Why the Death Penalty Is Immoral and Un-American

What historical literature can tell us about the cruelty of the death penalty

Enlightenment thinker Cesare Boccaria wrote about the problems of state executions in “On Crime and Punishment” in 1764.

It can take your money, steal your time, send you to war, but, my god, don’t let it kill you. We Americans are in a strange position of building highways, national parks, middle schools and electric chairs. The United States currently has 2,000 inmates on death row, which ought to prompt a moral emergency on the basis of repudiating human sacrifice and oppressive state power.

The history of capital punishment is not confined to the vibrating bolt; gas chambers were introduced in the States in 1924 as a humane method of execution compared to hangings. Murdering prisoners is woven into American history.

However, if the United States would have indulged WWI poet Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” where he describes his comrades as drowning “under a green sea,” while fumbling to fasten on a mask, perhaps we would’ve scrapped the project before it started. The hideous cruelty of “guttering, choking” and “drowning” on poison is not just inflicted by the enemy — it is carried out by the state.

Unfortunately, we paid little attention to what Owen had to say. In 2015, Oklahoma introduced death by nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection. Five years prior, in Utah, Ronnie Gardner was put to death by firing squad. The immediate association of gas chambers and executioners with 20th century fascism is accurate, but there is no excuse to ignore the contemporary cases in this country.

If citizens wish to have control over the state and not the other way around, they should make sure they know which end of the barrel they stand on. It is barbaric to lodge bullets into our countrymen’s hearts, blister their lungs and poison their blood when we get the right guy. A state-sponsored killing of an innocent man, on the contrary, can lay seeds for revolution.

The establishment of capital punishment is self-defeating. The state exists to prevent murder, not carry it out.

Support for the death penalty, it ought to be noted, is un-American. After publication of “On Crimes and Punishment” in 1764, Italian criminologist and enlightenment thinker Cesare Beccaria convinced founding fathers Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin that state executions have a perverse message.

Why would law permit precisely what it wishes to prevent, Beccaria asked. The pens which forged the republic are anti-death penalty, yet America pretends capital punishment is a legitimate enterprise. America ought to adhere to its founders’ reasoning.

State murder is, unfortunately, ubiquitous.

In “Reflections on Hanging,” British novelist Arthur Koestler elucidated the “hanging days” celebrated in the 18th and 19th centuries. Koestler also states that during King George III’s rule, over 100 public executions took place every year in London. Crowds gathered with a vim, spry attitude to see the man’s feet dangle. Shopkeepers, tailors and the like talked about the event as if it were a football game or a new film premiere. The influence of Victorian-era British policy echoes in our courtrooms today.

The dark tale of escorting a man to his death, as democratic socialist George Orwell documents in his essay “A Hanging,” shows the reverse end. Orwell’s aid in “cutting (a) life short when it is in full tide,” is a recognition of the cruelty and backwardness of executions.

If citizens wish to have control over the state and not the other way around, they should make sure they know which end of the barrel they stand on. It is barbaric to lodge bullets into our countrymen’s hearts, blister their lungs and poison their blood when we get the right guy. A state-sponsored killing of an innocent man, on the contrary, can lay seeds for revolution.

The utilitarian argument for capital punishment regards the death of a guilty man as a lesson or symbol of what is to come for those who commit similar crimes. Murder a murderer, and you have fewer murderers on the whole.

But why not teach a harsher lesson? Why not, as defense lawyer Clarence Darrow inquires, “boil them in oil, as they used to do? Why not burn them at the stake? Why not sew them into a bag with serpents and throw them out to sea?” If the goal is to prevent cruelty, we should see to it that we do not embody the attitude we wish to dispel.

Darrow points to the previous hanging of “old women for witchcraft” and killing those who “worship God in the wrong way.” The celebration of human sacrifice can be owed to the religious. Christians walk around with a symbolized machine of death around their neck, foolishly believing it a sign of love and forgiveness. What would be in fashion if the Messiah was killed in this generation? Jewelry of a death chair? A syringe?

The United States was built on Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom — the groundwork for the First Amendment and separation of church and state. Pope Francis altered the Catholic Church’s position on capital punishment, throwing a blanket ban on the death penalty. Bringing in Christian dogma to support capital punishment, in other words, is equally un-American.

This is not only a matter of the head, but of the heart; you should ensure your heart wants others to pulse as well. Civilization demands the abolition of the death penalty. Do not let the state kill you. Keep belts where they belong — on the waist.

