We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Thus wrote Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. These words quickly became the moral standard that America strove to achieve; to create a new ‘Land of the Free’ which would act as a ‘Beacon on the Hill’ to the undemocratic and despotic European nations the pilgrims and settlers had left behind. This resonant sentence has, however, become a national myth; American ‘Exceptionalism’ is largely self-imagined. In 2010, the only countries who executed more of their citizens than the United States were China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen. In the top 10, even Saudi Arabia, Gaddafi’s Libya and the failed state of Somalia executed fewer citizens than the US. Clearly, America is in distinguished company.
The commitment to inalienable rights sits uneasily, moreover, with such a record of capital punishment. The case of Troy Davis underlines this point. Troy Davis was convicted in August 1991 for the murder of policeman Mark MacPhail in Georgia in 1989. However, Amnesty International rightly reports that:
All but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony…One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester “Red” Coles — the principle alternative suspect
Whilst evidence of police pressure behind the conviction of Troy Davis has emerged:
Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying of signing statements against Troy Davis.
Evidently, the case against Troy Davis is somewhat tenuous. However, on the 21st September 2011, the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis using lethal injection. The accused maintained his innocence to the very end. Troy Davis may have killed Mark MacPhail, but there were reasonable grounds to believe that he did not. Potentially, therefore, the state of Georgia, acting within the US justice system, has committed a crime tantamount to state sponsored-murder of an innocent man. The impossibility of reversing the execution only highlights the danger of having a justice system where an innocent man may be brought to his death. For a nation so strongly committed to the ’inalienable’ right to ‘life’, this is a great perversion.
What strikes many as so strange about America, moreover, is its ability on the one hand to spawn a movement (the Tea-Party movement) which, legitimately or not, asserts that the United States government encroaches upon individual freedom and must be restrained – as seen in their many ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ banners or in their depiction of Obama as an American socialist. Yet on the other hand, firmly condones the right of the state to take away the lives of citizens. During the Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, the biggest cheer of the night was for the assertion that Rick Perry has overseen more executions in Texas than any other governor of any state.
The apparent enthusiasm for the state’s ability to take the ultimate freedom – the freedom to live – away from citizens cannot be reconciled comfortably with a belief that the state should respect freedom above all other considerations. The hypocritical stance of the Tea-Party reflects a dark undercurrent to American classical liberalism.
However, it cannot be ignored that the so-called liberals of the Democratic Party, under their leader President Obama, equally defend the right for the state to take the lives of its citizens. In a nation which claims to represent the land of the free and holds the mantle as the bastion of morality in this world, there should be a certain level of compassion and respect for life even for those who have not shown that respect to others. A society which can resist the popular desire for retribution and take this more difficult, but also more humane moral posture, is a stronger and more secure society. America should not bring itself down to the level of murderers through an ‘eye for an eye’ form of justice. It should seek to uphold a higher moral order through firmly asserting the certain inalienable right of everyone – even murderers – to life.
One can only hope that the uncertainty surrounding the execution of the potentially innocent Troy Davis will bring the issue of capital punishment back to the foreground of American politics. However, the reception given to Rick Perry’s execution record suggests that there is little cause for optimism. For many political activists, the struggle goes on.
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Truly a great article. spot on.
Initially I was against Capital Punishment… But when I see the victims of rape/terrorism/murder, I ponder shld ppl who do such an act deserves to be given a second chance, and that by the state; and the victim/victims’ relatives have no say in it…
In my opinion, a deliberate act of the above offenses shld be dealt with Capital Punishment, though the victim shld have the right to undo it if he/she deems appropriate..
This is I think Justice..
Hi Salman,
I think that you are right to emphasise that it is very difficult emotionally for the relatives of the victim to see that the perpetrator continues to enjoy the right to life while their loved one was cruelly deprived of theirs. However, I think it is crucial that the law remains, to a degree, dispassionate. The objective of the legal system should not be to act as an arbitrary mechanism of retribution for the relatives of victims but to rationally determine an individual’s culpability, always acting on the presumption of innocence and then to determine a suitable punishment. The sentence should, of course, be sufficiently punitive in order to protect society through deterring similar acts of violence in the future and to satiate the relatives’ desire for justice. However, as I hoped to illustrate with the Troy Davis case, guilt is often not clear cut and, as capital punishment is an irreversible form of justice, it can lead to terrible miscarriages of justice which, as I wrote, are tantamount to state murder. Moreover, the widespread use of capital punishment in the US has not, as conservatives believe, deterred crime. In fact, in 2008 the New York Times recorded that while the US has 5% of the World’s population it has almost a quarter of the World’s prisoners. Meanwhile, its homicide rate is almost 6 times that of Germany and three times that of Canada. Clearly, capital punishment is not fit for purpose.
David
This is a very good article. As a fellow David Bartlett, I am proud that we share a name. I hope that you go on to lead a very happy and successful life.
David!
This article is one that I would have written for publication on this very site but thanks for the advancement, I appreciate a lot.
This is one of the contradictions noted of America, she condemns others for violating the fundamental rights of mankind and preaches to the world especially Africa to keep tight every aspect of human rights when in fact herself does not up hold some of what she says. Capital offense or death penalty has been halted in my country Liberia because of a “UN Convention or protocol” signed by my country and ratified. Now, a little girl who was raped by her guardian and murdered by his wife; both were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging because Liberia signed this arrangement abolishing capital punishment or public execution the death penalty is yet to be held. Their defense team has taken an appeal to the Supreme Court. But the reality is that this death penalty will not take place because countries like America is publicly against it but does not practice it across the landscape of the United States of America but pressures other countries(including Liberia) to up hold it in its entirety. I was absolutely shocked and taken aback while in the U.S when Troy Davis was executed. I couldn’t believe this was taking place on the soil of the giant international human rights advocate. So I wondered where was the Great Britain Amnesty International, where was the plethora of human rights organizations that have trooped from the U.S to Africa especially Liberia. The contradictions are many but what we can to America is that be true to what you preach.