Radley Balko has commented on one reason to oppose capital punishment – it costs far more than incarceration. Like me, he has other reasons for opposing capital punishment as well and plans to outline them on his blog in the future.
It took me a long time to come around on this issue. I used to favor the death penalty, but recently my views have changed. Despite, having watched my family struggle through a murder trial and the aftermath of my grandfather's murder, I have to say no to capital punishment.
Quite simply, I just don't trust the government. I don't trust prosecutors. I don't trust cops. I don't trust anyone in the process anymore. I can't place any faith in a legal system that fights against DNA test requests from prisoners proclaiming their innocence. Why fight against the test if your case is rock-solid? Surely, a positive test result would silence most convicts and hurt their chances of winning an appeal. So why fight it? Quite simply, prosecutors and judges know what everyone else knows – that innocent people have been jailed for crimes they didn't commit, and in some cases for imaginary crimes. Just ask Gary Dotson about that last one. If non-capital punishment cases, such as Dotson's are rife with corruption and false convictions, what do you think happens in capital cases? Does everyone in the system magically become moral and play fair? Or do they do whatever it takes to secure a conviction, assure the public that they are now safe and then run to the county clerk to campaign for higher office while their names are still in the papers?
The system is corrupt. Far too many judges are willing to let a person wallow in misery than admit a mistake on behalf of the legal system. As Radley mentioned, all you have to do is read the newspaper.
Further, as a libertarian I don't believe that government should be invested with the right to kill it's citizens, even if 12 "peers" find that person guilty. For those still suffering from the delusions of a fair system of justice, remember this – those same 12 people can just as easily find you guilty of something you didn't do. Even worse, you can be found guilty of an imaginary crime, have the fake victim recant years later and still have to continue to fight in order to get your liberty restored. How fair is that?