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o PINION
Page 15 • Thursday, February 4, 1999
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tions to then
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win a nation?
i h mores
fhe ultimate punishment?
ustice system
mperfectfor
uch a decision
merican society has pro
gressed a lot since Greg
vs. Georgia(l976), the
mrentous court decision to con-
ue the death penalty. '
ick can From the fir-
y Peyton Mac ing squad to
ast soughtafS^i i \\ lations Ameri-
on. He spent ROBBINS ca. The country
)tre Damehas come a
he never ct tgway. “An eye for an eye and
s always ret ooth for a tooth.” Too bad no
t have been e mentions that nifty “Thou
the the fate alt not kill” commandment,
waytokno Capital punishment in America
ip the Longlrist [cease. The death penalty in
ter team?lu neilica is plagued by institution
al quarterba:zed racism, economic inequali-
■ Major Appir and the wrongfully convicted,
rownseemec The- United States criminal jus-
ested in hav; e system is too biased to decide
lass this sea: tether any person should live or
; the needsoi ?.
ou look at it, America has condoned the bar-
tited more he system of capital punish-
e Aggies recr ?nt for the last 23 years. In
ill stepinancose 23 years, fewer than five
em a better!aite people have been sen-
few yearsj iced to death for murdering
ick on the cl rican-American citizens; only
’ will be not ,e of these men has actually
ne out on top en executed.
Is this because whites just do
it murder African-Americans?
iMing is a soph, it is because as tolerant and
ism major ogressive as America tries to
ipe.ir as a nation, the lives of
fiCan-Americans do not seem
be valued as much as the lives
white people.
Take a trip to Georgia, where
! death penalty was upheld in
7 6. Since then, over 60 percent
murder victims have been
} ican-Americans, yet 20 of the 22
ople executed during that period
d murdered white victims,
j. Georgia prosecutors sought the death
fnalty in 70 percent of cases involving
! mes committed by blacks against whites,
_ t they seek the death penalty in less than
percent of cases involving other racial
mbinations.
It should be no surprise to anyone that,
B|pnally, more than 80 percent of prisoners
^ggjfH j?cuted had white victims. Is this just a co-
^^^jjyiciience?
■Hce is not the only factor that makes the
|L ath penalty inherently unjust. Jeff Emery,
miel Corwin, J.D. Gleaton, Larry Gilbert,
|gd Kevin Cardwell are perfect examples of
? injustice that exemplifies the American
licial system.
■■ley are five recent prisoners who have
en executed. All of these men were white,
pnvicted murderers. Their crimes were no
«^Hte^_3re heinous than other murderers.
So what made these men candidates for
ath row? The answer is poverty. All of
ese men were poor.
Basic economics plays a huge role in
pital punishment cases. The American
tr Association has shown it is not the
:tsj of the case, but legal representation
n the dark at [decides whether a defendant will get
ilous gameot e ‘jehair” or not.
nplicationsof
H
Death penalty best method
for reducing crime y expense
Brandon
MULLEN
MARK MCPHERSON/The Battalion
More than half of death row inmates’
lawyers had never handled a capital murder
case before. Statistics show the more money
a defendant has, the less likely he or she is
to receive the death penalty. Who would
have guessed?
The number one justification capital pun
ishment proponents state for the death
penalty is that it deters crime. This is pure
nonsense.
Currently, of the 3,500 criminals on death
row, only 6 percent have actually been exe
cuted; with so few prisoners actually receiv
ing their punishment, can it actually be clas
sified a deterrent?
If a parent gives her teenager a curfew,
but only punishes the teenager 6 percent of
the time, does this punishment deter the
teenager’s little brother from breaking the
curfew when he eventually receives one?
Of course not — yet this is what capital
punishment proponents want Americans to
believe.
The most obvious answer to this prob
lem is to have more executions, but the
only groups this would hurt are African-
Americans and the economically chal
lenged.
The most compelling reason the death
penalty should be eliminated is the number
of death row inmates who have been wrong
fully convicted. There is a long list of falsely
accused people who were on death row once
but have been released because of new evi
dence.
This list consists of the lucky ones, not
the ones who could not appeal before they
were wrongfully put to death. America will
never know how many victims were put to
death for crimes they did not commit.
The criminal justice system is not perfect
enough to decide matters of life or death.
America can never call itself a civilized na
tion as long as it allows race and money to
dictate who lives or dies within an imperfect
criminal justice system.
Where the sanctity of life is concerned,
those factors must be ignored.
The system has proven its inability to ig
nore race or economics and the death penal
ty adds no benefit to society, consequently
the only way to solve the problem is to abol
ish the death penalty.
No one wants to mock the memory of a
murder victim, but the criminal justice sys
tem should not be allowed to create new vic
tims through inbred social inequality.
Christian Robbins is a junior speech
communications major.
T he Amer
ican
criminal
justice system
may have its
faults. But cap
ital punish
ment is not
one of them.
Despite ar
guments to the
contrary, the use of the death
penalty is more cost-effective than
life in prison without parole. It is
not racially biased to one Ethnici
ty. And it does have a role in de
terring crime.
One organization which works
to prove these facts is Justice for
All. Founded in 1993, its purpose
is to protect American from vio
lent crime. Their Website provides
pertinent information to refute
many of the anti-death penalty ar
guments.
A mainstay argument for those
against the death penalty is its
racist.
