Death Penalty Elimination

AS OF 2004, 38 states plus the U.S. military and federal government have the death penalty in their criminal codes. In 1972, the Supreme Court declared a moratorium on executions in the case of Furman v. Georgia but stopped short of declaring capital punishment itself cruel and unusual. At that time, the court held that the way death sentences were assigned was arbitrary and capricious. States were required to revise the way death sentences were imposed. Most did and now use a bifurcated trial process, where a jury determines the defendant's guilt in the first phase and decides between a life sentence and execution in the second phase. The bifurcated system was declared constitutional in the case Gregg v. Georgia and executions resumed in 1976.

The federal courts historically have only imposed death sentences for treason. In 1988, executions of those convicted of involvement in drug-kingpin conspiracies were added, and in 1994, 60 additional of fenses were added as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill. In a controversial practice, the United States also executes foreign nationals. Currently, there are 122 foreign nationals from 31 nations awaiting execution. Many countries will not allow their citizens to be prosecuted in the United States, instead extraditing them and trying them at home, unless there is a guarantee by the U.S. government they will not receive a death sentence.

From the perspective of the left in American politics, one primary reason the death penalty should be eliminated is that it is not effective as a deterrent. Internationally, there is no data supporting the death penalty as a deterrent. Despite being the only Western democracy with the death penalty, the United States is the leader of the industrialized world in homicide rates. Likewise, few studies have shown a decrease in homicides in states having the death penalty compared to states that do not. Similarly, those states that have more recently added or reinstated the death penalty, New York, for instance, have not shown a decrease in homicide rates either. If there were to be a deterrent effect it would most likely appear in Texas, as that state uses the death penalty far more frequently than others. In some years, Texas conducts over half of the nation's executions. Yet no studies have found the death penalty to be a deterrent in Texas. The few studies that have shown a deterrent effect are often methodologically flawed or fail to control for important factors, such as crime trends in general. Several major studies have even shown a “brutalization” effect, or an increase in homicides after a well-publicized execution.

Leftists stress, moreover, the death penalty is not cost-effective. Studies conducted in several states have demonstrated capital punishment is far more costly than life sentences without parole. For instance, it is estimated that New York will spend over $20 million [Page 120]more each year now that is has reinstated the death penalty. The cost of having the death penalty in Indiana is 38 percent greater than having life in prison without parole as the maximum sentence. North Carolina spends $2.16 million more per execution than for a life sentence without parole, Florida spends an additional $51 million per year to keep the death penalty, and executions in California each cost $32 million. Federally, trial costs almost quadruple when the attorney general authorizes seeking the death penalty. The huge cost is due to the enormous amount required for trial preparation for both the guilt phase and the penalty phase, the costs of appeals, and the costs of running and maintaining death row. While clearly it would be cheaper to execute offenders immediately upon conviction, to do so is inconsistent with any notion of justice in a democratic society and threatens the integrity of the entire judicial system.

Eighteen people, including a 17-year-old, were executed in this gas chamber at the Oregon Department of Corrections.

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