Miriam Mendez Writing for the Sciences April 12, 2022

The Debate of Death

The death penalty has been around since the Colonial times. In other parts of the world, the death penalty was merely beheading. As time went on, criminals have been put to death by hanging, shooting, electrocution, poison gas, and lethal injection. Today, all states that have the law of the death penalty use lethal injection. As a human living in today’s society, do you believe the death penalty is a just punishment? Some might say the death penalty is justified, some say it’s cruel and nobody should be put to death for their actions. However, some actions, like murder and many more I will discussing about, deserve a certain punishment like the death penalty. The death penalty is justified and is known for inforcing and preserving law as well as structure.

There was a study made in Brazil by Francis Danso Boateng and Michael K. Dzordzormenyoh about the death penalty and the examination of the public support towards the penalty. Brazil has the death penalty for cases like war crimes, genocides, crime against humanity, and terrorism. Police brutality is a worldwide phenomenon; Meaning everywhere in the world faces police viciousness. In Brazil, “police brutality and execution of criminals on the street is very common. These extrajudicial executions of citizens—majority of which are Blacks and mixed-race people—create fear among minorities and will not only influence support for the death penalty… can be viewed as a form of death penalty administered by the street-level bureaucrats.”. (Boateng, Francis D., and Michael K. Dzordzormenyo) Police officers engage in not legalized killings of unarmed or non harmful individuals, more specifically Blacks and mixed-race individuals, and it makes minorities fear for their safety. Police brutality pushes

support for the death penalty because these police officers or “street-level bureaucrats” are often not penalized or are exempted from getting any form of punishment from the law, in which are increasing the support for the death penalty to put these monsters away for good. (Boateng, Francis D., and Michael K. Dzordzormenyo) Many innocent lives have been taken by the cruelty police officers do that the death penalty should be placed on them. A life for a life. Many of these kids have a future and it was taken away because a white police officer took one look at a black kid and thought they were up to no good. The case of Trayvon Martin is a perfect example of “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Trayvon Martin was wearing a dark gray hoodie walking around Twin Lakes community when police officer Zimmerman saw Martin and thought he looked suspicious and followed him even when other officers told him not to. An altercation happened between the two causing Zimmerman to shoot Trayvon resulting in him being killed. All that happened to Zimmerman was he was found not guilty and was acquitted of his charges. This is not the first but one of many, too many, police brutality gone unpunished. Too many minorities dying and too many extrajudicial killings with impunity. The death penalty “appears to have steadily increased from 65 percent in the early 1970s”. Wouldn’t you too believe in a life for a life?

Is the notion of a life for a life really an option? Is that not just acting out based on your emotions and not thinking rationally. Yes the victims were killed but the killer has family as well. One family’s pain cannot be one family’s pleasure; Two wrongs don’t make a right. In 1986 criminologist Phillip Harris surveyed “revenge is a more powerful rationale than any of the utilitarian justifications”. Criminologist James O. Finckenauer agrees saying “the public’s desire for revenge is dictating public policy regarding the death penalty”. (Bedau, Hugo Adam) In other words, revenge is a more powerful reason than the “good” reason the death penalty should be

justified. The public is more in favor of the death penalty because all they want is revenge. Revenge is clouding their judgment and the ability to think straight in regards to the death penalty. Another point James Alan fox, also a criminologist, made was the “support for the death penalty depends a great deal on just what kind of murder is in question: Support for executing a serial murderer, such as the notorious Ted Bundy (electricuted in Florida in 1989), is one thing; support for executing a battered wife who in desperation killer her abusive husband is another”. (Bedau, Hugo Adam) Now what if the assaulted wife gets the death penalty just for killing her husband? What if a wrongfully accused man is sent to their death? Where is the notion “a life for a life” now? Author Sarah Roberts-Cady brought up a good point about “an eye for an eye; Stating “how would one have punished Hitler? One cannot commit genocide against a single individual. It would entail that is is appropriate to rape the rapist or torture the torturer. Unless one is willing to accept this unsavory consequence, one has reason to reject this standard”. It is an interesting rational to justify the death penalty. She expresses the fact that certain crimes were horrific “neither death by injection nor life in prison could match the losses of the victims of the most horrible types of crimes”. (Roberts-Cady, Sarah) Yes, revenge seems sweet at first, of course sentencing the criminal for death may sound better than just being in jail, but at what cost?

Have you ever heard of the Central Park Five? If you haven’t let me enlighten you on the monstrous situation that happened in 1989. In Central Park, New York, NY, five black/mixed male teenagers were indicted for raping a woman and other charges. The woman was found barely clinging to life. One of the four was given a plea deal and pleaded guilty to assault and other charges, the other four were indicted for assault and other charges. Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam served their complete sentences

of 6 and 13 years before serial rapist Matias Reyes admits to the crime and DNA supports his confession. Those five kids spent almost their entire life wrongfully convicted and suffered many horrific and unspeakable things while incarcerated. There was a public outrage, some even wanting the death penalty for these boys. Imagine they were put to death and Reyes then confessed. Imagine how their families would feel, their children dead because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time? Joseph M. Giarratano suffered somewhat the same thing. Giarratano was a former Virginia death-row prisoner. Two days before being executed, he was granted parole after 38 years in jail for rape and double murder that lawyers and supports said he dd not commit. Giarratano had lived in a “party house” meaning strangers and visitors would visit freely. The night of the murders, he was there and being on drugs, he said he has no recollection of what happened. According to the article, “he said he woke up on the couch, discovered the bodies, and because no one else was in the apartment, he assumed he had committed the killings. He fled to Florida, where he turned himself in”. When giving his confessions it was indicated they were inconsistent and conflicted with the evidence at the crime scene. In the end, lawyer Stephen A. Northup revealed that he believed Joseph was innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. (“Ex-Virginia Death-Row Prisoner With Strong Claim of Innocence Get Parole After 38 Years”)

Unfortunately, some unlucky souls are incriminated for crimes they did not commit. Some people may feel that justice is served when the criminal is caught and punished to the full extent. Some may even take matters into their own hands. On March 2nd 1998, Patrick O’Neal Kennedy called the police to report the rape of his 8 year old stepdaughter. It was revealed that the victim’s injuries were so severe it was required for an extensive emergency surgery. Kennedy was arrested, charged, and convicted of the offense. Given the severity of the victim’s injury, Kennedy was sentenced to death. Because of the Coker V. Georgia (1977) case it had “already

prohibited the use of the death penalty for the rape of adult women. That Court decleared that the use of the death penalty for rape was “grossly disproportiante and excessive”. Although the “Kennedy ruling invalidated similar laws in Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma … the very existence of those capital child rape suggets … unlike adult rape, aggrivated vicitmization of children is deserving of the most extreme punishment”. If the death penalty was so “grossly dispropriate and excessive” then the 8 year old’s severe injuries are what exactly? How can something so cruel and traumatic happen to an 8 year old and now have the death penalty as a justified punishment. The injuries included “a laceration to the left vaginal wall that resulted in a separation of the cervix from the back of the vagina, which in turn caused the rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. It was also reported that ‘her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus”. A 44 year old man caused those injuries to an 8 year old little girl and the death penalty should’nt be considered because it’s “grossly disproportiante and excessive”. The eighth amendment prohibited Kennedy from being put to death because the victim did not die and death was not intended. That is what I call grossly unreasonable and disturbing for that amendment to be allowed in the case.

To conclude, the death penalty is a justfiable and a lawful punishment. Some may be wrongfully convicted or innocent of the crimes. However, if found guilty for heinous crimes, the death penalty should still be a considerable punishment for the crimes commited. A monster should be brought to death for their heinous crime. For those who have not watched the documentary about the Central Park Five, “When They See Us” on Netflix, I recommend watching it. It was educational because I learned facts about the case I never knew. These are real people who had their lives stripped over a crime they did not commit. It is a lot to handle and will leave your mind running and your heart/head racing with loads of emotions. Nonetheless,

the notion of “ignorance is bliss” is irrational. Knowledge is power and the more you know the better.

Works Cited

Bedau, Hugo Adam, editor. The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998. Accessed 26 March 2022.

Boateng, Francis D., and Michael K. Dzordzormenyo. “Capital Punishment in Brazil: Exploring Factors That Predict Public Support for the Death Penalty.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, vol. Vol. 38, no. 1, 2022, pp. 56-71. Academic Search Complete.

Dierenfeld, Rick. “Support for the Death Penalty in Cases of Rape and Sexual Assault: Variation between Victim Age Categories.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 65, no. 16, 2021, pp. 1823-1846. Academic Search Complete.

Roberts-Cady, Sarah. “Against Retributive Justifications of the Death Penalty.” Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 41, no. 2, 2010, pp. 185-193. Academic Search Complete.

Pathos Article:
“Ex-Virginia Death-Row Prisoner With Strong Claim of Innocence Get Parole After 38 Years.” Death Penalty Information Center, 21 November 2017, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/ex-virginia-death-row-prisoner-with-strong-claim-of-in nocence-get-parole-after-38-years. Accessed 26 March 2022.