Those in favor of capital punishment believe that the threat of severe punishment should bring the crime rates down and that capital punishment or the death penalty is the ultimate crime deterrent. However because the likelihood of actually getting caught for committing a crime is very low, capital punishment doesn’t do much in the way of deterring people from engaging in criminal activity. Executions of convicted criminals do nothing to deter crime. The underlying reason of this ineffectiveness of capital punishment may be due to a lack of several elements that make capital punishment effective.
In the early days of America during the late 1700’s and throughout the 1800’s capital punishment was very effective. Why? Well, in part, due to four elements involved in making it effective – public, swift, certain, and severe. Those that came before us established capital punishment with these elements in mind. Offenders convicted of any crime received swift, certain, severe punishment, and a public one after a trial. Yes, the types of capital punishment may have been brutal – hanging, firing squad, etc. but they were effective.
Public executions were the norm to make sure others got the message, but they were also swift. There were no laundry list of appeals that convicted criminals had available to them. No one sat on death row for 20 or 30 years before they had a date with the executioner. This maybe the main reason why capital punishment is not effective because it is not swift, if one will actually live another 20 or 30 years then where’s the concern or likelihood of being executed immediately or seeing an early death, unless they are killed in prison. Some people are not very knowledgeable about the criminal justice system and don’t even realize that a convicted murderer may go on living longer than their victim’s life lasted.
Another reason why capital punishment doesn’t deter crime is because capital punishment is not certain. In today’s criminal justice system there are many different variables involved in one actually receiving a death sentence. Different laws in different states may prevent one person from getting the death penalty for a similar murder but in another state a person will receive the death penalty. Also in some states, capital punishment is not legal. One can kill in one state and the punishment is a life sentence, while another person in another state has the death penalty hanging over their head for the same crime. Another variable that make capital punishment not certain is the court process. Some prosecutors won’t seek the death penalty, evidence is tainted or lost, or the jury has other options available to them when seeking punishment.
The severity of capital punishment may or may not deter crime. For some, if they know they will be executed, how doesn’t really matter. However for others, certain types of executions are seen as inhumane. It’s funny how people, especially a convicted murderer, will mention how inhumane a particular type of execution is or that executions themselves or inhumane. What about the murder? Was that not inhumane? Well, some will say yes it was inhumane but the government shouldn’t be playing God and follow one inhumane crime with another (the execution). Despite the argument of both sides, those that came before us applied capital punishment in a swift, certain, public and severe manner, combining all these elements to effectively deter crime.
However, the more important reason and problem as to why capital punishment doesn’t work is that it is unequally dispersed. More African Americans and Hispanics receive the death penalty for similar crimes committed by White Americans who received a life sentence or even less. Also, if the victim is white the likelihood of the offender receiving the death penalty increases. However, a black victim doesn’t seem to warrant a death sentence. The disparities throughout the criminal justice system and the states prevent capital punishment from working and being effective.
