Arbitrary, racially biased, and more likely to result in the execution of the poor than of the rich, the administration of capital punishment in the United States flies in the face of our most fundamental notions of justice. The death penalty poses the risk of cruel and unusual punishment. And, as illustrated by the execution of Troy Davis despite the uncertainty about his guilt, capital punishment continues to pose the risk that innocent people will be killed.
Most nations recognize the inherent problems and injustice in the death penalty. There is a clear international trend toward abolition, and 139 countries are abolitionist in law or in practice. No country may join the 27-member European Union unless it abolishes the death penalty.
We don't even need to explore the overwhelming evidence that capital punishment fails as a deterrent or that the cost of the death penalty to California taxpayers alone is estimated at over $100 million every year. Georgia's execution of Troy Davis is yet another reminder that capital punishment is a barbaric act, not worthy of the justice system of a great democracy.
Source: MPRNews, Rosalyn Park, October 5, 2011 - Rosalyn Park is research director of the Minneapolis-based Advocates for Human Rights, which describes its mission as "to implement international human rights standards in order to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law." She is a source in MPR's Public Insight Network (Minnesota Public Radio).
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