Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By MICHELLE LE, For the Journal-Constitution

Many Americans insist that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is the key to deter­ring crime, com­pen­sat­ing for the loss of an inno­cent life and uphold­ing jus­tice in a free society.

Their argu­ments are jus­ti­fied, to an extent. If some­one kills anoth­er human being, he or she deserves noth­ing less than death itself, the argu­ment goes. Why should American tax dol­lars fund pris­ons to har­bor crim­i­nals who, seem­ing­ly, offer noth­ing for society?

Yes, los­ing a loved one to the hands of insan­i­ty is a tragedy. But deal­ing with the tragedy by com­mit­ting the same act against the per­pe­tra­tor is not the right answer.

Capital pun­ish­ment laws assume that fear influ­ences most peo­ple, that the threat of death will deter a per­son from mur­der. If this were true, no one would par­tic­i­pate in extreme sports, smok­ing, wars or reckless driving.

Perhaps the most com­pelling argu­ment for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is that it upholds jus­tice. I have had many con­flict­ing thoughts when con­sid­er­ing what should be a ​“fair” pun­ish­ment for a per­son who would will­ing­ly kill anoth­er human being.

My anger wants to tor­ture the offend­er until he or she has received every ounce of hurt, loss, pain and anguish that the victim suffered.

The offend­er should nev­er be able to expe­ri­ence the slight­est joy in life — — from laugh­ter to fresh air. That per­son deserves noth­ing. My anger tells me noth­ing less than that.

But am I will­ing to be that per­son who push­es the but­ton to exe­cute the offend­er? The day I can say ​“yes” to this ques­tion is the day I will sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. It would not mat­ter if I was paid to push that but­ton; the blood of the offend­er is still on my hands if I am the one who makes a con­scious choice to put the offend­er in the death chamber.

Capital pun­ish­ment is the polit­i­cal­ly cor­rect term for revenge. It breeds violence.

I do not know what it will take to deter some­one from killing some­one else. But I do know that America can not han­dle sig­nif­i­cant prob­lems, such as mur­der, by stoop­ing to the same lev­el as the mur­der­er. It is a bar­bar­ic solu­tion and has no place in a mod­ern, civilized society.