Judging the Life

Who Gets to Judge the Life?

 Martha Strong

A map of which states have the death penalty and
which do not. [3]

Many people know of the death penalty. They might know it by one of its synonyms even better. When looked up on thesaurus.com, the words that are listed are “capital punishment, death sentence, death warrant” to name a few. [1] After listing a few more the thesaurus lists the big, hot button synonym: legalized killing. [2] Many people across America are having a difficult time determining whether or not the death penalty is just due to the controversy over whether or not killing should ever be considered “legal”.  As a whole, it seems Americans can’t decide if capital punishment is ethical and therefore legal. Here in the United States, the federal government employs capital punishment for certain federal offenses and 33 states have the death penalty. [4] Many favor it because they believe the criminal deserves the same treatment perpetrated on their victim(s) while others find the law hypocritical; they feel killing someone for killing someone doesn’t make sense. Citizens seem to waver case by case on whether the death penalty is right since they judge the punishment based on their feelings at the time.

Hands of a man on death row. [5]

I believe that justice entail a bit of what Jeremy Bentham, founder of Utilitarianism, believes mixed with a dose of what Iris Marion Young believes, and topped with a heap of what I believe. Utilitarianism is a theory that is based on the view that “an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the performer of the action but also that of everyone affected by it” [6] I believe that justice demands looking at all sides of a situation, kind of similarly to what Bentham believes; however, it will not be with such an objective eye nor will it be trying to calculate pleasure or pain. Simply his style of looking at all angle will be continued, just looking for different results. The results will instead entail finding out all information of the story and making a decision from there. It also calls to looking at what would be the worst punishment and whether or not the defendant deserves it. Next, justice calls for examining each of our thoughts as Iris Young encourages in her article, “Justice and Politics of Difference”. She has this idea of something called “cultural imperialism”. She defines this as “the universalization of a dominant group’s experience and culture, and its establishment as the norm” [7]. We need to make sure our thoughts are clear of assumptions that have been put into our heads by society and resulted in cultural imperialism. Justice also demands that we look at who is deciding the outcome of these situations. Who gets to judge? Do they have any history with any matter of the subject? Will their cultural imperialism driven minds affect their decision in any way? I believe that simply no one is capable of actually deeming death unto another human, especially if that was the reason the defendant is on death row trial in the first place (which it most likely is).

This cartoon alludes to how easy it is to claim an unfair trial.
It also alludes to how easy it is to give an unfair trial. [8]

To satisfy this view of justice, I believe that the death penalty should be taken away. There is too much grey area to risk someone else’s life one. There is too much we don’t know nor will we ever know about each individual case that makes the jury too naïve and too risky to deem death unto another human. The death penalty should be replaced with life in jail in some form of solitary confinement. This would be, in a way, taking away someone’s life while still making them live through it. There is nothing worse than being trapped in your own thoughts by yourself with no one to talk it out with. Our human interaction is what makes us human, and by removing it, we are removing much of a criminal’s life, but in this way they have to suffer through it.

The Golden Rule. [9]

Some may argue that the defendant in the case of the death penalty deserves that which he did to the victim. It’s the golden rule. Often people are so disgusted with what the person on trial did that they would rather see him or her expunged from this very planet. They believe that there are perpetrators who have killed more people than their own one life is worth.

What the people who believe this don’t realize is that if these committers are sentenced to death, they escape all of the guilty feelings because they will be dead. Life in prison or even worse life in solitary confinement would give them the opportunity to think about what they have done for the rest of their life. Secluding the criminal would practically be taking away his or life anyway because what is life when there is nothing to do but sit and think by yourself?  The people who want the criminals sentenced to death want it for their own reasons; it would make them feel safer. But locking the defendant up with a life sentence would be just as safe and save the state or nation (depending on the jurisdiction of the case) a ton of money.

People also argue that solitary confinement is more of a torture than a punishment because studies show that we need human contact to survive. Studies have shown that after just one week of absolute solitude, the human brain slows down and that lengthy sentences can do damage similar to head trauma [10]. This is mostly seen in cases where defendants are locked up for 23 hours a day.

I suggest a lesser form of solitary confinement so that defendants cannot get out because of a torture accusation against the prison. Often, people envision "the hole" from "The Shawshank Redemption". "The hole" was a closet with no light and limited food. This is not what I envision for a death row substitution at all though- that is far too torturous. Instead of being locked away 23 hours a day, I suggest we follow a form similar to what they do at the Anoka County Jail, where inmate James Holmes was being held in solitary confinement prior to his trial. They allow their inmates up to 10 hours out of the cell [11].

Depending on the severity of the crime that the defendant has committed those social hours can be adjusted. It also may vary based on their behavior. If the inmate needs more time alone as a punishment for something they did while in jail that can be arranged, likewise if they are respectful, they can maintain their up to 10 hours of intensely monitored social time.  

If the death penalty were revoked, justice would be fulfilled based on the definition that all sides of a situation should be examined, including the side of our cultural imperialist minds that are determining what is just, and we must recognize that none of us are able to determine justice well enough to risk someone else's life on it.






[1] Death Penalty, Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, http://thesaurus.com/browse/death+penalty?s=t. 

[2] Ibid.
[3] Death Penalty By State, The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty, http://armbandprotest.net/2012/06/03/death-penalty-by-state/.
[4] States With and Without the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Center, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty.
[5]Death Penalty, Congregation of St. Joseph, http://www.csjoseph.org/deathpenalty.aspx.
[6] Utilitarianism, Britannica Encyclopedia, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620682/utilitarianism.
[7]Iris Young, Iris Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1990), 58-59, https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/127b7b8a-9c0b-4ce2-859a-9c949e578b31/Week%208/Young%2C%20_22Five%20Faces%20of%20Oppression_22%20_J_tPoD%20Ch.%202_.pdf.
[8] Connecticut Becomes the 17th State to Repeal the Death Penalty, Freedom Phoenix, http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/109563-2012-04-12-connecticut-becomes-17th-state-to-repeal-death-penalty.htm.
[9] Golden Rule Poster, Swissmiss, http://www.swiss-miss.com/2010/12/golden-rule-poster.html.
[10] Solitary Confinement: No Way Out of the Monster Factory, Nightline from ABC News, Youtube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lVqIe_RoIQ.  
[11] Good Question: What Is It Like in Solitary Confinement?, CBS Minnesota, http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/7540353-good-question-what-is-it-like-in-solitary-confinement/.