I Don't Support the Death Penalty. Not At All.

I don’t support the death penalty. Not at all. Simply because I don’t support murder. And you can call it whatever you like - justice, retribution, punishment - but it’s still murder. Right?

If I were okay with murder, I still wouldn’t support the death penalty. 138 death row inmates have been exonerated since 1973. Meaning they were proven, by DNA or other evidence, to be innocent of the crimes that put them on death row. 138 innocent people, and counting. So even if I were okay with murder, I can’t imagine ever being okay with murdering an innocent person, or even risking that possibility. And I’m sick to think about all of the innocent men and women who have thrown away even a day of their lives, let alone decades, in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. Not to mention those who were murdered for a crime they didn’t commit. And there have been many, many people put to death for crimes they likely or most certainly did not commit. 

Even if I were okay with murder, and no one had been exonerated(suggesting all who were on death row were guilty), I still wouldn’t support the death penalty, because it’s costing our country a fortune to keep inmates on death row. Every research study concludes that it is considerably more expensive to keep an inmate on death row than it is to hold him in prison for life. We’re talking many millions of dollars more expensive. At a time when there’s no denying the fiscal instability of our country, and certainly of the states that make up our country, it seems beyond irresponsible to be throwing away millions and millions of dollars on capital punishment. 

But even if I were okay with murder, and no one had been exonerated, and capital punishment were fiscally responsible, I still wouldn’t be able to support the death penalty. Why? Maybe because it’s horrifically racially biased, or because it’s regarded as barbaric by most of the civilized world, or because it doesn’t deter violent crimes overall, or because most death row inmates weren’t granted proper legal representation, or, or, or. Name your or, as I’m sure I haven’t listed them all.

Plenty of people are murdered every year through capital punishment. Not all of them get the press that Troy Davis has gotten these past two weeks. Few of them get any press at all. It makes my mind hurt and my heart hurt and my soul hurt to think about the fact that Troy Davis was murdered. He was likely innocent, or potentially innocent, and he was murdered. And though it’s been inspiring to see thousands of people across the country protesting for and because of him, it’s impossibly unjust that any protests were needed at all. Impossibly unjust that Troy Davis is dead.

Because of Troy Davis and every other innocent death row inmate, alive and dead, and because of all the other reasons I’ve listed, and because, most of all, murder cannot and should not ever be justified, I cannot and will not ever support the death penalty. 

Justice, sure. I support that. But not murder. Not ever.

Why would I? Why would you?