Proponents of Capital Punishment Fuel Youth Violence
Leaders of our country have chosen any number of ways
to explain youth violence and conveniently managed to do it without placing
any of the blame too close to home. This may be deliberate or inadvertent,
conscious or unconscious, but the time has come to acknowledge that support
for capital punishment - like it or not - is a negative example for our youth.
The impressionable nature of children is affected by
what they see from adults. What youth sees in mothers, fathers, and those
in authority, does make a difference. Our leaders do have direct influence
on our youth, yet this influence has been entirely overlooked.
The practice of state-sanctioned murder sends a coldly
contradictory message about violence and murder. How disturbing it is when
progress has brought us to a place where our so-called solutions are even
more cold, calculated and barbaric than the crimes we are trying to prevent.
The leaders of this country, along with all the others
who condone capital punishment, are, in effect, advocating violence at a
whole new level, sending a message that taking human life is acceptable under
the right conditions.
A philosophy of killing in order to show that killing
is wrong is obviously without logic. Regardless of the controlled conditions
in which you carry out such an act, the state-sanctioned termination of life
is unnatural and violent. We would not, for instance, advocate drug use to
show that doing drugs is wrong. When trying to guide and teach a child how
to deal with anger, we exercise anger control and supply alternatives that
reflect the desired effect. Surely, we would not accomplish our goal by yelling
and screaming.
We live in a country where we pride ourselves on human
rights, yet we violate the most basic of all rules, the right to life. We
choose to kill others for the sole purpose of vengeance or revenge.
Violence can only give way to further violence. Unless
we regain control with counter-philosophies such as loving our neighbor,
forgiveness, compassion, communication, kindness, and self-control, we can
expect to see a continued increase in the cycle of violence.
In light of so many recent acts of violence by youth,
this issue has come out in full force in the media and found its way into
every home. The anger and murderous rage shown at Columbine High School and
so many other cases of child-on-child crime confront us with terrible things
that we never thought possible.
Children are striking out - in some cases against people
they don’t even know - killing for nothing more than the purpose of venting
misdirected anger. Growing pains, that come with the highest of prices and
destroy far more than they can ever accomplish. What a waste of life!
The time has come for our leadership to make a declaration
of responsibility. Reformation begins by first admitting the need for change.
Authorities then need to implement whatever alternatives are available.
A moratorium could open many doors to change and allow
leaders to make a transition without creating an inordinate number of waves
in the community. We owe our youth consideration of whatever options are
available. State-of-the-art prisons house our offenders, protect society
and provide the opportunity for restoration and reconciliation. This teaches
our youth about accountability and natural consequences without the contradiction
of state-sanctioned loss of life.
Progress cannot come about unless those in authority
admit the present system is, in fact, a failure. Doing what is right no longer
seems to be consistent with political aspiration. No one wants to risk his
or her career in politics by taking a position that can be misinterpreted
as being “soft on crime.”
Setting the standard is important and what this issue
needs is someone willing to innovate and bring about change, based on the
merits of an idea, not on its voter popularity. A position that stands firm
on crime prevention, yet maintains an unconditional right-to-life at the
same time, would truly be refreshing.
Those who kill often use a false sense of justification
to support their position and protect their own consciences. No matter if
it be a situation on our streets or in our courtrooms, the taking of life
hasn’t any legitimate justification.
The support and lasting power of any structure does not
depend on where we build, but what we build on. When we choose to use our
evil nature, anger, and thirst for blood as our foundation when teaching
our youth, the results can only be harmful.
How is capital punishment different from other forms
of punishment? Capital punishment creates new and permanent victims. Parents
lose children, husbands and wives lose their spouses, children lose their
parents. No other punishment exacts such a price from the offender’s family
members as the death penalty.
Children do not understand the intricate workings of
the aggravating or mitigating circumstances. Looking at the specifics such
as the arbitrary and capricious factors is precisely what complicates this
issue for youth. They simply see the outcome, which is nothing less than
legal homicide, and what appears to them an exception to the rule.
So many questions and doubts, yet states continue to
kill every day. Their refusal to consider a temporary halt to state killing
shows that the priority is not justice, but the thirst for blood.
European countries have found that after abolishing the
death penalty, violent crime was reduced considerably. In June of 2001, a
conference on abolition was held in Strasbourg, France. Over 40 countries
were represented. Members of the European Council stated that those countries
that have abolished the death penalty see a consistent decline in violent
crime. Some have enjoyed decades without the practice of killing their criminals.
To-date in some cases, even law enforcement officers see no need to carry
firearms, due to the low crime rate.
During that conference, representatives of participating
countries signed a petition to stop what they say is a clear violation of
human rights. The European Council will not allow any member country to practice
capital punishment. In fact, the United States has been warned that it will
lose its observer status in January 2003 if it does not take steps to ban
capital punishment.
Murder or other capital crimes are bad enough, and our
sympathies lie with the victims and their families. But the death penalty
restores no victim to life and only compounds the wrong committed in the
first place.
Change is seldom a popular choice, but it is often a
necessary one. Do we resign ourselves to the fact that we have no control
over the adverse ramifications on young people? Or do we regain control?
Society as a whole needs to set an example: That the
loss of life will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The sanctity
of life is absolute and is not open to interpretation.
A simultaneous contradictory message about the preservation
and taking of life only causes more confusion for our already confused youth.
Dennis Skillicorn CP-123
Potosi Correctional Center
Rt. 2, Box 2222
Mineral Point, Mo. 63660
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This page was
last updated February 24, 2003
Canadian Coalition Against the Death
Penalty
This page is maintained and updated by Dave
Parkinson and Tracy Lamourie in Toronto, Canada