IndyLaw Net is an independent weblog written and managed by students and alumni of the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, serving the IU Law-Indy community.

We welcome and encourage comments... Please check out ILN's commenting policy

Editor-in-chief, webmaster:
Lucas Sayre

Associate editors:
Karl Born

Contributors:
Karl Born
Brian Deiwert
Lucas Sayre
Kelly Scanlan
Nathan Van Sell

Links:

IU-Indy Law
Prof. Jeff Cooper
Daily Contentions
In the Agora
Commentary Track
Justin Gifford
Jelly Beans & Corduroy
Joe Delamater
Just Playin'
Obiter Dictum
Ryan Strup
The Sleepy Sage
Waiting for the Punchline
Myron's Mind
TV Law
Radio-N8

Other Law Students
IrishLaw
The Rattler
Ambivalent Imbroglio
John Branch
Phil Carter
De Novo
Paul Gutman
Kathryn Janeway
Jewish Buddha
The Kitchen Cabinet
Law Dork
letters from babylon
Letters of Marque
Mixtape Marathon
Notes from the Underground
Andrew Raff
Sua Sponte
Three Years of Hell
Unlearned Hand
Waddling Thunder

Legal Academics
Jack Balkin
Jeff Cooper
Rick Hasen
LawMeme
Lawrence Lessig
Eric Muller
Glenn Reynolds
D. Gordon Smith
Lawrence Solum
Peter Tillers
The Volokh Conspiracy
David Wagner
Tung Yin
White Collar Crime prof blog

Other Academic-types
Andrew R. Cline
Crooked Timber
Brad DeLong
Daniel W. Drezner
Joseph Duemer
Amitai Etzioni
Rebecca Goetz
Kieran Healy
Mark A. R. Kleiman
Brett Marston
History News Network
Michael Tinkler

Other Lawblogs
Program for Judicial Awareness
Howard J. Bashman
Stuart Buck
Janell Grenier
Sam Heldman
Tech Law Advisor
Denise Howell
Ken Lammers
Legal Reader
Math Class for Poets
Nathan Newman
Statutory Construction Zone
Indiana Law Blog
Timothy Sandefur
Fritz Schranck
Stop the Bleating
TalkLeft
Pejman Yousefzadeh

Legal News
The Jurist
CNN - Law
FindLaw
Law.com
lexisONE

Sapere aude - dare to be wise
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Posted 6:07 PM by Anonymous
Capital Punishment
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has sparked a healthy debate on capital punishment throughout the blogosphere. It's a re-hash of all the old arguments you've been hearing for years, but they're intelligent and gifted writers so it's worth checking out. Here's Joshua Davey's original post, a clarification, Joe Carter's thoughs, Jeremy Frank's opinion, a view from Emily Zimmer, and Joshua's repsonse to Emily. These bloggers, many of whom are law students, are also all Christian. You'll find a good diversity of opinion though.

Anytime a discussion arises concerning capital punishment, it must be made clear that there are two very separate arguments against it. The first is a moral one. The second is that the state has a right execute some people, but that the system is somehow flawed (innocent are punished, etc.). Often those opposed on moral grounds will use the second argument in combination with the first. Both arguments can be persuasive, and no matter where you stand on the issue, I think you can agree that it's a very sensible position to have.

A fact that is often lost in the shuffle is that capital punishment is more expensive than life in prison. In fact, it's four to six times more expensive than life imprisonment1. It doesn't take a genius to understand why. Court costs, judicial time, appeals, and the costly nature of "death row" facilities all make the process expensive. It would be less costly to give an eight-teen year old life imprisonment without parole, rather than give him the death penalty.

Since the above bloggers are Christian, I'll note that the Christian and Jewish Holy texts clearly endorses the death penalty in numerous places. God instituted the death penalty through His covenant with Noah (Gen. 9) and made it a centerpiece in Mosaic law (Exodus 21). Although the sixth commandment says "thou shalt not kill," it's literal translation is "thou shalt not murder" (an important difference). Further, one could make the argument that Jesus endorsed the punishment (Matthew 15:3-9) and that the apostle Paul, who was wrongly sentenced to death, agreed he should be executed if he did indeed commit the crime (Acts 25). In spite of all this, the Holy text is also quite clear about the possibility, potential, and utter importance of changed hearts and saved souls. Given that it's cheaper anyway, discarding its use must be considered. In sum, I think the Christian Bible permits its use in certain circumstances, but a whollistic reading does not command its use.

As for one of the most controversial arguments, deterrence, I really have trouble trusting any sort of evidence that claims capital punishment does or does not deter crime. Studies of that nature can't be carried out ceteris peribus, rendering deterrence a nominal argument. Related to this point, for many capital punishment is an easy way out. I would much prefer them to sit in a cell block for the rest of their years to ponder what they've done. But here I must offer a caveat. I have not been inside prisons much at all, save for a brief school tour once of the county jail (although I did work in a probation department for quite some time). People often tell me that they've become too comfortable. If this is true, and I haven't really seen solid evidence to suggest it is, then we might need consider repealing some conditions, such as satellite television, etc.

Another argument also used against the penalty's use is its supposed inequitable use among the races. African Americans account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, but represent more than 40 percent of those on death row and one in three of those executed. Yet blacks were over 7 times more likely than whites to commit homicide in 2000 (and that's a year when black murders were nearly half their previous levels). So given the difference in murder rates, one would expect blacks to make up a higher percentage of those on death row. In fact, given these numbers, capital punishment does indeed appear to be racist - against whites. I know that some may call me racist for pointing out such a thing, but I believe the initial accusation to be racially charged on half-truths that don't tell the whole story.

Nevertheless, I find the case against the death penalty to be more persuasive than for it, both on practical and principled grounds. This certainly isn't cut and dry, and both "sides" of this issue have very sensible arguments. My apologies that this post is overly simplified, but such is the nature of blogging.

1 McLaughlin, Abraham. "98 Executions in '99 Re-ignites a Capital Debate." The Christian Science Monitor. 27 December 1999.

As seen in the
National Jurist
and on
FOXNews

Indianapolis Help Wanted




Archives:
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
April 2007
May 2007
March 2010






Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com