Editorial -  Daily Campus - Southern Methodist University 

Feb. 20

USA: Death penalty - Put questionable system under moratorium

The death penalty, long a source of strife in public discourse, has forced its way back onto the front pages in recent weeks. Coming on the heels of the noisy debate over whether or not John Walker's crimes justify the death penalty is a report calling into question our entire death penalty system.

  The paper from Columbia University is an update to a document released in mid-2000 that argued that over 70 % of all capital punishment trials have major errors that often result in the penalty being reversed. Culling evidence from over nearly 3 decades, the study shows that death penalty defendants are often represented by inexperienced or overworked public defenders. The more recent addition to the study indicates that as the frequency of death penalty cases increases, so does the likelihood of major errors by juries, lawyers or judges.

  The study did not consider the moral ramifications of the death penalty, or call into question its use. The only issues examined were procedural ones related to the actual implementation of capital punishment under the current system.

  Opponents of the study argue that there is no evidence that anyone in America has been wrongly executed, and hopefully that is true. But that doesn't address the high number of cases where capital punishment is ordered and then revoked due to errors.

  The American legal system is overworked and understaffed, forcing judges, prosecutors and public defenders to take on ever-larger caseloads. While such a situation is workable when dealing with minor offenses, where penalties are light and sentences can be commuted or reduced if errors are later found, it is not acceptable when dealing with issues of life and death.

  The death penalty is the ultimate judgement any society can impose upon a person. Regardless of whether one agrees with capital punishment or not, it is in everyone's best interest that a penalty so severe be implemented fairly and accurately, or not at all. The Columbia University reports, when taken in tandem with the number of cases where DNA or other evidence has removed prisoners from death row that have cropped up in recent years indicates that something may be very wrong in how the United States administers its capital punishment system.

  And if the system is faulty, it is incumbent upon our leaders to examine it and determine whether or not it can be repaired. Given the growing concerns and dropping support of the death penalty nationwide, it is time for the federal government to step in and take measure of the situation.

  President Bush should order Attorney General Ashcroft to form a commission to investigate the death penalty controversy. The overturned cases are too numerous, and the questions being raised too galling to simply be ignored. And as the investigation takes place, to ensure a potentially flawed system doesn't commit the ultimate flaw of executing an innocent man, a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty must be put in place.

  If America is going to have a death penalty, it must be reserved for the worst of the worst, and only administered under conditions of absolute certainty. If such a standard cannot be reached, then the death penalty must not be used. And until the questions swirling about the death penalty can be investigated and answered, our justice system cannot in good faith continue to administer the punishment.