Justice for All states, “Whites
are executed at rates nearly 50
percent above their involvement
in murder, African-Americans are
executed at rates 20 percent be
low their involvement in murder.”
Ignoring the fact whites make
up the majority of criminals exe
cuted, anti-death penalty advo
cates argue that the vast majority
of victims in capital offense cases
are white. And only a very small
percentage are African-American.
How then is the death penalty
racist? If there is any racism, it
would appear to be against
African-American murder victims.
But nearly all African-American
murders are committed by other
African-Americans. Realizing
this, if the death penalty were to
achieve more racial equality, the
number of African-Americans ex
ecuted would need to increase
significantly.
Another significant issue the
anti-death penalty side argues is
the cost. Both sides of the issue
accept that a death penalty con
viction can cost around $2 million
over six years. This price includes
higher-court costs and increased
security.
But the anti-death penalty con
stituents suggest a cheaper alter
native would be life without pa
role. Using a 50-year average,
those against capital punishment
figure a life without parole case
would cost only $1 million.
Justice for America views this
figure to be a large under-esti
mate. They think that this esti
mate only applies to an average
criminals. Their estimate takes
into account the added security
necessary for criminals convicted
of capital offenses. Time maga
zine found it costs $24,000 a year
to keep prisoners in average cells
and $75,000 a year to keep them
in maximum security cells. In
cluding this difference. Justice for
America figured it would cost
over $3 million to keep a criminal
in prison for life, using the same
50 year average.
Regardless of the estimates and
the figures, common logic would
suggest that keeping someone on
death row for six years, the new
standard under the Writ of
Habeas Corpus, would be cheaper
than 50 years or more, especially
when health care costs are added
in for inmates who survive into
old age.
A major concern with a judg
ment as final as death is the inno
cence of those convicted. The
possibility of an innocent man be
ing executed is made very slim
due to the numerous steps the le
gal system has set up to prevent
this. Justice for America states,
“37 percent of all death row cases
have been overturned for due
process reasons or commuted.”
Also, death row convicts “are six
times more likely to get off death
row by appeals than by execu
tion.” These statistics show that if
there is any chance a person is in
nocent, they will likely be re
moved from death row.
The death penalty succeeds by
keeping those guilty of capital
crimes from striking again. Far
more innocent lives are being
saved than are being executed.
Justice for America uses Depart
ment of Justice statistics to show
that 84,800 violent crimes every
year, are committed by paroled
and probated criminals.
The death penalty is also more
of a deterrent than life without
parole. Of those suspects convict
ed of capital murders practically
100 percent argued for life with
out parole versus death. This
shows a true fear for the death
penalty. If the justice system
could make it more of a threat,
then perhaps future murders
could be prevented.
Justice for America uses Hous
ton as proof that the chance of
getting the death penalty does ac
tually deter criminals. In 1981,
there were 701 murders in Harris
County. The next year, Texas re
instated capital punishment. By
1996 there were only 261 murders
in Houston. This is an incredible
reduction of 63 percent. Solid evi
dence criminals will think twice if
they believe they will die if they
commit murder.
The way to counter the opposi
tion to the death penalty is to ex
amine their arguments. Some say
capital punishment shows racial
bias, but for their stance to be re
solved more minorities would
have to be executed. Others say it
is more cost-effective to simply
put criminals in prison for life,
but they fail to take into account
that capital criminals can not be
treated like an average criminal.
They require increased security,
which over a life term becomes to
expensive.
The main reason the death
penalty must remain a part of the
justice system is that it works and
would work better if it were used
more often. The swift and fre
quent use of the death penalty on
those who have been proven
guilty would stop future capital
crimes.
Brandon Mullen is a senior
history and English major.
re to help.
patients raternities provide
lends, role models
, , In response to Russell Page’s
ity around* n.br opinion column.
'ofessionals is
I take exception to his char-
:terizing all fraternities as liars
their approach to recruitment,
ige said “Each fraternity seeks
draw in potential rushees by
omising they are the smartest,
ost athletic and smoothest
thlthe ladies."
I feel that Mr. Page has decid-
J to base his comments on
nat many television and popu-
r magazines would like readers
believe in order to gain their
teption.
A; someone that never
ought I would ever join a Greek
p Hr society, I can say that my
adership skills were developed
(ponentially through my involve-
erft.
The friends I made in my four
_^ars of college are family to
MAIL CALL
inessential ruli
vill be some
; forms.
leration and
to shorten the
>y to find,
ces of
?% "satisfied'
me. I've stood in their weddings,
visited them when their children
were born and stood with their
families as they were laid to final
rest.
It’s foolish to label so many
groups with tags that are not
necessarily earned but rather in
herited from members past.
There are still groups out
there that recruit by using alco
hol and women to sell a very
pretty package of something that
is empty inside.
These types of groups are far
behind the times. Those that are
truly successful are those that
use recruitment as an extension
of opportunity for the organiza
tion to grow and become
stronger through personal con
tact and friendship.
It is easy to complain about
fraternities because they are of
ten in the social eye of the com
munity at this incredible school.
Many of the members of all
three councils of Greek letter so
cieties are Fish Camp coun
selors, Student Government rep
resentatives, members of the
Corps of Cadets and above all
Aggies.
Please be careful in the words
you use to describe Greeks.
You’re not only labeling Greeks,
but every other organization that
those individuals participate in.
\^VPtr FULL IE PLUe'
H&s NOT A Vegetable j
Tom Sullivan
Class of ’95 and ’00
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