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stellauk -> RE: Executing the Mentally Ill (8/8/2012 7:00:21 AM)
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FR
Oh Lord, not again..
There's supposedly an international agreement between countries who retain the death penalty not to execute anyone who is 'insane' or mentally retarded.
For example in the United States there is the US Supreme Court ruling Ford v. Wainwright 477 U.S. 399 (1986) which ruled that executing the 'insane' violates the Eighth Amendment and is therefore unconstitutional. This ruling contains an opinion by Justice Thurgood Marshall based on a review of the evolving standards of the Eighth Amendment to be those consistent with "...the progress of a maturing society....." and one not tolerable of acts traditionally branded as "..savage and inhuman...".
This same principle is similarly worded in Atkins v. Virginia 536 US 304 (2002) which declared executing the mentally retarded violates the Eighth Amendment because the Eighth Amendment should be interpreted in light of "..the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society..".
On principle it should follow that executing someone with a mental illness is also unconstitutional (given that the modern definition of mental illness is broader and not entirely synonymous with 'insane'). However this is a grey issue which can be interpreted different ways and I think this is an issue which goes beyond the death penalty because it remains an issue in the criminal justice system as a whole.
However countries do violate the international agreement just as states in the US periodically violate these rulings above. It would be far better to completely abolish the death penalty altogether.
The death penalty is an outdated form of retributive justice which has no place in any society which regards itself as civilized.
It is counter-productive to the core principles of criminal justice, because it shifts the entire emphasis in a trial away from where it is more important, i.e. establishing the truth or facts of a crime together with the reasons and motivations (which should influence sentencing). Furthermore as it is applied usually for murder it also shifts the emphasis away from the victim and the impact on the surviving family and friends.
Instead it places more emphasis on the criminal, and the emphasis of the trial is on whether that person deserves to live or die. In such a situation human nature makes it that the truth becomes skewed.
The death penalty cannot be justified by any sort of morality. No modern religion advocates it - thou shalt not kill. Yet you find elected governments who advocate the death penalty. The death penalty places that government on a par with organized criminals (who also exact "justice" by killing people). Why then bother to have law enforcement or a criminal justice system at all? Why not simply hand the job over to the mafia and have done with it?
My opposition to the death penalty does not diminish in any way the value of the life of the victim. The bereavement through the loss of someone close to us has to be one of the most intensely traumatic experiences we could ever go through as human beings. It doesn't matter whether it is a parent, a sibling, a child, or a partner, bereavement is often a life-long experience for those who experience it.
The death penalty compounds the trauma and the pain of bereavement and creates something which is just as bad for the family and friends of the criminal - people who are entirely unconnected with the crime. It's not just the condemned criminal who suffers on execution day. They do too.
There is a perfectly decent and valid alternative to the death penalty which works and that is life without parole. I believe that achievement of a mature and decent society requires the necessity of permanent exclusion of people who have taken life (exact same principle - thou shalt not kill - and killing is unacceptable in a society which deems itself civilized). I also believe that criminal justice should be effective enough for those who do not respect the law to fear it.
But the hallmark of a civilized society is one of humanity, equality and compassion.
The death penalty contains none of these qualities.
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