Growing up as the child of a police officer, I have always believed very strongly in the concept of crime and punishment. If you violate the law, you deserve to have certain freedoms revoked for a period of time deemed reasonable by the court. Though I would place myself in favour of harsher punishment for criminals, there is one line that I cannot cross: the sentence of death.
Though some may argue the value of the Hammurabian “eye for an eye” policy, our society should not have the power to take from a person that which it cannot give. This is especially important when it comes to those who are wrongly found to be guilty. If one is accused of murder, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, they can be released if exonerated by later evidence.
The death penalty, on the other hand, is final. Once your punishment is carried out, there’s no coming back.
According the Death Penalty Information Center, over 140 people have been released from death row since 1973 “with evidence of their innocence.” However, a study done by two professors in the United States found that, of the 7,000 people executed between 1900 and 1985, only 35 were innocent of capital crimes.
In other words, a little under 0.5 per cent of all cases where the death sentence was carried out were incorrect. While this may not seem like enough to justify the abolition of the death penalty, it does matter greatly to the families of those 35 people, and for the 3,108 more currently awaiting execution in the United States.
Our society should not have the power to take from a person that which it cannot give.
There is little evidence for capital punishment as a deterrent to violent crime — especially given the fact that the sentence is based largely on a given judge’s discretion. In these cases, the difference between life or death is one person’s verdict.
Even in Canada, the debate still rages. Many may not know this, but the death penalty in Canada was slowly abolished over a 13-year period, lasting from 1963 until the narrow passage (130:124) of Bill C-84 in July of 1976, which abolished the death penalty with the exception of certain offences under the National Defence Act. The death penalty was not fully abolished until 1998 — less than 20 years ago.
The reasons cited for the abolition of capital punishment in this country were the same reasons we hear today: fear of wrongful convictions, concerns about the state taking people’s lives, and uncertainty regarding the death penalty’s role as a deterrent for crime. Until 2007, the Canadian government also had a policy of automatically requesting clemency for any Canadian citizen sentenced to capital punishment for crimes in another country — it’s still occasionally requested on a case-to-case basis.
Despite the outcry in Parliament when this change occurred, studies have shown that the average Canadian is actually in favour of reinstating the death penalty. Gallup polls taken between the years of 1978 and 1998 found that support for the reinstatement of the death penalty never dropped below 55 per cent. Even more telling is an Angus Reid poll conducted last year, where 63 per cent of those polled were in favour of reinstating the death penalty.
While the majority of those in favour supported the Conservatives in the last election, 51 per cent of Liberal supporters polled were also in favour, as were 57 per cent of NDP supporters. Clearly the reinstatement of the death penalty is an issue that crosses political lines, and the majority of Canadian politicians seem to be in favour of reintroducing it.
However, when asked if they preferred capital punishment or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the numbers changed significantly — 63 per cent became 39.
Currently, any Canadian convicted of murder, whether it be first or second degree, is given a “life sentence,” but first-degree murderers are eligible for parole after 25 years, and second-degree murderers after 10. The Correctional Service of Canada estimates that the average incarceration time for first-degree murderers is only 22.4 years.
With this in mind, it is not shocking to see these kinds of poll numbers. It’s not that Canadians are overwhelmingly in favour of the death penalty; what we are in favour of is keeping violent criminals off the streets — especially those who may offend again.
If the poll numbers are any indication, before this year is out, we may see the federal government attempt to pass a law that would allow judges to pass Life Without Parole sentences for, in the words of Justice Minister Peter MacKay, “the worst of the worst, the most violent, repeat offenders.”
Though the debate on the death penalty is still split, this option seems to find the perfect middle ground, and one that will make the majority of Canadians feel more secure. Those who have committed violent crimes absolutely deserve to be punished, but we have no right to take someone’s life — no matter what.
