Death penalty

The scheduled execution of "Tookie" Williams has got a lot of people talking about the death penalty, so here's my $.02: I don't believe in the death penalty. My reasoning:

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1. Innocent people have been executed. That's a fact. Unlike jail sentences, death is irreversible.

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2. A utilitarian argument could perhaps be made that the deaths of a few innocent people are outweighed by the crime reductions that use of the death penalty provides. Besides the questionable morality of this position, I have seen little evidence that the death penalty results in less crime.

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3. Now, a counter-argument could be that the death penalty would be a more effective crime deterrent if it were more widely and swiftly applied. But this is impossible -- especially the latter. A lengthy appeals process is part and parcel of the death penalty because, as previously stated, death is irreversible. Therefore we have to make absolutely sure the person is guilty. Even with the current safeguards innocent people have still been executed. It stands to reason this would only become a worse problem with faster executions.

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4. I think there is considerable reason to believe that the death penalty is often unevenly applied. The difference between life and death shouldn't hinge on how good your lawyer is.

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5. Proponents also argue that it is ridiculous that we should spend the tens of thousands of dollars to house these convicted murderers, with the death penalty saving money in the long-run. Perhaps. But then again, I'm not sure that all of the legal fees associated with death row cases and their appeals are exactly cheap. I also think that this could be remedied somewhat by employing labor programs in which inmates could help defray the costs of their incarceration.

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Now, let me be clear. These are practical reasons against the death penalty. I have no moral opposition to it. Essentially my opposition comes down to a lack of faith in the state to apply the death penalty fairly and accurately.

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If you murdered someone I will not grieve over your own hastened demise. I don't care if you had a bad childhood (coincidentally I was talking to a girl last night who worked on the defense of death row inmates for 3 years. She said that a key part of the defense strategy was to emphasize the bad upbringings these convicts had), murder is wrong. If you're a threat to society it really doesn't matter why -- you deserve to be locked up and do hard time. Don't mistake my opposition for compassion for those on death row.

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But until a foolproof way is devised to assure that that the death penalty is applied with complete fairness and accuracy -- something I don't see happening -- it's a practise we should do without.