Death penalty shows no sign of compassion
I would like to comment on a few points raised by David M.
Drucker’s Viewpoint column
“Victims, not murderers, deserve compassion” (Daily
Bruin, May 24). What’s troubling is the fact that
Drucker’s arguments rest on the central claim that opponents
of the death penalty are indifferent to the victims of crimes.
Despite what the Drucker may suggest, opposition to the death
penalty is not about opposing the “rights” of victims,
or a callous lack of compassion for the losses of their families.
Opposition to the death penalty stems from a compassion for (and
concern for the rights of) all human beings.
The primary argument supporters marshal in favor of the death
penalty is the claim that it acts as a deterrent to those who
might, in the future, commit similar crimes. Although there is
little evidence to support this viewpoint, there are a number of
statistics that suggest that there is no obvious relationship
between crime rates and penalties In fact, recent studies seem to
show that states with the death penalty generally have higher
murder rates than those without.
Crime prevention aside, I can see two arguments in favor of the
death penalty. The first assumes that execution is a cost-effective
and efficient alternative to permanent incarceration. The second,
is the drive to provide the relations of the victims with
“closure,” the polite euphemism for legal revenge.
Revenge or utility, whether judicially sanctioned or not, are
hardly sterling principles on which to base decisions of life or
death. The death penalty is a blight on American society. In it
Americans have given free reign to their worst instincts.
To cloak retribution (or utilitarian calculation) in terms of
“compassion” for victims and their families is an
attempt to obscure the very real concerns of the death penalty
opponents and demonize them for this supposed lack of
“compassion.”
Although I am hardly a moral philosopher, I like to think that
true “compassion” does not require victims, no matter
what their crimes.
Scott McDonough Graduate student History