In discussions about capital punishment, it is always necessary to have good arguments against killing people, as unbelievable as that may sound when you think about it. This is because it is often argued that a person who has killed another person must be killed in order to show that killing people is wrong; in my personal experience, at least, this is the point that is most frequently mentioned. However, since this argument has never convinced anyone in my experience, regardless of which side they are on, I would like to put forward a few others here to break this deadlock …
First of all, there is the fact that no other crime should be atoned for with the same act, as in many cases this would not even be possible. It might be possible to rape a rapist or beat up someone who has beaten up someone else; on the internet and in comment sections, there are often people who volunteer to be “executioners” for this! But how do you punish a tax evader or someone who stole from a supermarket because they were starving? Do you break into a burglar’s house? Many people believe that someone who has taken a life no longer deserves to live, but could we consistently apply the principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” to all other criminals?
While we’re on the subject of “consistency”: there are other countries and/or religions where the death penalty is imposed for other offenses, where people are executed for drug trafficking, but also for committing blasphemy or loving the wrong sex. If we grant ourselves the right to punish certain offenses with death, why shouldn’t others be allowed to do so? Would we really be able to complain if christians/atheists were arrested at the airport and later sentenced to death for having the wrong beliefs? Are people who throw homosexuals off tall buildings really so different from us? If we think this through to its logical conclusion, these countries/religions have the same right to kill people as we do for the crimes that THEY consider to be the worst …
What is striking in almost all cultures, however, is how much the punishment depends on the financial resources of the accused. In the US, for example, there are many different people on death row: black, white, hispanic, asian, physically and mentally disabled, chronically ill, homosexual and heterosexual, men and women; but no rich people! The struggle I see there every day is not fought from left to right, but from bottom to top, and the mere possibility of buying one’s way out of the death penalty with sufficiently expensive lawyers should be enough to prompt the middle class and the poor to demand the complete abolition of this punishment, because it is unfair …
But let’s turn to the people who don’t even need a lawyer because they are actually innocent! False statements, forced confessions, the ‘law of parties’, manipulated or misinterpreted evidence … there are many reasons why someone innocent can end up on death row. According to Amnesty International, 2-3% of victims of the death penalty are eventually proven innocent, which at first glance is not a very impressive figure. But when you consider that these 2-3 people were torn from their communities completely innocent, tortured for years, and then murdered, it is a point that cannot be ignored. The question arises: who among us would knowingly sacrifice a loved one who is innocent if it meant that 97-98 guilty people would also be executed? I have to admit that I would not want to sacrifice my partner, my brother, or my best friend for this, and I also do not accept that it happens to other people just to satisfy the thirst for revenge of a few! How can one vehemently oppose sacrificing a loved one oneself, but willingly accept it when it happens to others?
Another argument frequently put forward by proponents is that someone who has committed such a terrible crime simply does not deserve to live. However, this often overlooks the fact that most murders are crimes of passion, which rules out the deterrent effect of the death penalty. If I don’t know what’s going to happen in a few seconds, I can’t spend weeks or months thinking about it beforehand. There are states, such as Texas, where carrying weapons is part of everyday life and is heavily promoted, during my own visits to this state, I quickly realized how unsafe you feel as an unarmed person. Although I am not a supporter of American gun laws, if I were to move to this state, one of the first things I would do would be to buy a gun. In a heavily armed neighborhood, you don’t want to be the only one without a gun, because fear is omnipresent and anyone who commits a burglary or theft without a gun is actually considered an idiot. Unfortunately, the US has long since passed the point where gun ownership could simply be curbed or regulated, so that both crimes and arrests are often much more brutal than in other countries …
At this point, it should be emphasized once again that, as mentioned above, many murders are crimes of passion, which is why the files of death row inmates often contain the note “… shot someone during a robbery”! This is no excuse, but at least an explanation! As already mentioned, the death penalty almost exclusively affects poor people, who, due to their poverty, are also prone to acts that are difficult for the middle or even upper classes to comprehend. But anyone who has ever claimed that they would do anything for another person, be it a partner, child, or friend, should ask themselves whether that includes robbery or theft when it is (perceived to be) a matter of survival! And if the answer is yes, how quickly does that person think something could go wrong?
Earlier, it was mentioned that there is a 2-3% error rate in death penalty convictions for murder, and that the death penalty is intended to punish a perpetrator for the same crime they committed. But what do we actually do in cases of genuine miscarriages of justice? A fine paid in error can be refunded, an erroneous prison sentence can at least be compensated by a large payment of money, … but can a person who was raped as punishment for rape be helped? Is it possible to psychologically heal someone who was innocently beaten for an assault they did not commit? Can you bring back to life someone who was innocently executed for a murder they did not commit? There are good reasons why crimes in a civilized society should be punished in such a way that the possible consequences can be reversed, because nothing is 100% certain …
But let’s assume the worst, let’s talk about people like Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, or even Adolf Hitler, the epitome of evil. Wouldn’t society have been safer without these people? Aren’t there real monsters who would pose an eternal danger? Sure, but who decides and draws the line? Who do we give this power to, trusting that they could one day judge us too? Regimes such as North Korea or Iran show how rulers can arbitrarily pass death sentences on people they label as dissidents …
Due to court proceedings, appeals, and years of incarceration, the death penalty is much more costly than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, but isn’t ‘life without parole’ enough to protect society? And to those who argue that these proceedings could be shortened and people executed immediately after sentencing, I would like to remind them, for example, of the former court proceedings in the Third Reich or the current summary proceedings in China and Saudi Arabia, and what they would say if one of their loved ones were innocently affected and killed, but there was simply no time left to prove it …
To be honest, I have many more arguments, but they often repeat themselves in one form or another, because many things are intertwined and there are a lot of aspects to consider. Finally, I would like to point out that it is never just the inmates themselves who are affected, but also their mothers, fathers, siblings, and children. It affects their friends, supporters, and fellow inmates. No man is an island, and no one is alone, which is why the death penalty is never carried out on just one person, but always on many, because they are the ones who have to live on! It is all of us who have to live on with this, both as individuals and as a society …