Capital Punishment is a Capital Idea

This would have been the first implementation of capital punishment in Washington in eight years, but the execution was deemed unconstitutional and consequently called off.

Now, Brown will spend his life in the confines of a penitentiary, spending 23 hours a day in a cell, dead in every way apart from a beating heart.

The death penalty is a controversial punishment for many reasons, but the ability to put a criminal to death is an important option for our legal system and our government — We the People should embrace and continue this essential institution.

Many argue, as in Brown’s case, that the death penalty is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, but this is not so. In Washington, people are given two options: The default is to be put to death by lethal injection, the most humane method of death conceivable. This form of death is no different than going to sleep.

To add to the fairness: If a person does not feel comfortable with lethal injection as a means of execution, then the inmate may opt for hanging in this state.

Why is death a reasonable punishment?

When sentenced to life with no chance of parole, the people have stated that criminals are beyond repair. They will never again be allowed to roam society or to live fully; they merely will be kept alive. The recipient of a life sentence is dead to the world.

This is all well and good as far as punishment goes. After all, who can deny that being damned to the life of a caged animal, left alone with thoughts of remorse and self-loathing, is just about as harsh a punishment as can be administered? This may be an adequate punishment, but it is hypocrisy to sentence people to lifelong imprisonment in lieu of capital punishment.

Prison is described as a “correctional facility,” a place in which people are reformed in effort to help them become better functioning, less dangerous members of our society. However, when a person is sent to prison with no hope of ever being released, it is clear that correction is out of the question. The criminal is merely being kept alive so that we may avoid the guilty of ending his of her life, while still abosutely irrevocably removing him or her from our world. The death penalty is guilt-free and a more humane approach to dealing with these existential cancers.

It has been modestly estimated that $3 billion are spent maintaining these inmates, and it is important to note that as they grow older, their medical costs are continue to rise. We’ve already deemed them unfit and undeserving of existence among us, so why are we spending vast amounts to keep lifers out of sight and out of mind?

The system of capital punishment is not without faults. Throughout the histroy of execution in modern America, there have been numerous inmates awaiting execution who have been exonerated as a result of DNA evidence, and there have been few cases in which DNA evidence vindicated the names of inmates who had already been executed. This is obviously a grave miscarriage of justice, but this is not an unavoidable occurence.

A defendant is not supposed to be convicted of a crime unless he or she is proven guility beyond reasonable doubt. If all appropriate investigatory measures are taken, including DNA testing, and there are no doubts in the minds of the people, then we must take full action in pursuit of justice against this criminal.

In these cases the mistaken convictions, a thorough and comprehensive investigation was not completed, but if our legal system steps up its game, then no one will need to pay for crimes he or she didn’t commit. The death sentence is not the enemy — inadequate and halfhearted investigations are the enemy.

The other fault of capital punishment is that, although we don’t pay money to simply keep a criminal alive, we do currently end up paying quite a bit more in order to put someone through the process of death - about 175 percent of the cost of housing a life inmate. However, this too can be remedied. The unending stream of expensive appeals involved with death penalty cases, in conjunction with the already costly trials, and the expense of keeping convicts living until the day of their execution, creates an unnecessarily pricy process. If the system were to be reevaluated and the fat cut, then we could achieve a more expedient and efficient executions of justice. This would save an enormous amount of money and would render capital punishment a frugal option, since the actual act of killing the inmate is quite inexpensive.

To spend a lifetime in prison is no different than death, other than the great cost it incurs on those of us who have not made such mistakes. When criminals are beyond redemption; when their actions are so heinous that they could never be truly reckoned; when society has given up; capital punishment is not only a reasonable option, it’s a necessaity, both fiscally and ethically.

There is no choice but to complete the removal of their impact on our world and give final closure to the courts and to the people.