Evidence Does Not Support the Use of the Death Penalty
Capital punishment must come to an end. It does not deter crime, is not humane and has no moral or medical basis
A death penalty vigil, held in 2021 outside an Indiana penitentiary.
Bryan Woolston/Reuters/Redux
It is long past time to abolish the death penalty in the U.S.
Capital punishment was halted in the U.S. in 1972 but reinstated in 1976, and since then, nearly 1,600 people have been executed. To whose gain? Study after study shows that the death penalty does not deter crime, puts innocent people to death, is racially biased, and is cruel and inhumane. It is state-sanctioned homicide, wholly ineffective, often botched, and a much more expensive punishment than life imprisonment. There is no ethical, scientifically supported, medically acceptable or morally justifiable way to carry it out.
The recent execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith demonstrates this barbarity. After a failed attempt at lethal injection by prison officials seemingly inexperienced in the placement of an IV, the state of Alabama killed Smith in January using nitrogen gas. The Alabama attorney general claimed that this method of execution was fast and humane, despite no supporting evidence. Eyewitnesses recounted that Smith thrashed during the nitrogen administration and took more than 20 minutes to die.
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Opposition to the death penalty is growing among the American public, and the Biden administration must follow through on its promise to end this horror. The Department of Justice must heed its own admission that the death penalty doesn’t stop crime, and our legislators must continue to take up the issue on the congressional floor. The few states that…
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