Capital punishment for the 1% / by kevin murray

It is to the ultimate disgrace of the United States of America, that it insists that within its criminal justice code, that capital punishment is the just punishment for certain crimes, of which, capital punishment is held to be legal in twenty-eight States, as well as being legal as punishment for Federal crimes.  It would be one thing if capital punishment was consistently and fairly imposed for certain specific crimes, meeting certain specific standards, of which the trial was fairly done, with competent counsel utilized for the defense, with funds so available for that defense to obtain witnesses, to conduct research, for the full discovery and for the obtaining of all exculpatory evidence, as well as having the wherewithal to coalesce that information for a robust defense, and of which the jurors of such a trial, were true representative peers within that community, of which the crime was committed.

 

In point of fact, the faces of those on death row are almost, without any notable exception, whatsoever, the faces of those that are indigent, ill educated, disadvantaged, and without the means to obtain competent counsel that have the resources or the time or the experience to defend their client, properly.  This thus signifies that because those that are on trial, lack the means to properly defend themselves against the might of the State or Federal authorities, that the outcome of such a "trial" is almost always going to be a foregone conclusion, of which, the only real justice point to be decided, is whether or not, the person so convicted, will be subject to the death penalty or not.

 

So that, what we find in reality, is that those subject to the death penalty, are almost always not those that are the biggest and baddest criminals, but really are only those that have been unable to obtain an adequate and vigorous defense so as to avoid the death penalty.  This is the salient reason why none of those that are the richest of the rich, or the 1%, are ever on death row, and why none of these that are the 1%, are even at risk for being subject to capital punishment.  After all, those that have money, are thereby able to obtain strong resources, that can thereby allow them to utilize every angle within our justice system, to obtain the mercy or to buy justice, that is denied to all those without those monetary means and connections.  Additionally, criminal trials, are often about constructing stories, of which the 1% are always going to have a story that has some sort of sympathy or justification behind it, that absolves at least somewhat, very bad behavior, and typically they have far more than enough extenuating circumstances to preclude those that are in the 1% from suffering the indignity of being sanctioned to that most extreme punishment, so issued by that justice department.

 

The death penalty as so exercised in America clearly is done in a manner that it only affects those that have no power and no voice to begin with, and no other.  That isn't fair, and in consideration that America still believes in the virtue of the primitive justice of an "eye for an eye"; then until that government starts killing those that make up the 1% for the same sort of crimes, of which the death penalty is imposed upon those that are impoverished and weak, than that death penalty should be properly looked upon as a form of "cruel and unusual punishment" for it separates out those that have, from those that have not, which is clearly not impartial, and therefore is as wrong as it is unconstitutional.