Colin Murphy

English 1201

Emily Kretzer

March 22, 2019

Capital Punishment is one of the top debates going on in today’s culture. There have been

different viewpoints through out the history of this topic. This topic could range back to maybe

even before Jesus’s crucifixion. This gives us an idea of how much this topic has been put on

display and how much it can alter a person’s life. I have recently participate in multiple debates

for this topic due to the classes I take at my high school. I have also researched multiple

perspectives through certain psychologists, news writers, and more. It also seems that this topic

is idealized over in other countries where it may be even more looked at and dealt with than in

the United States of America. Through all of the different pieces I read, and videos that I have

seen, I have a pretty well rounded idea about the act of “Capital Punishment.” This has caused

me to obtain certain beliefs over the topic. The main question becomes, In what ways do I

believe that Capital Punishment should remain legal or serve a quick death. Throughout this

writing I will state what I believe in and how the image I first saw on Capital Punishment may

have been swayed or altered due to writings and passages I was introduced to. So, I believe that

Capital Punishment should be terminated and below I will explain why.

The first piece that I encountered with was the movie The Green Mile by Frank Darabont.

I first saw this movie in my class Business Law. This movie finalized our debate over Capital

Punishment. The main point I received from this movie was how it only matters how you may
perceive a situation but that your perception may not be the truth. So in this movie the main

character is a police officer named Paul Edgecomb who comes into work to a new prisoner on

his cell block named John Coffey who was just tried and charged for the murder of two twin

little girls. Throughout this movie we see the type of individual John Coffey is which shows him

to be a very innocent, humble person who would never do anything to hurt someone. Then we

see that John Coffey has a healing power as he then resurrects a dead mouse in the prison. Then

this leads to seeing how John Coffey did not commit the murder as he was trying to heal them

and was seen in the wrong situation which cost him his life. This shows how the death penalty

could be wrong as they arrest the wrong person. According to Pema Levy of Newsweek.com

there is an innocence rate of 4.1% among people sentenced to death. This shows how wrong the

death penalty could be and the flaws to it which cost at least 39 innocent people their lives. To

add on the amount of people who were found innocent and exonerated after being placed on

death row is wealthy. One statistics I found stated,” Twenty people have been exonerated from

death row based on DNA testing.” This shows the amount of lives taken for a crime they didn’t

commit. I feel that if someone is put onto death row for a crime without either DNA evidence or

either video proof they should be taken off. As these two ways seem to be the only 100% correct

items in the Death Penalty.

The next source I will use is written by Brad J Bushman. He has his Ph.D and also won

the Ig Nobel Prize. The one main thing I agree with is how the death penalty promotes the act

that it is actually used to punish. This is referring to the Hammurabi’s code which means

whatever crime you commit then you receive some punishment relatively related to the crime

you commited. This might go against our belief as citizens in the United States of America. My
government teacher said during our interview,” Morally, I don't think it is right for a government

to take the life of one of its citizens, particularly if you consider the meaning behind the "natural

rights" described in the Declaration of Independence.” In her statement she introduced me to the

idea that this basically goes against our constitution and its idea of “natural rights”. So this then

describes how wrong the idea of capital punishment is due to how unconstitutional it is. As this

is also described by American Novelist Wendell Berry,” Violence breeds violence. Acts of

violence committed in ‘justice’ or in affirmation of ‘rights’ or in defense of ‘peace’ do not end

violence. They prepare and justify its continuation.” This shows how much this has influenced

the society and the stance of certain people on it.

The next main issue is the idea of how fair it is. One big factor in the idea of this is how

many states actually enforce the death penalty. This is shown by Philip Holloway as he

states,”For starters, only 31 of the 50 U.S. states employ capital punishment.”

 (This image shows the amount of states that have the death penalty in effect (RED)

against the states that don’t have the death penalty (GREEN) and also gives us a visual

representation on which parts of the states use it or do not.)

This shows how unfair it is for the country to deal with capital punishment. One example is in

the state of Georgia. Georgia is a state without the death penalty. There was a case over a person

leaving their child in a hot car which led to the child passing away which shows how unfair it is

since the death penalty isn’t used. All of this displays on how Capital Punishment is not equal. It

can change based on your race, where you live, and what life handed to you that you can not

control. This shows how wrong Capital Punishment is and how it needs changes.

