Time to Kill the Death Penalty?

I believe that the reasons to revoke the death penalty have reached a critical mass, and that it is time for the citizens of Missouri to demand of their legislators that we end the Death Penalty.

The reasons for such action are multitude. Any one of these reasons ought to suffice to put an end to the practice - and I have trouble imagining that any voter can refute these reasons or argue that they do not justify change. I'm listing them in no particular order, and I welcome commenters' input as to additional reasons, or questions as to the validity of the reasons listed.

1. The Death Penalty is a luxury we should not pay for. Millions upon millions of dollars are taken from other taxpayer priorities to support the death penalty. Money that could have been spent on schools, or on medical insurance, or even on police. In Kansas, an audit revealed that death penalty cases were costing the state $1.26 million - more than 70% more than life incarceration. A million here, a million there, and you're talking about a lot of money invested in killing people.

2. Innocent people are getting the death penalty. Since 1973, 126 people have been released from death row. In other words, they went through the complete trial process and were awaiting death before they were pardoned upon new evidence or their conviction was overturned. Fact is, mistakes get made. Jurors get inflamed. Prosecutors outgun defense lawyers. Crime victims' families make more sympathetic witnesses than death penalty defendants. All of this means that innocent people get put onto death row. Think about that - think about your tax dollars, and your moral authority, putting an innocent person to death. Doesn't that horrify you?

3. Evidence for and against the deterrent effect of the Death Penalty is unreliable. If we want to go down this path, I can find studies that "prove" that the death penalty does not deter crime, and death penalty proponents (what an odd passion!) can find studies that "prove" it does. I've looked at both with an open mind, and neither side makes an airtight case. My gut tells me that Life Without Possibility of Parole, together with proper warden techniques, ought to prevent repeat offenders, and that not a whole lot of first time murderers bother to read up on the current status of death penalty jurisprudence before committing their crimes. While I acknowledge I may be mistaken in my gut feeling, the fact remains that deterrence is highly questionable, and an awfully slender justification for employing the state's power to deprive someone of their life.

4. The Death Penalty is immoral. Well, there goes my fair and even-handed approach to the issue, but it needs to be stated. Most churches oppose the Death Penalty. Jesus intervened to prevent the Death Penalty. People killing people, as a general rule, is a pretty bad thing. The Death Penalty takes my tax dollars and uses it to inject poison into people's bloodstreams in my name. I want it to stop.

5. The Death Penalty is Cruel. It's tough to work up a whole lot of sympathy for someone found guilty of capital murder, but President Bush continues to assure us that the United States does not condone torture. Fact is, the way it is currently administered, the death penalty is often a form of torture. Even death penalty proponents should acknowledge that torture is wrong, and the death penalty should be applied humanely.

6. The Death Penalty executes people. Reading through this compilation of last words from death row reinforces the fact that these are real people, with hopes, dreams, loved ones and, often, regrets. It bothers me that we feel so free about extinguishing those lives.