A Moratorium Isn't Enough: Oregon Needs to Abolish the Death Penalty
There's no good reason for the death penalty.
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Kevin Frazier edits The Oregon Way and attends the UC Berkeley School of Law. He graduated from the University of Oregon and previously worked for the state government.
No state should be in the business of executing its people. That’s why Virginia, last week, joined 22 other states that have abolished the death penalty. Meanwhile, Oregon, along with California and Pennsylvania, have moratoritums on the use of the death penalty. It’s time our state formalized its opposition to the inhumane practice of killing its own residents.
There are three big justifications for why we punish crime: a utilitarian approach, a retributivist approach, and what my Criminal Law professor deemed the “cousins” of retributivism—vengeance and social cohesion. Let’s focus on the big two: utilitarianism and retributivism, assuming most Oregonians fall into one of these camps. Whichever camp aligns with your views, it’s clear that the death penalty is not serving its purpose.
A utilitarian justification for crime is forward looking, asking “what will this punishment do to the state of utility in the future?” A more effective punishment is one that generates more utility. For instance, restorative justice models tap into utilitarian-type thinking by focusing on the unique circumstances of each case and determining what punishment would help the victim(s) and community feel whole and reconcile with the perpetrator and to allow for their productive return to society. With this approach in mind, the death penalty only diminishes utility.
For one, the death penalty is extremely costly with little to no benefits in terms of future deterrence of crime. Research conducted by Aliza Kaplan, Professor at the Lewis & Clark Law School, and others revealed that cases resulting in life with or without parole cost taxpayers about $335,000; comparatively, death penalty cases average $1.4 million.
Given these high costs, a utilitarian would need to see tremendous benefits to justify the extensive use of taxpayer dollars. Yet, an international study indicated that the death penalty has no detectable impact on deterrence. In fact, nations that abolish the death penalty commonly report a decrease in their murder rates. These findings align with reports on murder rates in states that have abolished the death penalty.
There’s obviously much more that could be said about why the death penalty fails a utiliarian analysis. For the sake of brevity, I’ll touch on one more: the perceived legitimacy of our democracy. As we’ve seen in the last few years, people are rightfully questioning whether our local, state, and federal governments are appropriately using their police power.
When the government executes its own, this is more likely to not to fuel a belief that the state is not looking out for the best interests of its residents. It’s true that voters in many states, including Oregon have often supported the death penalty, but democracy is more than votes. Democracy is also about respect for the individual and human rights. The death penalty, by sanctioning incredible state authority, chips away at the idea that government works for the people, and not the other way around.
A retributivist justification approves of punishment suited to what the perpetrator “deserves.” In the most basic sense, this is the sort of “eye-for-an-eye” response to just punishment. But, given all we know about how unfairly, unjustly, and unethically the death penalty is applied, can anyone truly deserve a punishment that is frequently based on race, rather than the crime at hand?
According to the ACLU, “[p]eople of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of total executions since 1976 and 55% of those currently awaiting execution.” What’s more, again based on ACLU analysis, “five to ten percent of all death row inmates suffer from a severe mental illness.” Do these individuals truly deserve death for their crimes? I think the people of Oregon know the answer to that question.
No matter how you justify the punishment of crime, the death penalty is unacceptable. Its racist application, its lack of deterrence, and its corrosive impact on our democracy make it unquestionably obvious: Oregon must do more than a moratorium, Oregon must abolish the death penalty.
This isn’t a new idea, a Democratic idea, nor a Republican idea. Way back in the late 1950s, Republican-turned-Democrat Robert D. Holmes, while governor of Oregon, vehemently opposed the death penalty and called for its abolition.
It is my feeling that state government has an obligation to be civilized, even in the exercise of its obligation to protect society from desperate and murderous criminals. And I find nothing enlightened religion or the ethics of modern civilization that justifies an 'eye-for-an-eye' philosophy. Thus, inasmuch as capital punishment neither prevents murder, nor edifies and refines the society that exacts the death penalty, I recommend strongly the immediate repeal of the capital punishment law.
What was true then is true now: there’s nothing that about the death penalty that refines society.
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I disagree there is a death penalty for a reason and one is determined deterrence. This article is riddled with half truths and states the death penalty is racist. I find this ridiculous since the numbers based on the ACLU are often misleading based on their policies and political agenda so try again with a new argument. And just because other people disagree with an political opinion doesn’t make them racist.
What crock of California shit!! Stay in your lane! Leave Oregon alone!! Execute every single person on death row in Oregon!! It’s law for a reason! Victims rights! Debt to society! What is some puke from Berkeley California spewing his communist poison for anyway? Oregon voters overwhelmingly voted to execute death row inmates in Oregon long ago! It was put to a vote! And just like metro! If they don’t like the voters decisions they just overrule the voters decision and do it anyway!! Enough California!! Stay out of Oregon and stay out of Oregon politics!!