The Death Penalty

The death penalty is a subject that has become very big in the 21st century. Many centuries ago the death penalty is something that was widely practiced in almost all cultures. This “revenge” sort of diplomacy was the only way some old civilizations felt could really deter criminals from breaking the law. The United States today is almost left alone among western industrialized nations when it comes to the death penalty and I think that the U.S. government does not have a problem with that. I think that the government still thinks that this is a major deterrent.

The U.S. government might think the death penalty is a good form of punishment for certain crimes, but the U.S. Catholic Bishops strongly disagree. I originally used to think the death penalty was justified or okay. Today, I do not think that the death penalty is okay. After much thought I have come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why the murder rate in America is one of the highest among industrialized nations is just this notion of killing is normal. What messages are being sent to our children when they hear about people on death row? Yeah it will scare them initially into thinking they should never kill anyone or they will be killed, but at the same time, they have now been exposed and desensitized to the whole idea. This is a scary thought; that the government is also murdering people, so everyone should know that killing someone is “normal” in a sense.

Catholics make up a large part of this nation and the Bishops want to send the message that Christians should work to abolish the death penalty. This seems a bit confusing to me. Most of the people whom vote pro- death penalty presidents into office are in fact Christians. I think the Bishops do have a lot of power and that this issue is one that presidents in the future can use as bait. Politics and religion have always been intertwined. The death penalty is something I feel will always be practiced somewhere in the world. I guess it is just human nature to take an eye for an eye.

I do agree with the U.S. Catholic bishops that the death penalty is inhumane and we should work to abolish it. A large part of why I agree is because of the way it is practiced. After class discussions on exactly what types of discrimination take place in this sort of punishment, I came to the conclusion that the death penalty is a discriminate form of punishment. The statistics on the death penalty, from races of victims, to races of murderers, to social status of killers and victims, all play a huge part in if someone will be given the death penalty for murder. That in itself is not justice; it is not equally applied. It would be one thing if in fact it was not biased in anyway, but it is a fact that it is biased and we simply cannot have that. I do not base my beliefs on any religious text or teachings, I just know what is fair and equal and I can say that the death penalty in the U.S. is not fair.

There are many arguments why abolishing the death penalty should be done. Some argue the costs are too high, others think it is simply inhumane. I personally could not discount the value of human life because it costs less to kill someone rather that to keep them in jail, or vice versa. I do agree that all human life should be valued equally but that has not happened ever and I don’t think