News Staff Reporter
Former gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams and Ivy League-educated Michael Bruce Ross were both executed in 2005: Williams in California and Ross in Connecticut, with Ross being the first man executed in New England in 45 years. By December 2005, our country passed a highly regrettable milestone: Over 1,000 executions, with more than 3,400 inmates awaiting similar fates on death row.
To Choate students, the death penalty might be an issue far from our minds. Unlike issues such as abortion, affirmative action, Iraq – the death penalty is a punishment, which we will most likely never be affected by in our lives. Yet, we should be concerned. When the issues of cost, chance of error, and ethics are accounted for, it is plain the death penalty is wrong. Each of these issues violates the ideals of our society, and as students, we should take the responsibility to try to right some of these wrongs.
Each year hundreds of death penalty cases are in limbo. The time from arrest to execution can be well over 20 years. During this time, lengthy trials and appeals occur. Each hearing requires attorneys, judges, juries, and assistants-all of which cost huge amounts of money—the taxpayers money. An average case costs around $2 million dollars! On the flipside, keeping a man in prison costs $25,000 a year. On the whole, that’s half a million dollars for imprisonment of a criminal for 20 years. The trial of a crime that involves a punishment of life in prison is cheaper than the cost of a trial that involves capital punishment. The burden of proof is lower, and the trial and hearings can be done faster and there are fewer appeals. On the whole, this means more money that could be spent on healthcare, education, and welfare – even student loans, which are about to be cut under a new bill sponsored by Congressional Republicans. With the lower cost in mind, is it really any worse for a prisoner to be sentenced to death than to be sentenced to life in prison where the prisoner will eventually die anyway?
One must question the death penalty when one hears the story of Stanley Tookie Williams. Executed in California this past December, Mr. Williams was once the leader of the Crips gang. Since his incarceration, he became a changed man. Mr. Williams had written children’s books highlighting the danger of gangs, and encouraging kids to stay away from them. Additionally, he had released the Tookie Peace Protocol, to bring peace between gangs. This isn’t hot air — his work has already brought peace to rival gangs in New Jersey and elsewhere. While he must serve his time for his crimes, what good comes from executing him? This isn’t about his release -- he could have had his sentence changed from death to life in prison without parole. This would allow him the opportunity to do good deeds, redeem himself, and repay his crimes to society. By killing him this past December, we’ve eliminated a source of good and inspiration. How many teenagers could have been saved if they had heard the ongoing message of Mr. Williams?
The focal point of life in prison is the element of redemption. As Mr. Williams has shown, people that once did bad can now do good deeds. However, human beings can’t have the chance of redemption if they’ve been killed. Are we such a cruel society that we abandon those who have been misguided? Instead of allowing criminals to escape their crimes by death, why not punish them to confinement in cement and allow them to think about the crimes they have committed? The Christian faith preaches of redemption, and giving those who have been misguided a second chance. By allowing criminals to realize the harm of their crimes, we as a society are performing justice. Murdering criminals though, only allows for an escape out.
While doing any experiment during lab in science, isn’t the last thing you always do is to calculate the given value versus the actual value? Every single lab report seems to end with the statement of human error, because a chance of error always exists. Human beings are fallible, and prone to making mistakes. Over 60 people in the United States have been found innocent after DNA evidence - however, not even DNA is perfect. In some cases not enough DNA evidence is collected, or in other circumstances, the DNA is mislabeled /mishandled /misplaced. We can never be positive one is guilty. The Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, knew this. In 2003, he took all 167 inmates off death row before leaving office, citing the flaws in the legal system after some inmates about to executed were found innocent. Throughout America, 119 death row inmates have been found innocent since being put on death row. With this in mind, how could we sleep at night knowing innocent people are possibly being executed? How does this sound in terms of our Declaration of Independence, where we declare to uphold the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
The death penalty does not deter crime. The thirteen states with the highest murder rate all have the death penalty. In fact, the murder rate of the death penalty states increased from 2002, while the rate in non-death penalty states decreased. Across Europe, the death penalty is forbidden, and the Pope has formally denounced the practice. To European countries, our practices seem archaic and barbaric. The European Union is deeply against the death penalty, which have lead even Turkey and Russia to abolish the death penalty. America’s stance on the death penalty should be aligned with the great countries of the world, not with third world countries.
We spend millions of dollars on cases that could otherwise go to education and healthcare. Allowing criminals to live gives them a chance at redemption, a virtue that our society advocates. Criminals such as Stanley Williams have proven that inmates can benefit society. The chance of error always exists, and we could be killing an innocent person. The Death Penalty is not right for our society and is out of line with the rest of the world. As we move into the 21st century, we must abandon our barbaric ways, and seek punishments of life in prison rather than execution.
