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The question of whether capital punishment is a justifiable is very difficult. The decision to end life is not one to make lightly but there are times when the actions of an individual are so abhorrent that the life of that individual no longer has enough value to outweigh the impact of their actions.
Complete removal of the death penalty as a punishment for actions that unlawfully end a person’s life would tie the hands of our justice system and allow murders to have greater power than the legal system that is in place to protect and represent citizens. The rules written by those we have collectively empowered to govern our society do not create our morality but there are certain standards accepted in this culture, one of those rules is that of not taking a person’s life without due process through law.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun stated that the “death penalty experiment has failed” since there were two requirements that could never be made compatible, individualized sentencing (mercy) and being fair and consistent with punishment (retribution). While these two concepts may seem oppositional, they are not impossible to combine.
To begin, it is essential that each situation involving the use of the death penalty be handled in a manor specific to the circumstances. Each case has data specific to it. Treating a 13 year old that found his fathers gun and accidentally shot and killed his sister needs to be treated differently that the man that breaks into a sorority house to rape a young college student and then kills her while strangling her to prevent her from screaming. While both cause the end of another person’s life, one is deliberately harmful and deserves no mercy, while the other was an unfortunate event with no intention.
In addition, it is essential that the retribution is fair and consistent. Two people having committed similar crimes without mitigating circumstances affecting one or the other should receive similar...