Pros and Cons - Debbie Newman, Ben Woolgar 2014

Capital punishment
Section G. Crime and punishment

In 2013, 58 countries still use the death penalty as a form of punishment. The vast majority of executions take place in China, which is thought to execute more than 4,000 people a year; Iran comes second with about 400; no other state executes more than 100 prisoners a year. As such, it is a punishment mostly used sparingly and for the most serious crimes; murder is the primary one, though some countries retain it for drug-related offences as well. The methods of capital punishment also vary; some US states retain the use of gas chambers to execute prisoners, but most use lethal injection.

Pros

[1] In any country — democracy or dictatorship — one of the roles of the state is to punish criminals. In the case of serial murderers, terrorists, ’cop killers’ etc., they should be punished by death. Our human rights are given to us as part of a contract — which says that we can do anything we want as long as it does not hurt anyone else — and so, if we take away the life of another person, then surely we forfeit the right to our own life.

[2] Use of the death penalty deters criminals from murdering. Numerous studies in the USA show a noticeable drop in murder rates in the months directly following any execution. One study concludes that each execution prevents, on average, 18 further murders. Since capital punishment was abolished in the UK in 1965 (for all crimes except treason), the murder rate has doubled.

[3] Executing murderers prevents them from killing again. Given that the rate of re-offending is so high, these people must be removed from society altogether. Serial killers — those who are so ’evil’ or hardened as to be incapable of reform — can be removed permanently from society.

[4] The death penalty is only given when the facts are certain and the jury has no doubt whatsoever, and only carried out when every right to appeal has been exhausted. There have admittedly been some cases of wrongful conviction leading to execution in the UK (notably Timothy Evans in 1950 and, probably, James Hanratty in 1962), but although it may seem harsh, this is negligible when compared with the number of murders prevented by the death penalty. The discrimination between various degrees of homicide or manslaughter allows the jury plenty of opportunity for clemency, and insane murderers are never executed.

[5] If there is no death penalty, then there is no incentive for prisoners sentenced to life without parole not to commit crimes while in prison — to kill warders, other prisoners, or to try to escape and kill again. Nothing they can do can result in further punishment.

Cons

[1] If killing is a crime and immoral in the eyes of society, then for the state to kill its citizens is equally barbaric. Two wrongs do not make a right, and it is never right to put someone to death, no matter what the crime. The death penalty is a ’cruel and unusual punishment’, especially in view of the psychological torture inflicted on those on Death Row, who know that they are going to be executed, but do not know when.

[2] If the death penalty is such a deterrent, then why is the murder rate so high in the USA? There has been virtually no change in the overall rate since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated, despite an enormous increase in the number of executions. Also, death penalty states often have a higher murder rate than their neighbouring states that do not use the death penalty. A distinction also needs to be made between local short-term deterrents (immediately after executions in particular places) and long-term deterrents that have an effect on national crime rates, for which there is less evidence.

[3] Execution may remove some killers from society, but in return, it brutalises society and invests killing with state- sanctioned acceptability. Not only is capital punishment not a deterrent, but it can even increase the murder rate; California’s rate showed its biggest increases between 1952 and 1967, when executions occurred every two months on average.

[4] A single mistaken execution of an innocent person, among no matter how many thousands of cases, is utterly unjustifiable and is enough to destroy our trust in the death penalty and in any judicial system that uses it. Rehabilitation is part of the purpose of punishment, and who is to say that any guilty criminal cannot be reformed? Any prisoner must be given every chance to come to terms with their wrongdoing and perhaps be rehabilitated into society — a chance that execution denies.

[5] There are several ways of dealing with misbehaving prisoners: the revoking of privileges if their disorder is on a minor scale, and solitary confinement in a maximum-security cell if they are violent. There will always be psychopaths who need to be confined in this way. Those who are not psychopaths should not be sentenced to life without parole — if they have the chance of parole, they have an incentive towards good behaviour.

Possible motions

This House would reintroduce the death penalty.

This House would hang murderers.

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