The next big problem is the resume of the individuals who are executed. It seems like

more and more of the people who are executed have an issue from which they can’t control. One

main example is from the New York Times as they produced an article over an individual who

suffered from dementia who was placed on to death row. In this case this woman is suffering

from dementia which she cannot help. The article states,”The capital case concerned a

condemned inmate suffering from dementia who cannot recall the murder that sent her to death

row.” This shows how unfair the process of death row may be and how it can affect someone

very wrongfully who can’t help from things they suffer. Another example of this also in the New

York Times is,” Mental illness, intellectual disability, brain damage, childhood abuse or neglect,

abysmal lawyers, minimal judicial review, a white victim — these factors are far more closely

associated with who ends up getting executed.” These are a list of unfair disadvantages that these

people have in more than just the courtroom but also life. You can be born with at least three of

these conditions and can’t really help at all. Two more of these are through human error and lack
of dedication to a case. This also shows how much Capital Punishment can be swayed on to

someone in comparison to someone else. Lastly one statistic posted by The New York Times

states,” Of the 23 people put to death in 2017, eighteen had at least one of these factors. Eight

were younger than 21 at the time of their crime.” Another big factor that I have come up upon is

based on race. The percentage of African Americans in the United States compared to

percentages of African Americans on death row isn’t right. As the comparison listed by

Dr.Bushman states,”Blacks make up 12% of the U.S. population, but they make up 48% of those

on death row (55% of those on death row are people of color). The odds of receiving death

penalty increase by 38% when the accused is Black. Although 50% of murders involve white

victims, 80% of death penalty cases involve white victims. In addition, black people are

sometimes excluded from juries.” This shows just how prejudice the judicial system is when it

comes down to relationship between race and crime.

The death penalty is very unreliable as there has been many cases where the

individual on death rows would need to have their execution to be moved or rescheduled due to

the fact it doesn’t always work. One example is ,”Inside the death chamber that morning, prison

officials spent more than an hour searching Mr. Campbell’s arms and legs for a vein into which

they could inject the lethal drug cocktail. They comforted him as they prepared to kill him,

providing the 69-year-old with a wedge pillow to help with breathing problems related to his

years of heavy smoking. After about 80 minutes, they gave up and returned Mr. Campbell to his

cell, where he sits awaiting his next date with death, now set for June 5, 2019.” This shows how

bad the death penalty can be and how it does not always work. Another example of this is from

the movie The Green Mile. The execution of one of the inmates which the specific officer
performing the electric chair execution didn’t really seem to like was altered and caused more

harm to the prisoner than should as the prisoners head was never wetted. This led to the prisoner

suffering an electrical fire which gives another reason how bad it is. So this is another big reason

why Capital Punishment is wrong and how it is not the most efficient.

Also the death penalty has been a thing forever. As you could even argue that Jesus

served the death penalty as he was religiously exiled and crucified due to his beliefs. One

example I encountered was from the British Library as it gives us a story that was estimated to be

written in 1829. It was about a 12 boy who was caught stealing who was then sentenced to death.

This gives us an idea on how the death penalty had been the most feared punishment for at least

the last 200 years. One fact I found surprising was the number of people punished by using the

death penalty and the reasons why they receive such punishment. One example stated,”By the

1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death in Britain, including stealing, cutting down a tree,

and robbing a rabbit warren.” These different crimes were seen to be punishable by death. Which

seems outrageous for such pity crimes. But out of the 222 cases, 100 of the criminals were

sentenced to such death penalty. That shows how reliable the government was on the death

penalty and used it as barrier for all crimes. The other assumption you can make of the one

hundred people executed is how many were wrongly accused of a crime. Since in that time

period there were no DNA tests or Cameras. These executions can be caused by

misinterpretations, a dislike for the person, or wrongfully arrested.

My last reason on why Capital Punishment should be illegal is fueled by Mr.Johnson, my

Business Law teacher who during my interview stated one thing,” Imagine you being in that
situation.” This really hit me as I pictured how I would feel if my family member or I was put on

to death row. Then he stated,” Imagine a simple, misunderstood person takes away an item that

no one can ever have another one of or even a second chance.”This affected me with the thought

of someone taking the role of God and taking someone out of this world. I see how unfair it is for

someone to get their life taken by not their choosing. I understand the idea of how this right may

be taken from someone due to the actions they have taken, but in its entirety no one should have

the ability to take someone’s life and play the role God. This gives me the main thought of how it

is unfair to let someone legally have the capability to control if someone dies or not.

