About the Death Penalty? Kill It.

Recent reports indicate a move afoot to change the drug cocktail used to humanely discharge the death penealty when it gets past all of the barricades between the actual death sentence and actually administering it. It can go on for decades.

Instead of arguing whether poorly administered drugs can cause pain and panic, let’s finally admit it must be Killed it self. Why?

1. There is insufficient evience that the use of the death penalty sufficiently prevents capital crimes.

2. Given the years of attempts to not make mistakes and to allow for appeals, it is not cheaper to execute a prisoner than to provide lifetime imprisonment. Not when all costs are considered.

3. The trauma to all involved in the death penalty leading up to and through the penalty decision and including the attempts to allow appeals, creates so much emotional damage in the prisoner, his friends and family, his neighbors, those who hold vigil, those who have to see the spectacle on tv or read about it somewhere, debate it and so on. The trauma is more of a drag on our lives than anything of possible value that can dome of an execution and that should be recognized.

4. Some lives lived in prison will produce things of value that their deaths will never do.

5. We can always be wrong.

6. Regardless, I do not think this is what we are here to do. We can recognize societal mistakes in a less traumatic way.