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Capital punishment for modern enlightened legislation in the world order of the 21st century might seem like an anachronism. Still, in fact, it turns out to be a painful and burning issue that clashes with a variety of points of view. Society in America, as well as its legal representatives in the form of institutions and administrations of individual states, are not able to adhere to a specific unified position on this problematic issue. The ethical side of the issue is by far the most pressing, which clearly manifests itself in the extremely low number of executions over the past 50 years. However, the administrations of various states are divided into two different camps regarding this issue. Observing the trends of public opinion in recent years and synthesizing them with the political practices of previous administrations, one can draw an unambiguous conclusion that American society should move towards abandoning the death penalty.
The compilation and statistical distribution of American opinions present a controversial death penalty assessment. Despite the fact that more than half of the Americans polled were in favor of maintaining this measure of punishment, the unambiguity of such an assessment was blurred by additional complicating factors. In particular, more than half of the respondents also claimed that the death penalty in the country is racially unfair (Gramlich, 2021). It meant that a white person has much more opportunities to avoid a fatal fate than an African American due to racial prejudice preserved in many branches of the legal system. This assessment, when placed in the context of recent protests against racially motivated police violence, seems to make sense and clearly does not speak in favor of the widespread implementation of the death penalty.
It also follows from polling statistics that the moral justification for execution as a punishment for murder is dominant in the representation of a cross-section of the American population. The vast majority of those who support the execution justify its use for convicted murderers, but also a certain percentage of opponents of the death penalty speak in solidarity with the admissibility of such a measure (Gramlich, 2021). Together with the logic of moral justice, which implies retribution to the murderer, there is an opportunity to look at the issue of the death penalty from a didactic point of view. The death penalty can be seen as a precautionary measure for society, which averts criminals from committing a wrongful acts, making them afraid of killing.
However, most Americans do not support this logic with good reason. In particular, the very policy of intimidating the population with the strictest degree of punishment is an unpopular measure. Execution as a way to eradicate crime is clearly not capable of fulfilling its task since it increases the degree of violence among the population. The use of capital punishment may emphasize not the justice of punishment, but the depreciation of human life, regardless of its sinfulness. Thus, an obstacle to the widespread introduction of the death penalty should be the potentially corrupting and brutal effect that this measure can spread on society.
Another argument against the introduction of the death penalty at the federal level is what worries 80% of all Americans. The risk of miscarriage, while small, still seems to be reason enough to reject this measure. In no case should the state allow the killing of an innocent person because, in this case, the system loses its legitimacy and acquires the features of an oppressive machine of violence. The very fact of the possibility of such a flagrant injustice certainly speaks against the full legalization of the death penalty rather than agitating against it.
Despite the relatively large support for this emergency measure, it should be noted that it was used extremely rarely. Some of the 27 states that have legalized executions do not use it under a formal moratorium: these are Oregon, Pennsylvania, and California. The abolition of executions is a positive trend throughout the 21st century, as has the decline in the number of death sentences over the past decades. However, it should be added that the administration of the Republican Party, led by President Donald Trump, goes down in history as the one under which the most people were executed in 50 years (Snell, 2021). The same era was marked by protests against racially motivated police violence, while Trump owns public chauvinistic statements. If one considers that, for the most part, white Americans have an indulgence in the death penalty, we can conclude that this measure is an echo of racial and class cruelty.
At the moment, not only the number of death sentences is significantly reduced, but also the facts of bringing them into force. The lengthy appeals that convicts can file, coupled with the COVID epidemic that has damaged the system, have really slowed down the execution of these processes. The tendency to oppose the death penalty as outlined in society should be supported and developed. Reasons such as the existence of racial and class differences, the possibility of false accusations, and dubious ethical benefits speak against the death penalty and in favor of its further abolition.
References
Gramlich J. (2021). 10 facts about the death penalty in the U.S. Pew Research Center. Web.
Snell, T. L. (2021). Capital punishment, 2020: Statistical tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web.
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