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Bryan Potter

Mrs. Storer

English 3 Honors American Literature

11/26/19

Do they really deserve it?

Capital punishment has always been a cruel penalty throughout the centuries, but due to

recent advances in medicine, it is the best way to deal with those individuals who are beyond

evil. In the debate question “Should Governor Newsom have put a moratorium on the death

penalty?”, there was an exploration of the ethicality and legality of execution among other ideas

like fairness and dissuasion. The manner to delineate that the moratorium was the wrong

decision is through the arguments that the death penalty is constitutional, justice is served for the

victims and their families, and there is a present deterrence for repeat offenders of violent crimes.

Justification for the governor reversing his moratorium is that the constitution allows

capital punishment. This is supported in the fifth amendment Due Process Clause which states,

“nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (Legal Information

Institute). In the passage, it clearly states that one’s life can be taken once they have undergone

due process of law. The fifth amendment is an obvious contender for support of the

constitutionality of the death penalty. It practically spells out the needed procedures to bring

about capital punishment showing that it is indeed a part of the law in the United States. The

other part in the constitution pertaining to capital punishment is the eighth amendment. The

amendment declares, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor

cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (Legal Information Institute) The death penalty is not

unusual, so the focus of constitutionality is on the “cruel” part of the sentence. Most people will
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argue that a form of punishment is cruel when it inflicts torture upon an individual mentally or

physically. Those in favor of banning the death penalty say that the anesthetics are insufficient at

acting fast to keep the person from torture by the third drug that stops the heart. Though in some

cases this is true, and the death is torturous, proper anesthetic used will prevent this from

happening, granting the death penalty the title of constitutional. Once the criminals have been

subdued by lethal injection, justice is served.

Another reason for the death penalty is proper justice. In one article, a man who lost his

newlywed daughter said, “Dawn will never be back. I'm not looking for closure. That's a bad

misconception on the part of some people. I want Oken to die for the murder of Dawn, Patricia

Hurt and Lori Ward.”(Gregory Kane). The man speaking in the quote, named Fredrick Romano,

says that he only wants to see justice served on behalf of the three women the killer, Oken, had

ripped life from. There should be common ground on the fact that no criminal should go

unpunished. With this precedent established, there should be no denying that there are different

degrees of crimes, with some that are so heinous, they seem like there are no suitable

punishments. These are the crimes where capital punishment should be taken into consideration.

Crimes like the one in the quote: mass murder, rape with murder, and so on. The amount of

victims’ families who find healing because of the death penalty is astounding. Surprisingly,

according to an anti-death penalty site, “A University of Minnesota study found that just 2.5% of

victims’ family members reported achieving closure as a result of capital punishment, while

20.1% said the execution did not help them heal.” (Death Penalty Information Center). As

explained by the man in the previous quote, the victim’s families seek justice, not closure, so the

study does not correlate to the point. The next portion of the study, where 20.1% say that

execution does not help them cope with their loss, disregards the majority who do find it
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somewhat healing. Some families do not think that the death penalty is justice, and that it will

just add on to their ever-increasing agony. Though this is the opinion of some people, there needs

to be a degree of respect for those who do feel like justice will be served. Nothing can truly make

everyone happy, but if some can be pleased, it is clearly better than no one. That same-if some

can be pleased-thinking can be applied to those at risk of future crimes in and out of prison.

The death penalty has also shown over time that it can slowly discourage violent crimes.

In one study from Kenneth Land of Duke University, he states, “from 1994 through 2005, each

execution in Texas was associated with “modest, short-term reductions” in homicides, a decrease

of up to 2.5 murders. And in 2009, researchers found that adopting state laws allowing

defendants in child murder cases to be eligible for the death penalty was associated with an

almost 20 percent reduction in rates of these crimes.” (David B. Muhlhausen). The stat of 2.5

murders seems low, but if humanity values innocent life, those are important lives spared. A

decrease in 20 percent is a massive step as well, especially since this is child murder in

discussion. Though, these are small numbers, this entails big improvements from previous years

with a slightly higher murder count. This discouraging of murders can also carry on to jails and

prisons. The murder rate is actually lower in prisons than on the streets as seen here:

“Nationwide, there were 4.7 murders per 100,000 people in 2011, making local jails and state

prisons safer than the average American town.” (Brian Palmer). To add context, the average

murder rate in Washington in 2011 was 17.5 to 100,000. The logical thought would say that the

prison numbers do not need to be dealt with seeing how high the murders on the street are.

However, people forget about the other statistics like rapes and other violence in prisons that

could potentially be perpetuated by these violent criminals. Another article from Slate says: “For

comparison, there were 1.2 million violent crimes reported to the FBI by police departments
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across the country in 2012, and a little more than 5.8 million self-reported by inmates that same

year, according to the BJS survey.” (Josh Voorhees). Even though the murder rate in prison

seems promising, there are more violent crimes going unreported. There is probably only a small

amount of these crimes that could be prevented by execution, but any violence avoided is worth

it. Those convicted of lesser crimes should be kept safe as they still have a life ahead of them

contrary to those who could have been put to death.

There is no question that the capital punishment program in California should be

resumed. The governor’s moratorium is wrong because it halts something that is clearly

constitutional, keeps families from receiving the justice they would like to see, and endangers

those who could be potentially be victims of a future crime. Though some may say it is an

immoral punishment, not following through with this justice does more harm than good for

others around the killers and the victims. If people are to be kept safe after these crimes are

committed, there should be drastic measures to keep the individuals from striking again. The best

measure being capital punishment.

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Work Cited

“Eighth Amendment.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute,

www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment.

“Fifth Amendment.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute,

www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment.

Kane, Gregory. “To Murder Victims' Families, Executing Killers Is Justice.” Baltimoresun.com,

Baltimore Sun, 30 May 2019, www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bal-md.kane05feb05-

column.html.

Muhlhausen, David B. “Capital Punishment Works: It Deters Crime.” The Daily Signal, 3 Oct.

2014, www.dailysignal.com/2014/10/04/capital-punishment-works-it-deters-crime/.

Palmer, Brian. “Are You More Likely to Be Murdered in Prison or on the Streets?” Slate

Magazine, Slate, 19 June 2013, slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/06/murder-rate-in-

prison-is-it-safer-to-be-jailed-than-free.html.

“Victims' Families.” Death Penalty Information Center, deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-

research/new-voices/victims-families.

Voorhees, Josh. “The Statistical Sleight of Hand That Makes the U.S. Crime Rate Seem Lower

Than It Really Is.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 30 June 2014, slate.com/news-and-

politics/2014/06/prison-crime-rate-the-u-s-violent-crime-rate-is-falling-partly-because-the-

justice-department-ignores-the-countless-crimes-that-take-place-in-prisons.html.