I categorically disagree with the death penalty as I believe
it is merely a form of vengeance. In this essay I will outline the thinking
that has led me to this conclusion.

A common argument in opposition to the death penalty is that
if someone is wrongly convicted they will die unjustly. This is a valid point,
and I would like to take it further. We as individuals cannot stop the death
penalty from being applied to ourselves unjustly. One cannot be a conscientious
objector to the death penalty; a core concept of law is that everyone in
society is the same before the law, regardless of their beliefs. If sentenced
one cannot simply say that they do not believe in the death penalty and then
avoid it. It is too late by then and the sentence is imposed upon them. One can
appeal of course, but these appeals introduce problems of their own for both
the person appealing and the court system as a whole as they clog it. Society’s
decision to maintain the death penalty denies those wrongly convicted of their
right to life. It is tyranny of the masses as a majority of people are
violating the rights of a minority simply because they are in the majority.

The death penalty is often supported by the claim that it is
a deterrent. I believe that this idea is flawed. If the death penalty is meant
to act as a deterrent then why do executions take place behind closed doors?
Would it not be more logical to have executions take place in public and
broadcast them on television or stream them on the internet? Executions take
place behind closed doors because society is ultimately ashamed because it
knows that the death penalty is a form of institutionalized revenge.

One of the most interesting arguments in support of the
death penalty is that it is cheaper to execute someone than to provide
amenities to them for a life sentence. I find this argument to be flawed.
Firstly, it operates under the assumption that what is most economically viable
is automatically the right thing to do. We must remember that we are talking
about people here, not the cost of manufacturing garden furniture. Cost
minimization to the determent of citizens should not feature in a government’s
organizational objectives. Secondly, it oversimplifies the problem. The
financial cost of the death penalty goes far beyond the cost of the bullet or
lethal injection that delivers it. The process that must be followed before the
death penalty can be carried out is time consuming and bureaucratic. It is not
uncommon for a prisoner to be on death row for 15 years, during these years
there will inevitably be numerous appeals, motions, and other legal processes.
All of these things take up judge’s time as well as court facilities. If a life
sentence had been meted out instead much of this could be avoided and the legal
system would be much less clogged.

This blog post is an official entry for the Law'>http://www.joshuapondlaw.com/scholarship">Law Blogger’s Scholarship, sponsored by The Law Office of Joshua Pond, http://www.joshuapondlaw.com.