I had a minor crisis of belief last week. I’ve always been opposed to the death penalty. Whenever trying to decide whether or not to entrust the government with such a huge responsibility, the burden of proof must be on the side that wants to grant that power to prove its necessity. In this case, death penalty proponents have failed (IMHO) to advance convincing arguments as to why the DP is actually necessary.

The deterrence argument has been shown to be fallacious. In September of 2000 the NY Times did a study where they compared crime rates in states with and without the death penalty. On the front page was a graph comparing murder rates over time in states with and without the DP. Although I cannot find it online anywhere (although similar graphs and stats can be found here and here), the image was forever burned into my brain. The murder rates were essentially parallel, with rises and falls at the same points in time. The only difference was that the murder rate was consistently a few percentage points lower in states without the death penalty. In other words, external factors (whatever made the murder rate go up and down), had a much greater effect than the DP (which if anything, seemed to increase crime). The other implicit argument for the DP is that the DP is easier than life in prison, because you don’t have to continually deal with a criminal. This argument too falls flat as every study that’s been done has shown the DP to cost more in legal fees than a lifetime of jail. The last argument I’ve heard, although frequently dressed up in other language, essentially boils down to vengeance against those who commit heinous crimes. I’ve seen studies done on the families of victims and almost without exception they do not find closure in the death of their loved one’s killer. I’d also like to think that as a society we’ve moved beyond the need for vengeance and are focusing on rehabilitation instead, but that’s just a pipe dream.

This brings us to last week when Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced. They announced on CNN that he had gotten life in prison, and I suddenly felt a pang of regret. Although outwardly I had been indeterminate in my feelings, I suddenly realised that I had been secretly hoping he would get the electric chair, and I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because although I don’t like the DP in principle, I can accept it for specific individuals. Maybe it’s because I believe that we need to send a message to terrorists that we can draw blood too, we are just more judicious in when and how we do it. Maybe it’s because I view Moussaoui as the embodiment of everything I hate about the Islamic-terror apparatus that I despise so much. Maybe it’s because I wanted revenge, and was willing to settle for a token lowlife because I knew that the real culprit is (unfortunately) not going to see his day in court any time soon, and his henchmen are already gone.