The Real Value Of The Death Penalty Is As A Deterrent
Dave Gibson
August 30, 2008
For 25 years, multiple murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams thumbed his nose at both the American justice system as well as the families of his victims. The way he and his lawyers were allowed to manipulate the system should serve as an example of just how much reform is needed for capital punishment.
The way the death penalty is currently administered, renders the punishment rather irrelevant. The average stay on death row in the United States is eleven years. By the time the condemned receives his fate, the crime has long since been forgotten by the public and many of the victims' loved ones have passed away before receiving any closure.
For instance, so-called "Beltway Sniper" John Allen Muhammad killed ten people and seriously wounded two more, during a three week long shooting-spree in the Virginia-D.C.-Baltimore area. Muhammad was convicted of capital murder in 2003 and sentenced to death in early 2004. However, his lawyers continue to file appeals on his behalf, despite the fact that Muhammad himself has asked that all appeals be dropped and his execution expedited.
An April 2008 appeal claimed his life should be spared because Muhammad suffers from "brain damage." This fact was cited by his attorneys, even though Muhammad served in the U.S. Army for nearly 20 years and achieved the rank of Sergeant before his discharge, and concocted an elaborate ´three-phase plan´ of terror. The location and race of his victims were as deliberate as any army´s plan of attack.
Though he is undoubtedly cruel and ruthless, the evidence against John Allen Muhammad has proven him to be a meticulous planner with the ability to carry out those plans. He is anything but "brain damaged."
Though his crimes were despicable and front-page news while being committed, it is now nearly five years since the shooting-spree took place. Most people have now forgotten the sheer terror his crimes evoked in all of us. With four years and counting since his death sentence was rendered, Muhammad (in his 40´s) will more than likely outlive many of his victims´ family and friends.
However, Muhammad´s experience is typical of those condemned to death.
If the death penalty was carried out in a swift fashion, it would serve as much more of a deterrent. The almost clandestine manner in which the offender's life is ended, defeats the purpose of the ultimate punishment.
In my opinion, once a defendant is given a sentence of death, he should have no more than one year to appeal the case. The seemingly endless string of appeals is an abuse of the system at the expense of the American taxpayer. We often see publicity-seeking criminal defense attorneys take on those cases, even though many are undoubtedly already convinced of their potential client's guilt as well as of the futility of exhausting the appeals process.
Famed criminal defense attorney and longtime death penalty opponent Alan Dershowitz once said: "The defendant wants to hide the truth because he's generally guilty. The defense attorney's job is to make sure the jury does not arrive at that truth."
However, when fame and lucrative book deals hang in the balance, defense attorneys are not known for their overpowering sense of right and wrong.
I also believe in order to serve as a warning to others, the execution should also be made public. For the condemned, the process should be humiliating and harsh. The method of lethal injection is much too easy, it is more humane than the convicted deserves. Their capital crime calls for punishment with extreme prejudice…not sedatives.
Ideally, the guilty man would be marched through a crowd of onlookers in nothing but his underwear, led to the gallows and hanged.
While that scenario may seem draconian or even barbaric to some, just consider the fact that the life of the murderer is effectively over not from the moment he is convicted, but rather from the moment he commits his most heinous act. One who inflicts great brutality upon another for his own selfish reasons, has in fact ceased to be human. He has proven himself to be more savage than citizen, more predator than man. The only useful purpose his life can then serve is as a deterrent to others.
Executions should also be carried out within the communities where the crime was committed. The local community feels both a sense of loss and violation, when a violent crime takes place within its borders. That community has lost a friend and a neighbor, yet is always robbed of a sense of justice. When the execution finally does take place, it is so far removed by time and place from whence and where it took place, that community rarely feels any connection to the event.
Many years ago, executions were held publicly and they were done so to serve as a reminder to any would-be criminals. The main purpose of capital punishment is not to rid the community of a murderous savage, nor is it even to give a sense of closure to loved ones left behind, while beneficial, they are merely secondary. The main purpose of imposing the death penalty upon someone should be to serve as a deterrent to others, a cautionary tale to respect the rights and lives of others.
