Americans are now evenly divided on whether the death penalty or life without parole is a viable punishment for murder, according to a survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey found that 47 percent of Americans favored life without parole, while 46 percent opted for the death penalty.
For years the death penalty has been a very serious and emotional issue. While this has affected several people in various ways, some may not fully understand what the death penalty entails and why the U.S. still has it. Monday night in Reeves Theater, UT held a death penalty and voting rights restoration panel, hoping to spark discussions concerning one of America’s most controversial topics.
The panel was designed to help “educate people about human rights, the U.S. commitment to respecting the principles of the ICCPR [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights], and, given the impending review by the HRC [Human Rights Campaign], what some areas of concern might be,” said Bruce Friesen, UT associate professor of sociology and moderator of the panel.
The panel consisted of four professors who were distinguished in their given fields. “I am co-chair of the Human Rights Think Tank so I and mid-Florida ACLU Director, Dr. Joyce Hamilton Henry, came up with a list of people in the area who are knowledgeable about human rights and the ICCPR process. We contacted several people before the current panelists were confirmed,” Friesen said.
Susan Brinkley, UT associate professor of criminology; Marcus Arvon, UT assistant professor of philosophy; Patricia Broussard, associate professor of law at Florida A&M University College of Law; and Mark Elliott, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, were the chosen panelists.
There are currently 32 states that allow the death penalty, Florida being one of them, while the other 18 states have abolished the death penalty. The most recent state to abolish the death penalty was Maryland in May of this year.
The four crimes that are punishable by death in the state of Florida consist of first degree murder, felony murder, capital drug trafficking and capital sexual battery.
“I feel that capital drug trafficking and capital sexual battery should not result in the death penalty,” said Gianna Latigona, freshman and allied health for physical therapy major. “I think it should be life imprisonment, but the death penalty would be too severe for those charges.”
“First degree murder and felony murder are different, depending on the causes for the murder. If the murderer has psychological problems, I feel they should just go to rehabilitation. Yet, if they commit these murders and genuinely don’t show remorse or sadness, then they should get the death penalty,” Latigona said.
Students with varying opinions attended the panel. Junior Ashley Frost, a criminology major, strongly opposes it.
“A big reason why I’m completely against the death penalty is that humans are bound to make errors,” Frost said. “Nothing about our criminology system says that what occurs is completely accurate. In regular cases that don’t involve the death penalty, people find out after it gets let out to the media that somebody was innocent. Once you take someone’s life and find that they were innocent, there is no way you can ever make that up to their family.”
Other students at UT disagree with Frost and believe that the death penalty serves a purpose.
“I think the death penalty is good for mass murderers that have no remorse for what they did, but before being pronounced the death penalty it should be absolutely certain that the accused is guilty and not innocent,” Latigona said.
The panel lasted for one hour. Each panelist allotted 10 minutes to offer their opinions until opening the discussion to the floor. Many of the panelists made very compelling and emotional arguments on why the death penalty isn’t just a wrong option but inhumane.
“So we need to stop killing people, period,” Arvon said.
“When you get married, you learn how to fight and you learn how to fight well. And one thing you learn if you have a wife like mine, is you don’t insist on making your point at all costs. The fight just gets worse,” Arvon said. “We live in the most violent society on Earth. We need to stop killing people even when they do wrong.”