Essay on Capital Punishment is a Crime

Capital punishment, otherwise referred to as execution, or the death penalty is a legal process that involves the killing of an individual by the government as punishment for a crime (Bedau and Cassell 17). Capital punishment is one of the most controversial topics in criminal justice as it elicits impassioned debate from both its proponents and opponents. Capital punishment has been used as a deterrent and punishment mode by many societies for many years. At present, approximately 58 countries globally practice capital punishment (Gaie 21). The debate regarding whether or not capital punishment is in itself a crime continues to wage on as countries across the globe continue to reexamine their justice systems and policies.

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The use of capital punishment is typically a punishment for capital crimes such as murder and robbery with violence. However, in spite of the severity of the crime perpetrated by the offender, capital punishment does not meet the threshold of an optimal mode of punishment. In fact, capital punishment is a crime as it infringes on the fundamental rights of offenders. This paper examines capital punishment, specifically from a legal point of view to uncover the overall criminality of this form of punishment. In addition to its ineffectiveness, capital punishment is a crime as it infringes on the fundamental human rights of individuals, particularly when instituted against innocent individuals.

Civil liberties organizations continually argue against capital punishment pointing out its inherent violation of constitutional and universal international human rights bans against cruel and unusual punishment. In the year 1948, the United Nations established the United Nations Bill of Human Rights, which spells out what is acceptable and unacceptable with regard to the treatment of human beings (Hood 54). Specifically, Article 5 of the United Nations Bill of Human Rights articulates that no human being should be subjected to any form of cruelty, such as torture, as well as other variations of inhuman or degrading treatment (Breyer 93). In addition, the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. This mode of punishment is cruel as it epitomizes ancient form of crime punishment, when corporal punishment, branding, and slavery were typical occurrences. Similar to these barbaric practices, capital punishment has no place within the modern civilized world.

In addition, capital punishment is highly unusual as only a selection of convicted defendants receive the death penalty sentence. Furthermore, capital punishment violates the human rights of defendants against cruel punishment as hitches are common, especially during the application of lethal injections. There have been numerous cases where the lethal injection took a long time to kill the defendants. Incidents of people choking or gasping for long durations following lethal injection are common (Gaie 106). Furthermore, inmates often experience excruciating pain during execution, which can only be termed as cruel punishment. Additionally, the failure of lethal injections to instantaneously kill the defendant significantly prolong the suffering of both the defendant, as well as their kin. The suffering experienced by inmates during their executions amounts to inhuman, cruel, and degrading treatment, which goes against universally acknowledged international human rights laws. Therefore, by continuing the practice of capital punishment, states and governments essentially break fundamental international human rights laws.

In addition, the process of capital punishment is cruel and unusual given that it is slow and unpredictable. Typically, individuals sentenced to death often have to wait long durations between their sentencing and execution. Such protracted punishment is highly injurious to the mental and psychological wellbeing of defendants and their kin (Hood 41). A vast majority of capital sentences involve appeals, which elicit hope by the inmates that the sentences will be overturned. When appeals fail, inmates are forced to suffer again through the highly distressing process of awaiting imminent death. Proponents of the death penalty often argue that it is neither cruel nor unusual when it follows proper rules and procedures. However, in reality, the existence of rules and procedures is hardly a defense for the extensive and unnecessary suffering capital punishment imposes on the defendant. Without a doubt, capital punishment is a highly indefensible infringement on the civil liberties of certain individuals in the society. In addition, this mode of punishment is largely inconsistent with the central values of a democratic system. In essence, capital punishment is not only an uncivilized mode of punishment in theory, but also quite inequitable and unfair in practice.

Additionally, capital punishment is a crime as it imposes cruel and unusual punishment on innocent individuals (Kronenwetter 21). Failures in the criminal justice system often result in the sentencing of innocent individuals. The death penalty imposes severe punishment to individuals who are innocent of the crimes for which they are sentenced. The danger that innocent individuals will receive capital punishment continues to worsen as errors within the criminal justice system continue to grow. Furthermore, mistakes by jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, or judges can result in the imposition of the death penalty on innocent persons. In the US, hundreds of individuals have been freed from death row since the 1970s (Joy 118). This came as evidence emerged exonerating the individuals of the crimes for which they were placed on death row. A vast majority of these sentences were overturned not through the typical appeals process, but rather owing to emergent scientific techniques, investigations by the media, and the passionate work of experienced attorneys. These services are not available to all inmates on death row, which means that many inmates on death row, without access to such services are executed for crimes they did not commit. The murder of innocent individuals is not only immoral, but highly illegal even in states where capital punishment is permissible.