Source: fordhamobserver.com, Riley Moore, October 3, 2020

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Iran: Flogging still a common practice

Flogging of Sufis in Gonabad: Fourteen Ne’matollahi dervishes received 25 lashes each for allegedly disturbing the public security "The lash ruling against 14 Ne'matollahi dervishes of Gonabad was carried out. They were residents of Baydokht and had been arrested and condemned by the Public Prosecutor of Gonabad after a protest against the illegal treatment dealing with the Sufis in June of last year [2010]. According to the website of Majzuban-e-Nur, Mr. Sa'id Kashani, Mr. Amir Roshan-Mojaver-Sufi, Mr. Alimohammad Amanian, Mr. Ruhollah Safari, Mr. Ali Abbasi-Baydokhti, Mr. Ebrahim Abbaszadeh, Mr. Mohammadali Ja'fari, Mr. Hossein Mahdavi, Mr. Hossein Abbaszadeh-Baydokhti, Mr. Rahmat Hosseini, Mr. Reza Kakhki, Mr. Behruz Mojaver-Sufi, Mr. Ali Mir, and Mr. Hassan Baluchi-Baydokhti are the fourteen dervishes whose requests were not only rejected, but who were condemned to 25 lashes for disturbing the public security. It should be mentioned that Ruhollah Safari, the ...

Japan’s Internet Wants Uchida Riko Executed. Here’s Why That Won’t Happen

This week, the prosecution in the case of a murder of a 17-year-old girl in Hokkaido came out with its sentencing recommendation. Japanese social media reacted by clamoring for the accused woman’s blood. But, while the facts of the case are heinous, the prosecutor’s decision not to seek the death penalty is grounded in long-standing precedent. Murdered for looking at the accused wrong Uchida Riko (内田梨瑚), 23, and her friends stand accused of murdering 17-year-old Murayama Runa (村山瑠奈) in Hokkaido’s Asahikawa. Prosecutors say the dispute began after Murayama posted a photo of Uchida to social media. They say Uchida’s group abducted the girl, made her undress, and then forced her to jump from a bridge.

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

I watched Ohio's last execution. Here's what it was like

As Gov. DeWine calls for Ohio to end capital punishment, the state’s last execution remains the one I witnessed in 2018 Inside Ohio's death house, there is a room for executions and separate witness rooms: one for those connected to the victim and another for those connected to the inmate. Windows separate the death chamber from those watching, the condemned from the living. I was there on July 18, 2018 – during Ohio’s most recent execution. Robert Van Hook was put to death that day for killing David Self in 1985. He sat on death row for three decades. I was one of three media witnesses to the execution.

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

Gov. Mike DeWine calls for Ohio to abolish the death penalty

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday morning called on Ohio to abolish the death penalty, citing data that he said proves it is no longer a deterrent to violent crime. “For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, there must be evidence that in doing so it will help protect the public, that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder,” DeWine said. “I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made.” DeWine cited data showing a decline in the last four decades of executions being carried out and an increase in the time inmates spend on death row.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Two men executed with AK-47 for raping and murdering boy, 12, in Yemen as children watch on

“Public execution is an even more grotesque violation of human rights, particularly in a country where the ability of the accused to obtain adequate legal representation and the coverage of the process is highly limited.” -- Human Rights Watch director Sarah Leah Whitson TWO paedophiles have been executed with AK-47s in front of a bloodthirsty crowd for raping and murdering a 12-year-old boy in Yemen. Chilling images show Wadah Refat and Mohamed Khaled being marched at gunpoint through the port city of Aden. Yemen is one of the few countries in the world where capital punishment is legal, and even children were in attendance to watch the gruesome event. Refat, 28, and Khaled, 31, were condemned for the abduction, rape, and murder of a young boy who was snatched after playing next to the house of one of the men. The pair reportedly dragged him into their home and raped him. When sentencing the pair, The Daily Star reported that the judge said: “Afte...

Florida execution of 74-year-old death row inmate Dusty Ray Spencer reignites debate

Florida has set an execution date of June 25, 2026, for 74-year-old death row inmate Dusty Ray Spencer, a move that would make him the oldest person ever executed in the state’s history . Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant on May 26, 2026, marking the tenth such warrant issued this year as the state continues its current pace of capital punishment. Spencer was convicted in 1992 of the first-degree murder of his wife, Karen Spencer, in Orange County. Court records detail a prolonged and violent pattern of abuse preceding the homicide. On January 18, 1992, after prior incidents of physical assault and threats, Spencer stabbed his wife to death in their backyard. The trial evidence included testimony that the victim was alive and conscious during the attack, which involved blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds while the couple's son was present.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wanted an execution that a Trump judge deemed illegal

The Supreme Court these days is generally in the business of helping executions go forward. But on Thursday night, the court did something notable: It told Alabama no. Even then, the court wasn't unanimous. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to let the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee proceed. What prompted the rare rejection? In line with the typical shadow docket practice, the court didn't explain itself. Nor did the dissenters, who merely noted their disagreement. But a deeper look at the case helps us understand why a majority of the court was unwilling to help the state this time.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog