The Painful and Awful Discussion of the Death Penalty

[Sara Hickman]

One thing I've learned about being on stage, which is very parallel to life on many levels, is that no one likes feeling uncomfortable. An audience wants to be entertained. They want to feel good. They want to know that they matter.
Sometimes I cross the line into bringing a song on stage that, I hope, makes people think about an issue. It isn't easy. In fact, it can be scary.

Well, the same goes at a dinner party, or on a date, or sitting around a picnic table on a camp out with friends. Life is passing by! Let's enjoy it. I think many of us hold this philosophy dear.

However, there are some subjects in this world that need to be discussed, or dark shadows grow across our hearts, even if subtly, as a human collective. When one of us is wronged, we are all, at some level, wronged. When one of us causes
pain or maligns another, it creates discord and seeps into our feeling of well-being, or a communal "I'm ok, You're ok!" because we can see/feel: things are not ok.

The death penalty is one of those issues that just don't make us "feel good". Not to talk about, not to witness. It brings up anger, confusion, pain, tears.
Many people feel it is an issue best left to the justice system, or to the families affected by the murder. Newspapers and tv programs can fill us in on what is happening, if we want to find out. Why should we talk about it?

Here's why we need to start the dialogue on this issue:

We need to understand the process and what is happening in "our" name. How many of us really understand the judicial process that sends someone to death row? How is it different from state to state? Why is a person put to death? When? How come it takes longer for some to be put to death then others?

Innocent people have been on death row for over 20 years, and subsequently found innocent, freed, and released back into society. What have they lost that can not be replaced...And what about those people who are innocent and executed? They can never come back. Are there more innocent people on death row?

Is there, truly, closure when someone is put to death for a violent crime?

What are the spiritual ramifications of this subject?

Do you know anyone who has been murdered, been on death row, or witnessed a crime?

What do you think about this subject?

[Curt]

I think you missed the point, however, that the statement 'life is LIFE' is meaningless. It provides no information, and therefore no insight into the issues we're discussing.

If you were told that you could become very ill, or even die, if you drank poison, and you asked 'what's poison?', how satisfied would you be with the answer 'Poison is poison?'

Certainly that answer is correct: Anything, be it a word, a concept, an object, or whatever, IS itself. So what? You'll need a much more nuanced understanding of the concept of poison if you are to survive, and you'll need a much more nuanced understanding of the concept of life to form any rational moral framework around killing. After all, it's not like you can survive without ANY kind of killing, so what good is it to just say 'life is life?' That only leaves two possible moral positions: It's never OK to kill and it's always OK to kill.

What good is that?

[Grant Spendlove]

Well, I'll tell you - I've never been the victim of a violent crime. But I think if anyone harmed someone close to me, I'd want to hurt that person myself. It's just human nature. But if I did do that, it would be wrong. And nothing wrong ever turned out right.

[debby]

Death penalty is the very issue that helps prventing the murders caused by the culprits. It really raises the fear to be punished before one body thinks to commit any offense which can lead to the death of a person. The people must be taught about the effects of laws on their character and dignity, and how to win over the anger and revenge, the actual causes of any offence. sympathy words

[Curt]

The arguments over the death penalty deterring murder are based on the rationality of the would be murderer, and the certainty of being caught and executed. I think we can all agree that many, if not most, murders are committed while the perpetrator is less than rational. Even if the would-be murderer is rational, he/she will weigh the benefits of the act against the consequences AND the likelihood of being caught or getting away with it. Most rational murderers simply think they'll more than likely get away with it, so the severity of punishment is not a major factor in their decision. If getting caught was certain, much less severe punishment would serve just as well to deter action.

Besides, who's to say life in prison is preferable to execution? If you'll recall, Gary Gilmore, the guy who got capital punishment jump started again decades ago, was executed largely because he refused to appeal, preferring death to life in prison. Look at all the murder/suicides: Do you think the prospect of execution would have deterred the perpetrators?

Statistics overwhelmingly show that the death penalty does NOT deter crime, so why persist in having the moral conviction that it will?