Final Death Penalty Post

Recently Governor Ryan, governor of Illinois, voted to abolish the death penalty. I do agree with that. Based on information we have read in class plus two additional articles we also read, Governor Ryan's speech and a newspaper article discussing the repeal of the death penalty in Illinois, the death penalty is an unjust way to punish a person for a crime.

In Governor Ryan's speech (the link to the speech is below), he stated that the death penalty in Illinois is "broken". The harm the death penalty has caused does not outweigh the justice in putting to death people who are one-hundred percent guilty. In the speech, Governor Ryan states, "I suppose the reason the death penalty has been the toughest is because it is so final. The only public policy that determines to lives and who dies." The death penalty is very controversial. The American public has leaned both ways, in favor of and against the death penalty. When putting a man to death, there is no going back, even if the person is ultimately found innocent. Abolishing the death penalty would eliminate putting to death people who defiantly commit heinous crimes, but it would also prevent an innocent man from being put to death. As Governor Ryan also points out, there is no fairness in the death sentence. "You are five times more likely to get a death sentence for first degree murder in the rural area of Illinois that you are in Cook County. Where is the just and fairness in that - where is the proportionality?" This shows how, based on geographical location, the use of the death penalty can be swayed. This is something that is not "proportionate," and a reason why the death penalty is unfair. Its use is subjective. Similar circumstances do not necessarily have similar outcomes. This is unjust and a reason why the death penalty should be abolished. Also, death row inmates often have little money and cannot afford an attorney who can properly represent them in their innocent plea. According to Governor Ryan again, "Thirty-three of the death row inmates were represented at trial by an attorney who had later been disbarred or at some point suspended from practicing law." Trials such as these are unfair. This is one of the main reasons why I believe the death penalty should be abolished. When your life is on the line, your attorney should be capable of supporting your case and proving your innocence. An ineffective attorney or one who doesn't have proper knowledge of the law, may be unable to accomplish that.

Many will argue without the death penalty people will commit murders and escape what should be due punishment for their crime. "Inmates like the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose guilt was never in question, were put to death and caused little controversy." This is the type of person, according to Illinois legislator McKay, who would "escape" death. However, he would still be punished for his crime by life in prison without parole. According to Michigan State University and Death Penalty Information Center, "...most states now have a sentence of life without parole. Prisoners who are given this sentence will never be released. Thus, the safety of society can be assured without using the death penalty." McKay would also like to put a dollar value on the cost of trying such cases. "These murder trials don't go away just because the death penalty won't be a sentencing option," McKay said. "With the death penalty off the table, there'll be even more trials. There'll be no incentive to plead guilty. I do not believe for one second that taking the death penalty off the table will save the Sate of Illinois any money whatsoever." I do not agree with the overall morality of placing a monetary value on peoples' lives. And as shown above, the subjective nature of the use of the death penalty, depending upon location, puts different values on life itself.

There needs to be a higher order in today's society. We are accustomed to war, terrorism, and disease. These things all take human lives. One person or a committee should not be held responsible for taking a man's life away, guilty or not guilty. In the case Top v. Dulles, a significant point was made to abolish the death penalty. In 1958, the Supreme Court decided in that case that the Eighth Amendment contained an "evolving standard of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society." Today's society is changing from what society once was. This is why abolishing the death penalty is appropriate now.