Dr. Ray L. Winstead
 Professor of Biology (retired),
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Capital Punishment
(Death Penalty)
Personal Position Statement.

June 16, 2022

(PDF Version)
(Microsoft Word Version)

 

I believe that capital punishment - society legally killing another person through the courts for a heinous crime, such as murder, - is our being just as guilty and sinful as the murderer. I submit to you that revenge is not the same as justice! Yes, of course, remove the gross offender from society so that he cannot harm anyone else, but literally killing the offender is not justified in a truly moral society. When I see people so emotionally calling for the death penalty as "justice" for the criminal, my perception is that I am seeing people wanting revenge. Evaluate what you see for yourself. Yes, I feel strongly for the victims and their families - but it is also true that "two wrongs don't make a right!"

Is a person who would make such a decision as to murder another person really going to be deterred by capital punishment?
 

By the way, as a footnote that I think should not be considered as a part of the larger issue above anyway, I often hear people say  - "and capital punishment would be cheaper, too." But they are not correct. "The death penalty is way more expensive than life in prison because the constitution requires a long and complex judicial process for capital cases. They do this to ensure that innocent men and woman are not executed for crimes they didn’t do." I know this conclusion seems to be counterintuitive - but check out the facts for yourself. The additional fact that mistakes are still made in capital punishment cases is another reason to pause, think more carefully about having capital punishment as part of our laws, and then remove such laws.

 
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Dr. Ray L. Winstead
rw ( at ) raywinstead ( dot ) com