The ongoing debate in Connecticut regarding the state’s death penalty policy ought to impel a nationwide discussion of the issue, one of the most divisive and persistent of our time.

The death penalty touches on many issues of our political system and American culture – our prison system, justice system, value of life and treatment of the incarcerated.

The death penalty ought to be upheld for the following reasons: it serves as a function of our justice system, it creates another barrier and deterrent to crime, the life sentencing process is inefficient and not evenly applied and the fact that modern science can almost certainly exonerate or prove people guilty.

The idea that some notion of revenge is the only reason our most violent criminals are executed is absurd, as the sustaining judicial belief of “an eye for an eye,” a punishment designed to fit a crime, has had many legitimate examples throughout history along with valid, concrete results.

This probably began to maintain peace and harmony in ancient Babylonia with Hammurabi’s Code, one of the first judiciary systems determining punishments for crimes.

Justice is better served by the death penalty because one of the most fundamental and underlying principles of our system is that the punishment should fit the crime.  Does it not make sense that a senseless murderer would not get the same punishment he or she doled out to the innocent victims? This is an issue of fairness of the system, as a life sentence may never give closure to the families of murder victims or victims of other violent crimes.

It’s also noteworthy to consider the vast amount of money states and nations spend on prisoners, especially those with no chance of parole rotting on death row.  

The idea of a life sentence appeals to many in society because it might allow for criminals to “reflect” upon their crimes, to grow as people and in spirit. Do you honestly think cold-blooded killers would spend time in their prison cells reflecting on how bad they’d been?

No – it’s utterly insane to believe so. Look at Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon. He sits rotting in a jail cell today in New York, unrepentant and unapologetic for having senselessly killed a hero.

Many life sentences are pleaded out or only serve a tiny portion of their time.

Bear in mind that during a life sentence, a crime lord like Pablo Escobar may still control his previous empire, and be able to pull strings and commit crimes from behind jail cell walls. And if this person gets parole, all bets are off.

The death penalty would remove a threat like this from society, thus reducing crime rates. The death penalty, as controversial as it is, and ought to be whenever human life is involved, acts as a deterrent to other crimes being committed. For some crimes, a life sentence is proper, but some are so heinous, so destructive and so horrifying that only this penalty must be used to deter the crimes and be used as a prosecutor’s tool.

Keep in mind that prosecutors are more acutely aware of the justice situation than are ideologues and politicians, so the death penalty ought to be an element of their arsenal in fighting tough cases at their discretion.

 In a state like Texas, which employs the death penalty often, a murderer or violent criminal is much more likely to think twice about committing a crime, because he or she knows the state will have no qualms executing a prisoner.

Finally, with the advent of modern science, that which has brought us so much health and good, the criminal justice system can be massively certain of the culpability or innocence of an accused criminal.

DNA testing has become so certain that the system can be something like 99 percent sure in most cases.

This is vastly improved form even 20 years ago and rules out the possibility of an innocent person being wrongly accused and executed. For double-security, though, each case on death row ought to be re-examined before an execution.

All things considered, the death penalty has its merits in our justice system, and when used in an appropriate manner, can act as a deterrent to other crimes, make justice better served in our criminal justice system and correct the issues surrounding a life sentence.