Why Capital Punishment is wrong

I've never felt good about the death penalty. For one, I believe that it's hypocritical for a government to kill someone to prove that killing is bad. But there are three main reasons I'd like to expound upon to further detail the argument against the death penalty.

First, people often have a change of heart on death row. The most notable example of this is Stanley "Tookie" Williams, an early leader of the Crips gang, convicted in 1979 in California of the murders of four people during a motel robbery. He was sentenced to death. After fourteen years on death row, all the time maintaining his innocence, Williams began anti-gang activism. He wrote several children's books advocating that the reader stay away from gangs and violence. In 1997, he wrote an apology on his website for his role in the Crips. In 2004, he brokered a peace agreement between two of the country's most violent gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, the latter of which he helped found. Despite his efforts against gangs as well as his maintained innocence, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency the day before his scheduled execution. Williams was executed by lethal injection 13 December 2005. During his execution, the staff had difficulty inserting the needles and the execution took an abnormally long 20 minutes. Though he provided no official final words to the warden, his final words as tape-recorded by his supporters were "Teach them how to avoid our destructive footsteps. Teach them to strive for higher education. Teach them to promote peace and teach them to focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods that you, others, and I helped to destroy." This man, who clearly had a change of heart and ought to have been released from prison was instead barbarically executed by the State of California.

My second argument is based on the lack of certainty in today's judicial system. Given that we can never possibly be 100% certain of a convicted person's guilt, we should not impose an irreversible punishment such as death. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1973, 139 people have been released from death row in the United States after new evidence was found proclaiming their innocence. These are 123 innocent lives that were almost taken away by a government that was incorrect in its assessment of guilt. Who knows if we've executed an innocent individual? The fact that that's even a possibility, that the state's conviction could possibly be incorrect, should take off the table all irreversible punishment. While time spent in incarceration can't possibly be given back, monetary compensation to the individual can be made. The state can take away someone's life, but they certainly don't have the power to give it back in case of an incorrect verdict.

Thirdly and finally, the death penalty simply costs more than life imprisonment. Multiple states' systems show this fact. In California, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, the yearly difference between imprisoning an inmate on death row and imprisoning an inmate in a maximum-security prison is $90,000 per inmate per year. Using conservative estimates, the Commission on the Fair Adminstration of Justice it cites estimates that California spends $137 million per year on their death penalty system. The same study estimates that if California were to impose a maximum penalty of a life sentence is only $11.5 million per year. Why the big decrease? Appeals. Those sentenced to death (with the rare exception of crazies like Gary Gilmore) will inevitably appeal their conviction to the highest court allowed. The state will be forced to pay the cost of defending their conviction, a high price given that most death penalty appeals last upwards of ten years.

Clearly, as shown by the evidence above, the death penalty is not an appropriate means of punishment. Its finality and high cost clearly show the pragmatic reasoning behind opposition, but cases like Tookie Williams' make one consider if the death penalty is fair in all cases. This is an important issue; we should all be moved to action to support the elimination of the death penalty as a means of legal punishment in our society.

Comment below or e-mail me at jay@jayhutchinson.com. Leave me a voicemail at 801-513-1529. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.jayhutchinson.com.

Election Night 2009

I can't believe today is Election Day. It feels like it's been only six or so months since I was making calls for the Obama campaign from my computer here. While these elections obviously don't matter nearly as much as those of last year, there are a few key races I'd like to talk about.

Question 1 (Maine)
"Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"

My endorsement: No

This proposition, given the level of support for the No side from Mainers, is likely to fail. Maine is a fairly liberal state, and passage of this Question would take away same-sex couples' right to marry there. Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com gives Question 1 about a 28% chance of passing.

Referendum 71 (Washington)
"This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage. Should this bill be Approved or Rejected?"

My endorsement: Approve

This proposition would give Domestic Partnerships in Washington the same level of recognition legally as marriage. Given Washington's liberal attitude, this Referendum is likely to be approved. Silver gives Referendum 71 a 90% chance of being approved.

New York's 23rd Congressional District Special Election
Bill Owens (D)
Doug Hoffman (Conservative Party of New York)
State Sen. Diedre Scozzafava (R)

Former Rep. John McHugh (R-NY23) was appointed and confirmed as Secretary of the Army, necessitating this special election. The original two main candidates were Owens and Scozzafava; both are fairly liberal for their respective parties. As such, the Conservative Party of New York nominated Hoffman, an accountant from Lake Placid. After endorsements from right-wing politicians and organizations such as Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fred Thompson, and Club for Growth, as well as attacks on Scozzafava's conservatism, Hoffman rose in the polls. On Friday, Scozzafava dropped from the race, encouraging her supporters to vote for someone else. On Saturday, she endorsed Owens. Latest polling predicts a moderate to large victory for Hoffman. Silver, who originally called the race a tossup between Hoffman and Owens, now gives Owens a 20% chance of winning tonight.

California's 10th Congressional District
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi (D)
David Harmer (R)

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA10) was nominated and confirmed as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. The general election candidates are California's Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and businessman David Harmer. This district is quite liberal (D+11) and as such Silver gives Garamendi a 94% chance of victory.

Virginia Gubernatorial
Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R)
State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D)

With Virginia's unique one term at a time rule, barring any incumbent Governor from running for reelection, McDonnell faces Deeds for the Governor's seat to replace outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine. The two faced off in the election for Attorney General four years ago with McDonnell winning by the slimmest of margins, 323 votes. Polling from the beginning has been in McDonnell's favor. As such, Silver gives Deeds just a 2% chance in tonight's election.

New Jersey Gubernatorial
Gov. John Corzine (D)
Christopher Christie (R)
Chris Daggett (Independent)

Unpopular Governor Jon Corzine is up against the moderate former US Attorney Chris Christie tonight. Polling has been mixed and it appears that this race is a near-tossup. Daggett may be the wild card, as he's been polling as high as 20%; he'll likely receive around 10% of the vote. Silver gives the slight edge to Christie; he gives Corzine a 42% chance of victory.

Comment below or e-mail me at jay@jayhutchinson.com. Leave me a voicemail at 801-513-1529. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.jayhutchinson.com.