The Law Blogger's Scholarship

“I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to become an agent of the Angel of Death” is a quote stated by Elie Wiesel, a Jewish survivor of World War II. In this quote, he is expressing capital punishment gives a paradox of we can protect life by taking human life. The death penalty denies the basic right stated in the Declaration of Independence. Capital punishment denies the people the right to life. In the same way, the death penalty violates the Bill of Rights. Capital punishment violates the “cruel and unusual” clause in the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Additionally, capital punishment is a premeditated murder. This essentially does not make it anymore right than the criminal murdering the victim. Not only is capital punishment paradoxical, it could raise acts of violence within itself.

If capital punishment was legalized across America, the society’s attitude would be aimed to the idea that revenge is essential. As Reverend David B. Thompson, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, stated, “Capital punishment feeds the cycle of violence in society by pandering to a lust for revenge. It brutalizes us, deadens our sensitivities to the precious nature of every single life.” The thought in Americans’ minds would be that violence is necessary to curb wrong doing. A revenge mentality will resort in a never-ending cycle of violence.

As well as an increase of violent crimes, capital punishment is much more costly than life imprisonment over time. Prisoners can be on death row for up to 15-20 years. There are endless appeals and additional required procedures to deciding if someone should face death row. Judges, attorneys, court reporters, clerks, and court facilities all require a massive amount of money from taxpayers, and when the expenses are added together, the cost is much larger as opposed to sending the criminals for life imprisonment.

Murder will always be a part of society. Instead of wasting money on death row, the state could utilize the extra money in rehabilitation programs for criminals who will be released back into the world. The prisoners that are there for life can be separated from those that will be released. The prisoners who are there for life can be miserable together and cannot influence the prisoners that will be released. If you send a criminal to jail for life, they will feel the pain for decades of what they did, instead of dying and ending the suffering instantly. A death sentence will not bring the victim back to life, and justice will be served if a criminal rots in jail for the rest of his or her life.

Like Eli Wiesel said, why should we be an agent of the Angel of Death? Civilized societies should not rely on the destruction of criminals to stop the destruction of citizens. Capital punishment is humanly erroneous and should be put to an end.



This blog post is an official entry for the Law Blogger’s Scholarship, sponsored by The Law Office of Joshua Pond, http://www.joshuapondlaw.com.