There’s Absolutely No Good Argument for Keeping the Death Penalty
Virginia recently became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty. That’s a good step — we should end the barbaric punishment everywhere else too.
A state that asserts a right to take the life of someone who no longer threatens the lives of others is asserting something like ownership over its subjects. That’s an abomination that no democratic society should tolerate. (Wikimedia Commons)
In March, Virginia became the first state in the South to abolish capital punishment. Previously, more people had been executed in Virginia than in almost any other state since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973. (Texas holds the record.)
Many death penalty abolitionists now feel a sense of hope that the writing is on the wall for the barbaric practice everywhere else. Robert Dunham, head of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that there is “a sense of inevitability” that the punishment will disappear. “Maybe not this year, and maybe not next year, but there is a sense that it is going to happen.”
I hope he’s right. But after the recent headline-grabbing spike in the violent crime rate, there’s a chance that this horrific practice might hang on for longer than we’d like to think. Defenders of the death penalty will argue that it’s an effective deterrent, or that even if it isn’t, it’s important that murderers “get what they deserve.”
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