Six Myths about the
Death Penalty

Fact #1: The death penalty is not a deterrent to murder.

Recent studies have found that 84% of criminologists surveyed[1] and a majority of Police Chiefs[2] believe that the death penalty is not effective at deterring crimes. Other studies have even found that the death penalty adds to the violent nature of society and increases the murder rates. 

Fact #2: The death penalty is not reserved for the worst criminals regardless of their race or class.

The death penalty is severely biased based on race and the ability to afford decent representation. Blacks represent 47% of the murder victims nationally, but since 1976 only 14% of the people executed were convicted of killing a black.[3]  Of the many death penalty cases that come before the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that she has yet to see one “in which the defendant was well represented at trial.”[4] 

Fact #3: Victims’ families do not all want the death penalty.

While some victims’ families call for vengeance, many others believe that no human being has the right to take the life of another. Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., says, “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that their killer deserves the death penalty.”

Fact #4: The Bible does not call for the death sentence when it says “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

The Hebrew text, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” was a limitation on mass killings among clans out of vindication and it was used only when two witnesses had seen the murder taking place. In the New Testament, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person….Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  It is no surprise then, that many denominations from the Catholic Church to the American Baptists are opposed to the death penalty.[5]

Fact #5: The death penalty costs more than life in prison.

Because of legal costs, capital punishment is a huge drain on state and county resources.  A 1992 study found that the cost of executing a criminal in Texas was 2.5 times more expensive than putting the criminal in prison for life.[6] 

Fact #6: Executions are not common throughout the world.

The death penalty has been abolished across Europe and many other countries.  If we judge ourselves by the company we keep, it is not a pretty picture.  Only 7 countries are known to have executed juvenile offenders since 1990: Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.[7]

 

Are you surprised by what you read above?  Are you amazed to learn that much of what we believe about the death penalty is myth and is not supported by the facts?  You are not alone.  Many people support the death penalty on the mistaken belief that it is just, fair and morally accepted.  The truth is that it is a failed policy that does not lead to a safer society but instead degrades society, wastes precious government resources, and does not deter crime.

But don’t believe us.  Look into the facts yourself.  Perhaps you will come to the same conclusions as these prominent thinkers: that the death penalty has serious flaws

Conservative Columnist George F. Will:

(commenting on a book by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer)

 “Capital punishment, like the rest of the criminal justice system, is a government program, so skepticism is in order. …  It is a catalog of appalling miscarriages of justice, some of them nearly lethal.  Their cumulative weight compels the conclusion that many innocent people are in prison, and some innocent people have been executed.”[8]

Rev. Pat Robertson: 

“I think a [death penalty] moratorium would indeed be very appropriate.”[9]

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

“If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed”[10]

 

What can you do?

ü      Get more information. 
A great source to start your search is The Death Penalty Information Center:    http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

ü      Contact your legislators and tell them it’s time to base policy on facts not myths
For contact information for your legislators (http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm)

ü      Support death penalty reform nationally and in Texas
Join the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty  (http://www.tcadp.org)
Support The Moratorium Campaign  (http://www.moratoriumcampaign.org)
Join the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (http://www.ncadp.org/)

ü      Get involved locally
Contact info@TCADP-BV.org for more information or visit our web site at http://TCADP-bv.org

 

 

Notes and references


[1] Radelet Michael E. and Ronald Akers. 1996. “Deterrence and the Death Penalty The Views of the Experts” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 87(1).

[2] 1995 Hart Research Poll of police chiefs.

[3] NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. 2003. “ Death Row U.S.A.” http://www.naacpldf.org/welcome/ldfpubs_deathrow.html

[4] Ginsburg, Ruth Bader. 2001. “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers In Pursuit of the Public Good: Access to Justice in the United States” Washington University Journal of Law & Policy vol. 7(1).

[5] Statistics compiled at ReligiousTolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut7.htm)

[6] C. Hoppe, "Executions Cost Texas Millions," The Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992, 1A

[7] Amnesty International "Indecent and Internationally Illegal: The Death Penalty Against Child Offenders" September 2002

[8] DNA, “The Death Penalty and Horrifying Mistakes”, by George F. Will, The Washington Post 4/6/2000.

[9] In speech to the College of William and Mary's Law School as reported by ChristianityToday.com (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/115/13.0.html)

[10] In a speech Monday to the Minnesota Women Lawyers Association as reported by CBSNews.com (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/03/supremecourt/main299592.shtml).