more primal urge of people to right wrongs by inflicting suffering onto those responsible.
A desire by retribution can be explained by the simple desire of seeing criminals suffer, or justified by saying that the guilty can only reflect on their misdeeds by going through hardship. The second line of reasoning does not apply to the death penalty, as no opportunities for repentance are present in this scenario. Therefore, the death penalty ultimately serves solely as an outlet of outrage, or a useful tool of eliminating unwanted individuals. Subjecting criminals to death therefore only works within the framework of retributive justice, and fails to contribute to restorative justice.
The position of the death penalty as a contributing factor to retributive justice is an issue, as this type of justice does not meaningfully contribute to the betterment of society. The only issue it solves is reducing costs of containing more prisoners, as also covered by Samuels post. Even in this case, producing lethal injections is still a costly measure, and a solution that does not address the root problems of the prison complex ( Costs ). In reading others posts, I noticed that Stephanie also discusses costs in her answer. A good point she mentions is that the death row sentencing is not only a waste of money, but is also often responsible for killing the wrong people. Capital punishment, as a system, is prone to errors and ultimately detrimental to communities. Justice should move away from inflicting pain onto individuals, and toward the process of helping them integrate back into society.
Rehabilitating, educating, and financially supporting prisoners would provide an economic boost to the country, and allow the revolving door phenomenon to be minimised. In addition, shifting the funds away from the death penalty to helping prisoners will also help marginalized communities (Dahl and Mogstad). Oftentimes, people of color are criminalized and punished disproportionally harshly for all types of crimes (Lanni). As a result, many spend considerable portions of their lives behind bars, instead of helping their families and communities. Allowing these people to more quickly and easily exit the prison system will help the development of minority communities.
In addition, it can be argued that the power of the government to institute a death penalty sets a bad precedent for the rights and freedoms of all Americans. Allowing the death penalty gives states the right to decide whether an individual should live or die, and establish conditions under which such a decision can be made. After being established, these same conditions can be misappropriated or utilized in order to harm the population, or quell civil unrest. It attributes government with a level of control that is dangerous when wielded by an institution.
Works Cited
Burgess, H. Types of Justice. Beyond Intractability, 2020, Web.
Costs. Death Penalty Information Center, Web.
Dahl, G. B., and M. Mogstad. The benefits of rehabilitative incarceration. NBER, 2020, Web.
Lanni, A. Community-based and restorative-justice interventions to reduce over-policing. American Journal of Law and Equality, vol. 2, 2022, pp. 69-84.
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