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Running Head: MORALITY AND THE DEATH PENALTY

Morality and the Death Penalty

Aleah N. Morley
Saginaw Valley State University

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Death, as defined by the Meriam-Webster Dictionary, can be a permanent cessation of

all vital functions (2014). Although death is imminent and unscheduled, the Criminal Justice
system takes it upon itself to decide when, where, and how ones life will be taken. All other
factors aside, how is this act still viewed as moral? We like to look at our society as sophisticated
and just, but the system continues to execute its own citizens regardless of societal and economic
impacts. The death penalty is an immoral way to punish criminals for their offenses because
deterrence is only a theory, wrongful convictions occur, and botched executions still transpire in
the Criminal Justice System today.
The United States has been executing people since the early 17th century (Reggio, n.d.).
The death penalty is a topic as controversial as abortion and gay rights in America. Not only is
the penalty controversial but it has also evolved with time. There are many methods of execution
that have been used throughout history, including hangings, beheadings, and stoning ceremonies.
Morality is a major reason why law is constantly evolving in regards to methods of execution.
Why do we execute people in expensive facilities with expensive injections when the outcome is
the same? The answer is to make it seem a little more humane, a little more moral. The United
States tries to argue that replacing the gallows with a syringe makes killing a living person
acceptable, although even todays executions dont quite go according to plan. A study by
Unnever, Cullen, and Roberts exposes why people either favor or oppose the death penalty. After
evaluating statistics using NES, the authors determined that only 34.5% of Americans supported
the death penalty without reservation (2005). This means that the majority of the population

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either doesnt support the death penalty without reservation or isnt sure of their stance on the
death penalty.
It is a graver moral predicament for jurors who make decisions that sentence a person to
death, and still more so for executioners who society has assigned the task of taking a persons
life (Osofsky, Bandura, & Zimbardo, 2005, p. 357). This quote brought to attention not only the
moral battle that inmates and Americans fight, but also the workers involved in the execution
process. In a study done by Osofsky, Bandura, and Zimbardo, three different groups were looked
at and analyzed for disengagement of moral self-sanctions. We are only going to focus on the
Executioner, although prison guards and support teams were also evaluated. The study found that
executioners had the highest level of moral disengagement and guards had the lowest (2005).
These effects show that the majority of executioners become morally disengaged and put aside
their own emotions just to euthanize someone.
The death penalty is not a proven deterrent; it is a theory. Since deterrence is only a
theory, debaters find this difficult to use as an argument for or against capital punishment.
However, the National Research Council was asked to examine current scientific studies
regarding whether or not the death penalty served as a deterrent, and they concluded that there is
not enough evidence available to prove or disprove the theory (2012). In other words, the science
is still unclear and nobody really knows whether the threat of being executed would actually
prevent a murder. For those who support capital punishment and use deterrence as an argument,
wouldnt it be fair that such a harsh punishment shouldnt be inflicted without concrete evidence
supporting deterrence? In a report released by the National Research Council Division of

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Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, researchers stated that there was no credible
evidence of deterrence to violent crimes (2012). In conclusion, the argument of deterrence
becomes invalid.
Thus far, we have determined that capital punishment introduces moral struggle, is not
popularly supported, and is not a proven deterrent. According to Fox News, the last public
execution in the United States took place on August 14, 1936 in Owensboro, Kentucky. The
mans name was Rainey Bethea and he was accused of raping and strangling a wealthy, elderly,
white woman. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers and he was sentenced to be hung by the
neck until dead, the maximum punishment available. There were over 20,000 people in
attendance of the hanging who watched Bethea hang by his neck for ten minutes before being
pronounced dead (2011). One could argue that the purpose of a public execution is to serve as a
warning to others. Kentucky made an example out of Bethea because they hung him publicly,
and they were hoping to prevent any further rapes or murders by showcasing the consequences
of that crime. With only a small handful of people present in todays executions, they are a much
more intimate and private procedure. The prisoner is brought into the execution chamber where
he is restrained and intravenous tubes are inserted into each of the inmates arms. The execution
team, in a different room or out of sight, then waits for the cue, and when they receive the signal,
the cocktail of two or three different injections are sent down the IV into the inmates veins.
(Bosner, 2001). The whole procedure is routine and impersonal; just another day at the office for
these employees. The person is allowed to say a final statement before the injections are
administered to course through his veins causing cardiac arrest. But only a small group of people
witness the actual cessation of life. The people that the System is trying to show these

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consequences to dont even see the event; they only have news stories about these executions. If
the point of the execution is to cause deterrence and instill fear, shouldnt these executions be
public?
Perhaps there is a reason that these executions arent public anymore. In Oklahoma,
Clayton Lockett died after convulsing for 43 minutes on April 29, 2014. What was supposed to
be a quick, painless death quickly turned into a scene from a horror movie as Lockett convulsed
and felt his diaphragm paralyze as his breathing stopped. According to an autopsy, Locketts vein
exploded, and he died as a result of the injection, not the heart attack (Almasy, 2014). Imagining
how the public wouldve reacted to seeing such an agonizing death is difficult and some people
may have been thrilled to see a criminal finally brought to justice, but most citizens wouldve
been mortified. These executions are claimed to be more humane than a hanging or gassing, but
are they really? The topic of capital punishment is a sensitive topic, especially when the humane
process doesnt go according to plan. The Oklahoma case was such an alarming matter that
President Obama even stepped in and gave a statement to console the public. President Obama
described the execution as deeply disturbing and ordered action to be taken. The Attorney
General now has to conduct a policy review on executions as a result of the botched execution
(Baker, 2014). Is it proper execution policy to administer a potentially lethal concoction of
untested drugs to death row inmates?
According to CNN, there have been a total of 311 DNA exonerations in the United States
since forensic testing (2013). Three hundred and eleven defendants were released based on
evidence of their innocence after being found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The authority to

