1.3 For The Death Penalty

Dear North Carolina Observer,

In your article “Death Penalty Systems “Irreversibility broken” North Carolina Should abandon a permanently flawed process”, your author is encouraging the North Carolina natives to speak out on removing the death penalty from their state. Within this editorial, the author agrees with Adam Liptak’s, New York Times writer, view of Capital Punishment being flawed in the United States Justice System. Adam Stated in the original editorial, “The system doesn't work because it cannot be reconciled with competing goals - the ability of juries to make independent decisions about who is sentenced to death, and fairness in a system that executes some and spares others who have committed similar crimes.” Liptak is trying to explain his reasoning of why Capital Punishment should be removed from the United State’s Justice System. He believes Capital Punishment will not take into account how the juries’ feelings will affect the outcome of the final decision and that Capital punishment does not treat the same crimes equally; in the sense that not all crimes will produce the same punishment.

I disagree with the argument of your editorial. I feel the death penalty system should continue to be used in the state of North Carolina. Over two-third of the states in the U.S. have a death penalty implemented (“Murder Rates”). On a bigger scale, many countries including China and Egypt also allow for the death penalty (“Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries”). Capital punishment can be successful when the people executing it follow the proper procedures to ensure everything was done legally and correctly. States that allow Capital Punishment should expect to see a lower crime and murder rate. Also, allowing for the death penalty could save state funding from creating jail facilities and crime management.

Maintaining a death penalty in North Carolina poses a threat to criminals. In 2008, North Carolina has the 11th highest murder rate in the nation. North Carolina’s murder rate in 2008 was 6.5 people out of every 100,000 people (“Murder Rates”). Criminals who know that they could potentially receive the death penalty for committing a serious crime would more likely resist from committing that crime with the fear of death as a consequence. With the existence of this doubt, crime rates should be much lower in states that use the death penalty. An editorial from the Washington Post titled, “Why are violent crimes rates falling?” stated that the reason for decreasing crime rates in 2009 from 2008 was due to more severe consequences. (“Why are violent crime rates falling” par 7). The article is explaining that the reduction in the crime rates was due to criminals realizing the serious punishments that came from their crimes. By continuing to use the death penalty, crime rates should slowly decrease over the next couple of years.

One reason your editorial states why North Carolina should ban Capital Punishment is because of its “cost”. Quoted from your article

“Professor Philip Cook in the Sanford School of Public Policy concluded that the state could save nearly $11 million each year in extra costs if it dropped the death penalty. His study found the state spent $21.6 million extra in taxpayer money on death penalty trials from 2005-06.”

This quote is merely stating all how much money was dedicated to the Death Penalty in North Carolina in the years of 2005 to 2006. Even though this quote didn’t state where this money could have gone, the reader could assume that it would have gone to projects to improve the society. However, the problem of dealing with criminals still exists. Criminals would be more likely to commit crimes knowing that eventually they would be able to get back out and do it again without a strict punishment.

This would lead to all of these criminals, new and old, being placed into jails until their court trial date and most likely be placed back into jail for a certain amount of years. The talk show News Talks Radio WHIO, Tom Michaels states that the cost of running a jail in Clark County, Ohio was estimated to be around $6 million a year. The recession, payment of workers, and other factors was the reason for these high prices (Michaels 1). If the death penalty was discontinued, the state of North Carolina would have to build more jails to fit all of its criminals. The funding for the production of most, if not all, of these jails would come from tax payers. It is not reasonable for North Carolina to send its criminals to another state because it has experienced higher crime rates and were for it. It would require the state to create more jails to house more criminals resulting in a lot of money being used.

The other situation that could occur because of the rise in the crime rate would be the need to increase authorities and police forces to handle the increased crime. After authorities capture
criminals and place them into jail, the cost of caring for the criminal would be $55 a day and could result in a total cost of $20,108 a year. (“Cost of Imprisonment” 1). This would only be the cost for one criminal. Costs for all the potential criminals could be off the charts. Creating more jails and using more money to crack down on higher crime rates would result in a lot of money being spent. This doesn’t include the cost for jury and trial for all the criminals. Both of these issues could come from removing the death penalty costing the state much more than it would cost to keep the death penalty.

Another reason the author recommends that North Carolina abandon Capital Punishment is because he feels that it is inconsistent. The editorial questions the death penalty’s fairness and partially questions the juries’ ability to “make independent decisions about who is sentenced.” I have not been in a situation where I had to decide whether a person will live or die however, I can imagine it is very difficult to give a person the death penalty. But, in today’s society, programs and certain rules have been made to make the decision making more livable. These rules are suppose to ensure that each person receives a fair and ethical trial. For instance, when dealing with criminals who have certain mental disabilities, the American Bar Association recommends

“Defendants should not be executed of sentenced to death if, at the time of the offense, they had significant limitations in both their intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior… resulting from mental retardation, dementia, or a traumatic brain injury.”
(“Recommendation and Report” 2)

The American Bar Association, an association based off determining if certain legal conduct is considered ethical in the United States, makes a claim that certain people who exhibit mental problems should not be given the death penalty. Also, most evidence in today’s society is mainly from DNA evidence that is all based off science and new technologies that are created for these certain situations. It is hard to doubt evidence that was handled with care that proves a criminal to be guilty. To say that people are not given fair treatment and are not trialed equally is inaccurate because of the many restrictions and rules in place in order to protect the criminal and provide a fair trial.

From the North Carolina Observer, the editorial “Death Penalty Systems “Irreversibility broken” North Carolina Should abandon a permanently flawed process” was published. It was an article that stated the death penalty system was flawed and was not needed. I feel that keeping the death penalty in North Carolina will be more beneficial overall. The results of keeping the death penalty in the state could be reduction of crime and more money for projects/issues that the state could address. The idea of the death penalty will always be a controversial topic that many people will argue, but I feel that keeping the death penalty in North Carolina would be the best action the North Carolina natives can take.



Sincerely
Bryan Vu



Citations

“Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries.” Death Penalty Information Center. 29 January 2009. Amnesty International. Web. 1 March 2010

“Cost of Imprisonment.” Florida Department of Corrections. June 2009. Department of Corrections. Web. 1 March 2010

Michaels, Tom. “Cost of running Clark County Jail tops 6 million in 2009”. WHIO Local News. 22 February 2010. News Talk Radio WHIO. Web. 1 March 2010

“Murder Rates 1996- 2008.” Death Penalty Information Center. September 2009. FBI Uniform Crime Unit. Web. 1 March 2010

“Recommendation and Report on the Death Penalty and Persons with Mental Disabilities” Death Penalty Information Center. 8 August 2006. American Bar Association. Web. 1 March 2010.

“Why are violent crime rates falling?” The Washington Post. 2 January 2010. Washington Post. Web. 1 March 2010