Until the death penalty is administered swiftly, harshly, and publicly, the American justice system will remain but a laughable entity and our streets will continue to be frightening places. As it stands, the inmates are seemingly running the asylum.
The way the death penalty is currently administered, renders the punishment rather irrelevant. The average stay on death row in the United States is eleven years. By the time the condemned receives his fate, the crime has long since been forgotten by the public and many of the victims' loved ones have passed away before receiving any closure.
For instance, so-called "Beltway Sniper" John Allen Muhammad killed ten people and seriously wounded two more, during a three week long shooting-spree in the Virginia-D.C.-Baltimore area. Muhammad was convicted of capital murder in 2003 and sentenced to death in early 2004. However, his lawyers continue to file appeals on his behalf, despite the fact that Muhammad himself has asked that all appeals be dropped and his execution expedited.
An April 2008 appeal claimed his life should be spared because Muhammad suffers from "brain damage." This fact was cited by his attorneys, even though Muhammad served in the U.S. Army for nearly 20 years and achieved the rank of Sergeant before his discharge, and concocted an elaborate ´three-phase plan´ of terror. The location and race of his victims were as deliberate as any army´s plan of attack.
Though he is undoubtedly cruel and ruthless, the evidence against John Allen Muhammad has proven him to be a meticulous planner with the ability to carry out those plans. He is anything but "brain damaged."
Though his crimes were despicable and front-page news while being committed, it is now nearly five years since the shooting-spree took place. Most people have now forgotten the sheer terror his crimes evoked in all of us. With four years and counting since his death sentence was rendered, Muhammad (in his 40´s) will more than likely outlive many of his victims´ family and friends.
However, Muhammad´s experience is typical of those condemned to death.
If the death penalty was carried out in a swift fashion, it would serve as much more of a deterrent. The almost clandestine manner in which the offender's life is ended, defeats the purpose of the ultimate punishment.
In my opinion, once a defendant is given a sentence of death, he should have no more than one year to appeal the case. The seemingly endless string of appeals is an abuse of the system at the expense of the American taxpayer. We often see publicity-seeking criminal defense attorneys take on those cases, even though many are undoubtedly already convinced of their potential client's guilt as well as of the futility of exhausting the appeals process.
Famed criminal defense attorney and longtime death penalty opponent Alan Dershowitz once said: "The defendant wants to hide the truth because he's generally guilty. The defense attorney's job is to make sure the jury does not arrive at that truth."
However, when fame and lucrative book deals hang in the balance, defense attorneys are not known for their overpowering sense of right and wrong.
I also believe in order to serve as a warning to others, the execution should also be made public. For the condemned, the process should be humiliating and harsh. The method of lethal injection is much too easy, it is more humane than the convicted deserves. Their capital crime calls for punishment with extreme prejudice…not sedatives.
Ideally, the guilty man would be marched through a crowd of onlookers in nothing but his underwear, led to the gallows and hanged.
While that scenario may seem draconian or even barbaric to some, just consider the fact that the life of the murderer is effectively over not from the moment he is convicted, but rather from the moment he commits his most heinous act. One who inflicts great brutality upon another for his own selfish reasons, has in fact ceased to be human. He has proven himself to be more savage than citizen, more predator than man. The only useful purpose his life can then serve is as a deterrent to others.
Executions should also be carried out within the communities where the crime was committed. The local community feels both a sense of loss and violation, when a violent crime takes place within its borders. That community has lost a friend and a neighbor, yet is always robbed of a sense of justice. When the execution finally does take place, it is so far removed by time and place from whence and where it took place, that community rarely feels any connection to the event.
Many years ago, executions were held publicly and they were done so to serve as a reminder to any would-be criminals. The main purpose of capital punishment is not to rid the community of a murderous savage, nor is it even to give a sense of closure to loved ones left behind, while beneficial, they are merely secondary. The main purpose of imposing the death penalty upon someone should be to serve as a deterrent to others, a cautionary tale to respect the rights and lives of others.
Until the death penalty is administered swiftly, harshly, and publicly, the American justice system will remain but a laughable entity and our streets will continue to be frightening places. As it stands, the inmates are seemingly running the asylum.
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