Political prowess: Death penalty
By Jessica Mae, Behind the Scenes Staff Writer
May 20, 2007 | 8:05 a.m.
The death penalty in America has been contested since the foundation of the justice system and the allocation of punishment for crimes. Students at Ohio University weighed in on this dramatic debate, reflecting the deeper tensions across the nation.
The videotaped execution of Saddam Hussein is perhaps one of the most famous cases of capital punishment, as it brought the issue back into discussion not only in politics but in a cultural light as well. Here at OU, opinions on either side are fairly evenly distributed, as indicated in a survey of 64 students, where 29 responded that they support the death penalty and 35 favor life in prison.
Student Expressions
Sophomore Sarah Kostiha is firm in her belief that capital punishment is just and life in punishment is a poor substitute for serious offenders.
“If someone has inflicted death on someone else and they are guilty, they should not have the right to live or deserve to live,” Kostiha said.
Kostiha believes that the alternative to the death penalty (life in prison) is giving that criminal a second chance, which he or she doesn’t deserve.
“They (the person who committed the crime) have the luxury of walking the earth; they still are an evil person. I feel prison is even a second chance. Prison might be a nicer place or a nicer life then they had before,” Kostiha commented.
Kostiha ends by asking those in favor of life in prison, “Life is such a precious thing, if a person takes that away from someone then they do not have much respect for it, so why should they live?”
Graduate student Kevin Kondik speaks out strongly against the death penalty, as he feels it is a waste of money and human life.
“Even before considering the moral issues involved in executing someone, I think it is a waste of money. All the litigation that goes into appealing a death sentence and all the procedures you [the government] have to go through in order to get someone killed costs a lot,” Kondik said.
Despite Kondik’s concerns from the economic standpoint of capital punishment, he also feels that killing someone - including someone found guilty of murder - is wrong.
“I think the death penalty is barbaric. People do horrible things but that doesn’t give us the right to take their life away,” Kondik added.
Kondik’s other justification for opposing the death penalty is that it just does not work.
“The death penalty doesn’t act as a deterrent. Everybody knows that if you kill someone in cold blood, you could very likely get the death penalty. But does that stop murder? No.”
The Parties Speak Out
The President of OU Republicans, Jordan Carr, doesn’t buy the argument that it costs more to execute a prisoner than to hold him or her in prison for life.
“I find that argument hard to believe because it’s our tax dollars that pay for someone to be in prison and that includes their food and state-provided lawyer, and if you provide that for someone for 10-30 years, that adds up to a lot,” Carr said.
Carr comments that with every political issue in America right now, there are dissenting opinions within the party, but for the most part, the Republican Party is in favor of the death penalty.
“The motto is ‘you do the crime, you do the time;’ if someone commits murder, the apt punishment could be life in prison and even the death penalty. The punishment should fit the crime and if the crime is murder, we should take that criminal’s life,” Carr said.
While this view may seem rather harsh, Carr adds that our justice system allows for many opportunities for the death penalty sentence to be overturned through multiple appeals and the work of court-appointed attorneys.
President of OU Democrats, Rob Dorans, disagrees with Carr and finds (in accordance with the majority view of the Democratic Party) that the death penalty is wrong.
“Democrats are normally anti-death penalty and the primary reason for this view is a moral one and just that taking someone’s life, even a criminal's, is wrong,” Dorans stated.
Dorans personally shares in the view with Kondik that the death penalty does not deter crime, and therefore begs the question, why have it?
“I don’t think when someone commits a crime, in the back of their mind they’re thinking, ‘I hope I don’t get caught because of the death penalty,’ so if it does nothing to stop crimes. Then you’re basically killing people for the sake of killing people,” Dorans said.
As millions around the world watched the execution of Saddam Hussein, the question, “Am I in favor of the death penalty?” may have crossed many minds. Some answered with a resounding “Yes,” while others cried moral injustice and asked questions of their own about the nature of capital punishment.
The next and final article examines gay marriage.