Mirror Sites:
CSUDH Habermas UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: April 17, 2001
Latest update: April 17, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

On Monday, April 16, 2001, Doris Lara wrote:

Hi Jeanne,

Thank you for the article that was posted on Tuesday called "The other side of the Wall." I found it very helpful. I have been researching the death penalty and the following statement, "The death penalty does not deter the criminal, it eliminates him," according to one critic of the practice. While the death penalty remains as politically popular as it ever has been, the facts show that its deterrent effect is minimal or non-existent. What are the arguments that demonstrate the inefectiveness of the death penalty? How is the continued existence of the death penalty harmful to our social fabric? " After reading a few of the articles on this site, I found a contradiction to this question. While research showed in earlier years that it was popular, recent problems, such as a mounting of wrongful and unfairly convicted defendants sentenced to death, the enormous costs associated with the death penalty and the fact that no real research substantiates that it does deter crime, have all ultimately depopularized the death penalty. I think in a new era, we are seeing that capital punishment aside from not proving it deters crime, is really unfair and continues to be discriminatory against the poor and deprived. A perfect example of the corruption within our system is the Rampart scandal. How can we continue a system that has no proven remedy, but to take a life away and say that it is all fixed and better. What we are doing is putting a bandage over it every time, meanwhile the wound keeps getting bigger. If there was real evidence that capital punishment deterred crime, that it somehow would bring peace to society, then I would be all for it. But in the last 3 decades, not one researcher has been able to prove it without a doubt. Until then, maybe we should look at other forms to deter crime, besides the taking of a life.

On Tuesday, April 17, 2001, jeanne responded:

Nice comment, Doris. Yes, the arguments about the death penalty do sometimes seem to be contradictory. One plausible explanation for this is that we have strong and perhaps appropriate feelings of revenge. But practically, we do need to explore realistically the true cost of the death penalty in terms of harm done to the society itself (in the use and abuse of violence), and in terms of the harm done through racial and gender distortions of the dominant discourse. What I'm trying to say is that my need for vengeance may cause me to accept the death penalty, yet if I do not deny the inequalities and injustices surrounding the death penalty, I must still lean towards its abolition.

I'd suggest you also take a look at "Death Penalty Can't Work in Imperfect System" By Paul Peter Jesep. Conservative approach.

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