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take lives of citizens appears to be abused in some cases. To be wrongfully incarcerated for
years is a nightmare that most people cannot fathom, and sadly its a life that more than 300
citizens had to endure. The saying goes, dont do the crime if you cant do the time, but what
crime did those people commit to be imprisoned wrongfully? This demonstrates that our system
is imperfect. Innocent people end up in prison and are still being released even today, but victims
of wrongful execution cannot be exonerated.
In an article entitled Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants Who are Sentenced
to Death, the National Academy of Sciences determined that at least 4.1% of defendants
sentenced to death were actually innocent (2014). What is an acceptable percent of innocently
executed individuals in our system? How many unnecessary deaths will we morally justify until
the system is changed? Human errors cannot be avoided, and one human life is not worth
executing all offenders. Creating a system that guarantees no mistakes is impossible. Knowing
that we are all humans that make mistakes, the decision to take a life should not be a privilege
granted to our Government. Unfortunately, we are desensitized as a society. The personal facts of
execution are hidden to gain moral justification from citizens because thinking of wrongfully
executed people as a small percent is easier than to think of their names. In Davis v. State, 263
GA. 5, 7 (1993), a man from Georgia named Troy Davis was accused of murdering Mark Allen
MacPhail to avoid arrest. His case had no physical evidence; he was convicted on eyewitness
testimony. There were 9 eyewitnesses and 7 indentified Davis as the shooter (1993). In In re Troy
Anthony Davis, 577 U.S.__ 08-1443 (2009), Davis appealed his case to the Supreme Court, and
his execution was delayed while they considered his appeal. Davis claimed that it was not him,
but one of his companions who shot and killed MacPhail (2009). Davis is one person of 1,320 to

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be executed between 1976 and 2012 (Snell, 2014), but there is no way of telling how many other
innocent citizens were killed for another citizens actions.
Over the years, there has been an accusation of racial prejudice in the Criminal Justice
System. Many people have strong feelings that the System is harder on minorities than it is
whites. According to a journal article entitled Vigilantism, Current Racial Threat, and Death
Sentences, Jacobs, Carmichael, and Kent concluded that some judges cannot ignore social factors
that may influence an individual to act in a particular way (p. 673). This indicates that some
judges are not ruling according to each individual fairly. Deciding whether or not a person is a
product of their environment shouldnt be the job of judges. Individuals should be treated equally
across the board, without consideration of their environment. Humans have the ability to choose
their actions, and not one person should be stereotyped into a category by reason of
neighborhood reputation. Instead, we should be sentenced by factual evidence and witnesses.
The Death Penalty is an excessive punishment and the power to kill citizens should be
granted to no man. The power to take a life should not be the decision of the Criminal Justice
System or any other man. We can contain a criminal and prevent him from committing future
crimes with incarceration for life without parole for far cheaper and more humanely than taking
his life. To prove that somebody is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt has been proven to be
impossible. 311 inmates were released after being found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Capital Punishment has no place in todays civilized society.

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References
Almasy, S. (2014, September 8). Autopsy shows inmate in botched execution died from
Injection. Retrieved November 3, 2014. From
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/us/oklahoma-botched-execution/index.html
After 75 years, last public hanging haunts city. (2011. August 12). Retrieved November 3, 2014
From http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/12/after-75-years-last-public-hanging-hauntscity/
Baker, P. (2014, May 2). Obama Orders Policy Review on Executions. In The New York Times.
Retrieved November 6, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/us/flawedoklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling-obama-says.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=1
Bonsor, K. (2001). How Lethal Injection Works. HowStuffWorks.
Committee on Deterrence and the Death Penalty, Committee on Law and Justice, Divison on
Behavioral and Social Science and Education, National Research Council. Deterrence

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and the Death Penalty. (2012). Washington DC, DC: The National Academies Press.
Davis v. State, 263 GA. 5, 7 (1993)
Death. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/death
Exonerated: Cases by the numbers (2013, December 4). In CNN. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
Gross, S. R., O'Brien, B., Hu, C., & Kennedy, E. H. (2014, August 28). Rate of false conviction
of criminal defendants who are sentenced to death. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences of the United States of America PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, 111(20), 7230-7235. doi:10.1073/pnas.1306417111
Jacobs, D., Carmichael, J. T., & Kent, S. L. (2005, August). Vigilantism, Current Racial Threat,
and Death Sentences.American Sociological Review, 70(4), 656-677.
National Research Council Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. (2012,
April 18). Current research not sufficient to assess deterrent effect of the death penalty.
In nationalacadamies.org.
In re Troy Anthony Davis, 577 U.S.__08-1443 (2009)
Reggio, M. (1997). History of the Death Penalty. PBS.
Snell, T. L. (2014, May). Capital Punishment, 2012 Statistical Tables. In Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
Smith, Robert L. "Recalibrating Constitutional Innocence Protection." Washington Law
Review 87.1 (2012): 139-204. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.

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Unnever, J. D., Cullen, F. T., & Roberts, J. V. (2005). NOT EVERYONE STRONGLY
SUPPORTS THE DEATH PENALTY: Assessing weakly-held attitudes about capital
punishmentdagger]. American Journal of Criminal Justice : AJCJ, 29(2), 187-VII.
Osofsky, M.J., Bandura, A. & Zimbardo, P.G. (2005). The Role of Moral Disengagement in the
Execution Process. Law and Human Behavior, 29(4), 371-393