The Growing Controversy Around the Death Penalty

  

Other than the tiny island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the US is now the only country in the Western Hemisphere that executes its citizens.  This week the death penalty is back in the news after a botched execution in Oklahoma.

In the United States about 58% of Americans say they favor the death penalty according to a 2012 Gallup poll.   The US Supreme Court ruled in the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia case that the death penalty does not violate the 8th Amendment's guarantee that all American's are free from cruel and unusual punishment -as long as the punishment isn't cruel.  Americans may point to Saudi Arabia's beheading of prisoners, Iran's hanging of gay teens, and China's harvesting of executed prisoners' organs as barbaric, but unlike almost all of Europe and the rest of the Americas where the death penalty has been stopped or abolished, Americans still support the death penalty as long as it is nice and peaceful.  It's fine if the government kills a convicted criminal when they give him a final meal, shoot him up with drugs, and the condemned just doesn't wake up from a peaceful slumber.

But now the European manufacturers of the drugs formerly used for lethal injections have cut off America's execution industry.  So states are scrambling to find alternatives whose less than peaceful outcomes are making Americans squeamish.  In January Ohio tried a new lethal injection cocktail to execute Dennis McGuire.  It took him more than 20 minutes to die as he writhed strapped to a bed wheezing and gasping for air in "agony and terror" according to his children who are now suing Ohio for torturing their father to death.

This January Oklahoma also executed Michael Lee Wilson whose final words were that his entire body was on fire -something the supposed drug cocktail used should not have produced.  The cocktail Oklahoma uses is supposed to put a prisoner to sleep before the final drug shuts down the prisoner's heart.  This final drug, however, is known to create an excruciating burning if a person is not unconscious.

This week Oklahoma again botched an execution.  Instead of peacefully falling into eternal sleep to pay for what admittedly were horrific crimes, Clayton Lockett writhed in agony for 40 minutes while one of his veins exploded.  The executioners stopped the execution but then Lockett died of a heart attack.  At least some accounts say his heart literally EXPLODED in his chest.  Unable to find a suitable vein in an arm or leg, the drugs were administered through Lockett's groin.  

Now these botched executions are adding fuel to the debate around the death penalty.  Will public opinion and the American courts continue to support the death penalty if America grows squeamish about the government executing citizens whose lives end in agony?  If convicted of a crime, would you rather be guillotined?  shot?  or writhe in pain for 40 minutes strapped to a gurney?  

If you commit murder in the US, data show you are more likely to be executed if you are male and black.  Is this fair?

Also, where you are convicted of a capital offense in the United States, however, will dictate if a) you will receive the death penalty, b) if it will likely be carried out, and c) how it will be carried out.  Is this fair?

By far you are most likely to be executed in the United States' execution capital per capita:  Oklahoma.  Since 1976 Oklahoma has executed 1 Oklahoman for ever 36,000 residents.  When Danish drug manufacturers cut off selling the drug most commonly used for lethal injection in the US because of its use in executions, Oklahoma and other states shifted to finding other lethal injectables.  The state even went so far as to try to hide what drugs it is using and who is making these drugs.  It is likely more lawsuits and more debate will be forthcoming on this issue.

Death Penalty Abolition

Since the US Supreme Court's 1976 rulings allowed the resumption of executions, 8 states have abolished their death penalties either through legislative or state court rulings.  

Where You Would Be Most Likely to Face the Death Penalty?

If convicted of a capital crime, where would you be most likely to face the death penalty?  The answer is an easy one:  Texas!  The Lone Star State accounts for more than a third of all people executed in the United States since 1976.  Of the 1,352 people executed since 1976, 506 of these executions have been in Texas.

In fact, half of all executions occur in just three states:  Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma.  Of the big three executor states, though, Oklahoma -with a population of under 4 million- has the most executions per capita.  Oklahoma has 36,000 people per 1 execution compared to the much larger states of Texas and Virginia with 51,500 people per one execution and 74,400 people per one execution respectively.

A handy cartogram shows how the states with the most executions out of total executions.

Execution Methods

While the majority of states have a death penalty, methods of execution vary.  The Danish company which made the drugs used by most lethal injection method states recently was barred by Danish law from exporting these drugs to countries with a death penalty -including the United States.  This has left states scrambling to find new, deadly execution drugs.

Most states with a death penalty include lethal injection as an execution option.  Most also allow some other type of method ranging from electrocution to the gas chamber to firing squad.

The Death Penalty

Source:  2012, Gallup

The majority of Americans support the death penalty, but in most states it is rarely used.  Let's look a bit deeper into the issue of death penalties as part of my 10 Commandments posts on killings and the "culture of life."

As of 2011, 18 states have abolished their death penalties.  

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Most theologians interpret this commandment to deal with murder rather than other forms of killing. Wikipedia has a handy entry outlining the history and interpretation of this verse.

Jews and Christians alike -as well as every state and the Federal government- prohibit murder.  (There isn't much to map in terms which states have legalized murder or not. <wink>)

Among Christians, the broader context of issues of life and death vary with different denominations and branches holding contrasting views.  The Catholic Church has one of the most logically elegant approaches by opposing a range of actions viewed as ending or preventing life:

• opposing contraceptives
• opposing abortion
• opposing the death penalty
• opposing euthanasia  

The later Protestant denominations which broke off from the Catholic Church in past 500-600 years take a variety of approaches.  Some more conservative churches oppose abortion but support the death penalty.  Some more liberal ones oppose the death penalty but leave abortion up to parishioners as a matter of individual conscience.  Quaker Christians are pacifists.  Other Christians serve in the military.  So while I've had Christian friends explain these differences by arguing their Christianity is the correct one and that the other Christian approaches are misinterpretations, it is clear there is no single Christian viewpoint on these issues.

What Do Americans Believe Is Morally Acceptable?

Source:  2012, Gallup

Gallup has an interesting poll from 2012 looking at various issues in terms of whether respondents believe they are morally acceptable.  Keep in mind, these numbers reflect what people feel regarding the morality of an issue -not whether they should be legal or not.  

The majority of Americans -including American Catholics- believes using birth control involving contraceptives is morally acceptable.  The majority also supports the use of the death penalty.

While only 38% of Americans view abortion as morally acceptable, 58% of Americans still support using stem cells harvested from human embryos in research.  Cloning -whether of animals or humans- is decidedly unpopular.  

The data on suicide as a morally acceptable choice also shows some mixed feelings.  Only 14% of Americans believe suicide is morally acceptable, but those numbers jump to almost a majority -45%- when asked about doctors assisting patients to commit suicide.  Perhaps respondents view doctor-assisted suicide as ending pain for a terminally ill person and view suicide as more a choice driven by depression or life circumstances that can be changed?  I can hypothesize, but I do not actually know from this one poll.