
It’s no secret that the United States’ criminal justice system is imperfect at best and totally broken at worst. There are countless reasons for this: systemic racism, police corruption, the influence of money, etc. I could go on. These factors affect what happens to each defendant, and they result in instances of unfairness, despite the supposed obligation of a fair trial.
Now imagine when that unfairness is applied to something as final as death. The death penalty is not practiced everywhere, but is still legal in twenty-seven U.S. states. It’s usually given to people who commit crimes like murder. Thus, it’s easy to advocate for it, since we (rightfully) see murderers as horrible people.
But have you ever paused to think about the real consequences of the death penalty?
Execution of innocent people
Unlike staying in jail, once you’re executed, there’s no coming back. You can’t be revived. “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime,” they say. But what about when you haven’t done the crime?
Even one case of false imprisonment–let alone being put on death row–is one too many, but there are so many stories of people being put on death row who turn out to be innocent. For some, it’s too late, and they are executed before evidence of their innocence is brought to light. One study shows that 1 in 25 people put on death row may, in fact, be innocent. That’s 4.1% of inmates.
Especially vulnerable to not only being falsely accused of crimes, but also sent to death row for them, are people of color, particularly black people, and especially when the victim of the crime is white. That means that just by existing as a non-white person, you are more likely to get convicted and put to death for a crime you didn’t commit. Where’s the justice in that?
The answer for mentally ill perpetrators
When you commit a crime as heinous as murder, there should be some sort of consequence for that, as I’m sure most people would agree. However, we cannot, in good faith, treat the mentally sound and mentally ill the same way. There’s a reason why the plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity” exists, after all.
One particular story concerning this has stuck with me since I read about it. Lisa Montgomery, a woman who murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett in 2004 and kidnapped her fetus, faced execution by lethal injection on January 13, 2021.
Without any details, you might agree with the decision to execute Lisa. However, if we take a look into Lisa’s life, a lot of things come to light. The details are quite upsetting, so I won’t go into them graphically in this article. To summarize, as a child, Lisa suffered from brain damage after one particularly violent incident with her abusive stepfather, who would abuse both her and her mother frequently.
Her stepfather also repeatedly sexually assaulted her and even brought in others to do the same. Her mother joined in on this, trafficking Lisa to men who came over to fix things for her, like plumbers and electricians.
Clearly, Lisa’s childhood was a horrific and traumatic one, and resulted in her mental instability. Does it excuse what she ended up doing to Bobbie Jo Stinnett, an innocent woman and soon-to-be mother? Of course not. Just because Lisa was mentally ill doesn’t mean she would freely get to walk the streets
However, it also doesn’t mean she should have been executed for her crime. Instead, she should have gone to a mental institution for help. This happens too often to people who are mentally ill. They’re often treated the same as those who are mentally sound when what they really need is help, not punishment, and certainly not death.
These two reasons alone are enough for me to be against the death penalty. We might find some sort of relief and catharsis when those who commit horrific crimes are put to death, but there are just too many instances of innocent and mentally ill people wrongfully dying to ignore. Until the criminal justice system actually upholds justice and is unquestionably fair, capital punishment will always be a crime itself in my eyes.