Death to the Death Penalty

344

October 5, 2011

Published in El Tiempo
(Colombia ) on 25 September 2011
by Editorial (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Cynthia Barrios. Edited by Heidi Kaufmann.

The United States isn’t the country with the most legal executions in the world; that depressing honor goes to Iran. But the United States do hold the top spot in the Western Hemisphere for uses of the death penalty. The most recent one was performed last week, when Troy Davis, a 33-year-old* black man, received a lethal injection in Georgia. He was accused of killing a police officer in 1989. Davis maintained that he was innocent until the very end, and he was supported by serious doubts: The only evidence against him were nine testimonies, seven of which corrected their original version.

The tenacity with which the United States holds on to this anachronistic punishment is shocking. It is headed toward disappearance — it was banned in Germany in 1949, in Great Britain in 1969, in France in 1969 and in Spain in 1995. In contrast, the United States, which had abolished it, began to allow it once again in 1976. Between then and January 2011, it has executed 1,270 prisoners.

Not only are the numbers shocking (almost three a month), but so is the racial distribution. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, even though the number of whites executed doubles the number of blacks, when the victim of a crime is white, it triples the chances that capital punishment will be used. And what’s more: At the beginning of 2011, there were 3,251 on death row; of those, 54 percent were black or Hispanic.

There are many arguments against the death penalty, and they have all been wielded. The pope reminded us, when he opposed the execution of Davis, that only God can take life away. Others denounce it as an extreme example of cruelty, whose very existence violates human dignity. From an ethical point of view, it seems to be a legalized form of revenge — an act of retaliation in disguise. Furthermore, it has always been said that an irreversible punishment requires an infallible judge, something that does not exist in the imperfect human world.

In addition to philosophical concerns, scientific reasons abound against the ultimate punishment. Eighty-eight percent of criminologists agree that statistically speaking, the death penalty does not reduce the incidence of homicide. It is lamentable that such a cruel, inhumane and useless institution persists, and that some congressmen in Colombia are supporting it for certain crimes.

*Watching America Note: Troy Davis was 42 years old at his execution.

Estados Unidos no es el país del mundo con mayor número de ejecuciones legales, triste privilegio que corresponde a Irán. Pero los estados norteamericanos ocupan el primer lugar del hemisferio occidental en aplicaciones de la pena de muerte. La última se produjo la semana pasada, cuando Troy Davis, un negro de 33 años, recibió una inyección letal en Georgia. Estaba acusado de asesinar a un policía en 1989. Davis mantuvo hasta el último momento su inocencia, soportada por serias dudas: los únicos elementos de juicio contra él eran nueve testimonios, siete de los cuales rectificaron su primera versión. Sorprende la tenacidad con que Estados Unidos se aferra a este anacrónico castigo, que tiende a desaparecer. En Alemania se prohibió en 1949, en Gran Bretaña en 1969, en Francia en 1969 y en España en 1995. En cambio, Estados Unidos, que lo había abolido, volvió a permitirlo en 1976. Desde entonces, y hasta enero del 2011, ha ejecutado a 1.270 reos.

No solo sorprende el número (cerca de tres mensuales) sino la incidencia racial en los procesos. Según el Centro de Información sobre la Pena de Muerte, aun cuando los blancos ejecutados doblan el número de los negros, cuando la víctima del crimen es un blanco se triplican las posibilidades de aplicación de la pena capital. Algo más: a principios del 2011 había 3.251 en el pabellón de la muerte; de ellos, el 54 por ciento eran negros o hispánicos.

Hay muchos argumentos contra las sentencias de muerte, y todos han sido esgrimidos. El papa recordó, al oponerse a la ejecución de Davis, que solo Dios puede disponer de la vida. Otros la denuncian como un ejemplo extremo de crueldad, cuya mera existencia vulnera la dignidad humana. Desde el punto de vista de la ética, se considera que es una forma legalizada de la venganza, una ley del Talión disfrazada. Siempre se ha dicho, además, que un castigo irreparable exige un juez infalible, circunstancia que no se da en el imperfecto mundo de los humanos.

Aparte de consideraciones filosóficas, abundan las razones científicas contra la punición máxima. El 88 por ciento de los criminólogos afirman, basados en estadísticas, que no reducen los índices de homicidios. Es lamentable, pues, que persista una institución cruel, inhumana e inútil, y que algunos congresistas la propongan en Colombia para ciertos delitos.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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