Worth the price?

Few things affect us more than the loss of human life. For this reason, I can only imagine the kinds of emotions that must have often swirled through death-row chaplain Carroll Pickett’s head. This man often dealt with convicted murderers mere hours before they themselves were to die.\nOn Dec. 6, 1989, Pickett explained every step of the execution process – including the number of steps it took to get to the execution chamber – to yet another prisoner. The prisoner’s name was Carlos De Luna.\nSome inmates make final confessions, but De Luna still said he was innocent. The chaplain escorted him to the execution chamber and held De Luna’s hand as he laid down upon the gurney. Then the chaplain witnessed a horrible sight.\nIt took 10 minutes for De Luna to die, and during the first minute, he repeatedly lifted his head and looked at Pickett. The chaplain who had promised De Luna that the execution wouldn’t hurt was scarred.\nLast week, the Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky’s method of lethal injection did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Within hours of the decision, Virginia and Florida announced they were lifting their death penalty moratoriums.\nThe execution of De Luna highlights two of death penalty abolitionists’ most common arguments. One is that prisoners can occasionally suffer extreme pain. The other is that the legal process is often flawed. According to the Chicago Tribune, De Luna claimed all along that another man, Carlos Hernandez, was responsible for the murder with which he was being charged. Even though the prosecutors had dealt with Hernandez before, they tried to convince the jury he didn’t exist.\nFor me, one of the best arguments against the death penalty is its cost. According to the Economist, it costs North Carolinians $2 million more to execute a prisoner than to put the prisoner away for life.\nSince 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated, 19 people have been put to death in Indiana. Supporters of executions often claim their method acts as deterrence. But about 30 percent of murders remain unsolved in the United States. Clearly, taking the money we spend putting people to death and investing it in more police and detectives would make a better deterrent.\nArguments about the death penalty really come down to the issue of justice versus vengeance. Many claim the death penalty needs to exist as an expression of our ultimate outrage. Others even cite religious convictions. When a prosecutor in Texas was asked about his support for the measure, he actually quoted Genesis 9:6: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”\nValues and personal satisfaction at seeing a criminal executed hardly seem to excuse another criminal getting away because of police funding issues.\nPickett eventually became an anti-death penalty activist. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who voted to reinstate executions in 1976, said he thought the penalty was “anachronistic” in his written opinion on the Kentucky case.\nDo you really think executing prisoners is worth the price we pay?