“An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.” – Mahatma Gandhi 

I interviewed ten Bothell Cougars on their thoughts on the most severe punishment in the USA, execution. Here is how they identified their opinions: 2 for the death penalty, 2 against it, 1 undecided, and 5 mixed. Many of the people interviewed explicitly stated that they had never really thought about the death penalty before. Most people brought up instances where they believed the death penalty would be justified. When asked whether or not the death penalty itself was ethical, similarly unsure responses were given. Not everyone needs to be an expert on execution. But it remains an alarming fact that the ethics of such a drastic measure are not given much thought. Before going further into discussion, it is important to note that currently the death penalty is banned in the State of Washington but remains federally legal. Additionally, the argument here will be against the death penalty and reflective of my own opinions.

The first point against the death penalty is its actual methods. Over the past 200 years, America has transitioned from hanging to the electric chair to gas chambers to lethal injection. Every single one of these methods is subject to botching. The prisoner’s neck in the noose does not always snap on the first drop. Multiple shocks from the electric chair can be required to induce death, creating immeasurable suffering in the process. Some prisoners have even caught fire during the process of electrocution. Gas chambers cause excruciating feelings of strangulation before finally ending life. Prison staff, untrained in any sort of medicine, cannot find veins and rely on Google searches to create drug cocktails for execution; unsurprisingly, pharmaceutical companies do not allow the selling of drugs to kill people.

Any method of killing someone that does not guarantee instant death and creates pain is cruel. The 8th amendment of our constitution (cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted) should protect us from state-sanctioned killings–execution–but the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for its entire existence.

Aside from the lack of a consistently successful execution method, the government also lacks consistency with its prescription of the death penalty, as not all murderers receive the death penalty. The course of justice depends on the circumstances and nature of the crime, of course, but any level of arbitrary assignment of death to criminals opens the door to a barbaric and similarly arbitrary government. The justice system is not 100% foolproof either. According to innocenceproject.org, 4% of death row inmates have been exonerated since 1973. That should be 0%. No right-minded person would stand to potentially sentence an innocent person to death.