But think about the closure that the victims of these who suffer such utter

distress from the trauma they have gone through. One example is from Laura Santhaman

as she states an occurrence she had with the cousin of a victim who was murdered by

someone who went to death row. She described how, ever since her cousin’s murder her

family fell apart. They described the sorrows their family felt and how much the

sentencing of the murderer’s death put them at an unstable part in their life as she

states,”But after Heath’s murder, Crites said her family fell apart. Her mother, aunt and

grandmother were all diagnosed with depression and needed medication. When Nancy

Heath — her aunt and Julie’s mother — hugged Crites, she ran her fingers through

Crites’ hair, long like her dead cousin’s; she held her tight, Crites said, as if she were

“just trying to get a piece of Julie back.” This shows how bad a murder can be on

someone. Also Capital Punishment is in the bible. This may put a religious input on

someone’s thought of Capital Punishment. In the book of Genesis 9:6 it states,”Whoever

sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God
 made man.” This shows that God feels if someone kills someone then they should be

punished by death. Also imagine if the person you thought murdered your family

member was the wrong person and now the true murderer has caused two people to die

and what that took away from a family just like yours.

(This image portrays how much an act of Capital Punishment takes and the publicity it brings

and how it drains on the victims of the crime and the amount of time is goes on.)

I still feel like Capital Punishment should be illegal as no one should have the right to

take another's from them. As I also see how unfair Capital Punishment is due to how not all

states enforce it which can cause some cases more mainstream not be served the death penalty

compared to others who committed the same kind of offense. What if you punish someone that is

innocent or if you are in the situation and the person on trial is innocent. This gives us a main
flaw in the crime of Capital Punishment and can lead a mockery to be made out of the courts and

federal system. Or what if you really can not control yourself due to a disease you are born with

or such. This is something uncontrollable and shows how unfair Capital Punishment is and how

this can affect almost anyone. Or consider how long you can be on death row and the possibility

of them screwing up your execution and causing you more pain. This can also waste someone’s

life away as they may keep appealing death row then a piece of evidence shows up showing the

fact there innocent. Or what if when you are first set to be executed they can not find a vein or

such which causes you more time and pain. These all show why the death penalty shouldn’t be

legal and give good insight on all my reasons. So the Capital Punishment should be abolished

due to the inhumanity, chance of error, unfairity, and how much can go wrong with someone

who is sentence to the Death penalty and is put onto Death Row.

Works Cited

Board, The Editorial. “Capital Punishment Deserves a Quick Death.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/31/opinion/capital-

punishment-death-penalty.html.

Bushman, Brad J. “It's Time to Kill the Death Penalty.” Psychology Today, Sussex

Publishers, 19 Jan. 2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/get-psyched/201401/it-s-time-kill-

the-death-penalty.
 “Capital Punishment in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Apr.

2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States.

Cole, Megan. “Capital Punishment Catharsis.” New University, 25 May 2015,

www.newuniversity.org/2015/05/25/capital-punishment-catharsis/.

Darabont, Frank, director. The Green Mile. Warner Bros, 1999.

Elsass, Amy. “Capital Punishment.” 28 Feb. 2019.

Holloway, Philip. “Death Penalty: Why America Needs a Rethink.” CNN, Cable News

Network, 26 July 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/07/17/opinions/holloway-death-penalty-

future/index.html.

Jackman, Tom. “Essay: The Problem of Innocence in Death Penalty Cases.” The

Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-

crime/wp/2017/08/28/essay-the-problem-of-innocence-in-death-penalty-

cases/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bdd9bace09b6.

Johnson, Melvin. “Capital Punishment.” 11 Dec. 2018.

Levy, Pema. “One in 25 Sentenced to Death in the U.S. Is Innocent.” Newsweek, 16 Feb.

2016, www.newsweek.com/one-25-executed-us-innocent-study-claims-248889.
 Library, The British. “Broadside about a 12 Year Old Boy Sentenced to Death.” 6 Aug.

2017,

explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do;jsessionid=635D34406D1641ED3EFBC10

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Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Rules for Death Row Inmate With Dementia.” The New

York Times, 27 Feb. 2019, p. A20, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/politics/supreme-court-

death-row-inmate-dementia.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Capital

Punishment&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&

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“Part I: History of the Death Penalty.” Part I: History of the Death Penalty | Death

Penalty Information Center, deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty.

Santhanam, Laura. “Does the Death Penalty Bring Closure to a Victim's Family?” PBS,

Public Broadcasting Service, 25 Apr. 2017, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/death-penalty-bring-

closure-victims-family.