A question of Morality

A Canadian citizen has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for man slaughter. His crime was not even a case of premeditated murder, just a school yard brawl that went a little too far. This story has caused me to reconsider my views on capitol punishment.

I have to admit, that for most of my life I have been in favor of capital punishment, simply on the principle that some crimes are hideous enough to warrant death. But now that I have been doing a lot more reading and know a lot more about the world, I'm not so sure that I'm in favor of it anymore. As a Canadian, it's my right to change my mind.

When police officers pursue and apprehend criminals they use as much force as is required to subdue and arrest them and, unfortunately, sometimes it necessary for them to use lethal force. This has always been the reality of law enforcement. It's not considered murder,but simply trying to protect the public by taking killers off the street. On the other hand, to drag an unarmed convict form their cell, strap them down to a table and inject them with lethal poison can only be considered murder. We send killers to prison because it's wrong to kill. When the state becomes the killer, the morality becomes clouded. Should the State have the right to play God and decide who lives and who dies? Isn't the Government powerful enough already without giving them the power of life and death?

There are those who believe that capital punishment is beneficial to law enforcement and the society in general, but this is simply not the case. Consider the following;

1. Deterrent? According to statistics recorded by the American department of justice, capital punishment does not deter crime. States which have the death penalty are plagued by crime as much as, or in some cases more than the states that don't. In fact, in the time since New York State has passed the death penalty, the murder rate has actually increased. Criminals simply don't think about the consequences of their actions, if the did, they wouldn't be criminals in the first place, would they?
   
2. Economics? Contrary to popular belief, the average capital trial, and subsequent appeals actually cost the tax payers more that keeping a prisoner in prison for life. If you're trying to think purely pragmatically, then capital punishment is definitely not a good idea. It doesn't save the public money at all.
   
3. Justice? One could argue that at least it gives the family and friends of the victims a sense of closure, but does it? Will it bring back the ones they lost? Will it make the pain go away? The law is supposed to seek justice, not vengeance.
4. Public Safety? A factor that most people don't take into consideration is the fact that a person who knows they are going to receive the death penalty has no reason to surrender to the police. In nations like Brazil, Turkey, Russia and others, criminals will quite often fight to the death because they know being taken alive means death anyways. The result of these fatalistic criminals determined to resist to the end is just more dead police officers, and more desperate hostage takings. It doesn't make these countries any safer to live in.

And so, I have done a complete about face from my former beliefs and decided that capital punishment is wrong. I am under no illusion that Canada is perfect, far from it, but at least I agree with the Government on that point. How can any nation call itself a civilized nation that murders it's own citizens?

The execution scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia is to be a public beheading with a sword. I can't imagine anything more barbaric. What possible good can come from it? The thought of it just makes me sick