Additionally, capital punishment is a crime as states gives itself the mandate to kill human beings, particularly with ceremony and premeditation. Although states conduct capital punishment in the name of their people or the law, the implementation of capital punishment is often conducted in a discriminatory and highly arbitrary fashion. Notably, while inflicting capital punishment ensures that the accused individual will not commit further crimes, it is still murder. It is universally accepted that murder is wrong and illegal. As such, taking the life of individuals, irrespective of the crimes they are accused of perpetrating violates fundamental human laws aimed at safeguarding human life. Everyone considers human life as highly valuable. Given this, even the worst criminal should not be dispossessed of the value of their lives. Essentially, the value of the lives of accused individuals does not diminish on the basis of their conduct, irrespective of the grievousness of such actions (Hood 91).

In addition, every person has an absolute human right to life. Capital punishment infringes on this right by presenting a form of punishment that centers largely on vengeance rather than rehabilitation and deterrence. For the most part, capital punishment hinges on the principles of vengeance that propose the taking of a life as retribution for the perpetration of unacceptable conduct. Taking the lives of individuals based on the crimes they commit is tantamount to vengeance, which does not follow the spirit of the law. Criminal justice and correctional laws decry the use of vengeance as a rationale for punishment (Kronenwetter 77). However, putting individuals to death for instance for killing other individuals is the personification of vengeance, thus a violation of correctional and criminal justice provisions. In the end, when states grant themselves the mandate to kill human beings with ceremony and premeditation in the name of their citizens, they are essentially avenging the killing of individuals by others within their societies. Vengeance, in the form of taking a life for a life is hardly an acceptable justification for punishment, especially given that there are alternative and highly acceptable and effective forms of punishment for crimes, including life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

In addition, civil liberties organizations are adamant in their fight against capital punishment for its infringement on individuals rights to equal protection as provided by the law, as well as the failure of capital punishment to guarantee due process of law. The arbitrariness with which states implement capital punishments undermines the equal protection of individuals rights as provided by the law. For the most part, application of the death penalty system occurs in an unjust and unfair manner, primarily reliant on how much money the accused individuals have, the race of the victim and the accused, the skills and expertise of their attorneys, and where the alleged crimes took place. In many instances, people from minority groups have a higher likelihood of having the death penalty imposed against them than individuals from majority groups (Kronenwetter 107).

In the US, people of color are more likely to be sentenced to death than white offenders, particularly if the victims of the crimes are white. The color of the defendant alongside that of the victim of the crime generally plays a central and improper role in determining to whom courts apply capital punishment in the US. For instance, since 1976, the courts have disproportionately applied 43 percent of all capital punishment to defendants of color, as well as 55 percent to defendants presently awaiting execution (Bedau and Cassell 83). Additionally, the race of the victim is often a determinant of the application of capital punishment. As of 2002, a total of 12 defendants were executed for capital crimes involving white defendants and black victims, compared to the execution of 178 defendants for capital cases involving black defendants and white victims (Joy 107). This disproportionate application of capital punishment on the basis of race points to systemic racial prejudice within the criminal justice system. Such prejudice significantly undermines the attainment of equal protection for all defendants as it favors defendants from certain races while discriminating against those from other races. This differential treatment is the personification of the criminality of capital punishment.

In addition, although it is not specifically criminal, the wastage of taxpayer funds through the implementation of capital punishment is highly unjust. The death penalty wastes taxpayer funds while offering no form of benefit to the public. This is primarily because the application of capital punishment occurs with the intent of deterring violent crime. However, surveys point out that the death penalty ranks lowest among strategies aimed at undermining the perpetration of violent crime (Joy 87). Such surveys point to strategies such as undermining drug abuse, expanding the number of law enforcement officers, and establishing improved economic systems that enhance employment rates, as being more effective than the death penalty in undermining the incident of violent crimes.

The failure of capital punishment to deter crime hinges on the fact that many people who perpetrate capital crimes do so in the heat of passion rather than as a result of premeditation. In addition, a significant proportion of perpetrators of capital crime commit crimes under the influence of drugs, or while impaired by mental illness. This demonstrates...