How Capital Punishment Affirms Life

Mr. Koch refutes several common reasons that are given for the abolishment of the death penalty.

1. The death penalty is barbaric.  Former Mayor Koch cites the reform in death penalty methods (lethal injection) as being a non-violent, non-barbaric method, but the protestations persist.  Therefore, it is not the method that opponents find barbaric, but rather the sentence itself, he concludes.  Mayor Koch states, “if we create a society in which injustice is not tolerated, incidents of murder – the most flagrant form of injustice – will diminish.
2. No other democracy uses the death penalty.  Simply put Mayor Koch points out that no other democracy has anywhere near the incidence of violent crime and murder rates that the United States possesses.  There are more murders in Los Angeles in one year that some countries experience in a single year.  If other countries had the equal rate of murders, the outcry for capital punishment would be as loud as or louder than it is here.
3. An innocent person might be executed by mistake.  Mayor Koch’s position here is that although there is the remote possibility that such an event could occur, the likelihood is infinitely small and that we should not toss aside this form of punishment and deterrent, such as it is, because the penalty and deterrent is the only defense that we have to stem the epidemic violence.
4. Capital punishment cheapens the value of human life.  Mayor Koch’s answer to this argument is simply that the severity of the punishment in fact affirms the value of life in that such a severe penalty is extracted.
5. The death penalty is applied in a discriminatory manner.  Mr. Koch replies this does not seem to be the problem that it was once.  The length of the appeals process that is available to everyone makes certain that the verdict and sentence is in fact fairly arrived at.  
6. Thou shall not kill.  This argument is defeated when the  Sixth Commandment is examined.  Thou shall not commit murder is not the same thing as thou shall not kill.  To murder is to kill with intent or premeditation.  To kill could be as a punishment as in a capital crime or even by accident.  There are instances in the Bible that certain deeds call for death as punishment.
7. The death penalty is state sanctioned murder.  Mayor Koch points out in refuting this argument that the state, in a democracy has rights that individuals do not have.  These are innate rights given to the government by the governed in a democracy, given by the electorate to the elected.  

 As Mayor Koch says in conclusion, the death of anyone – even a convicted killer diminishes us all.  However, even worse would be a nation that allows the crime of murder to go unpunished.  There are consequences for everything we do in life.  There should certainly be consequences for the criminal taking of a life and they should be severe, otherwise there is no consequence and certainly no deterrent.  

        Mayor Koch uses a fallacious argument in defending capital punishment as necessary after condemning killing in general.  He attempts to make the case that killing as punishment is valid while killing because of a crime, or in a fit or anger, or even as a pastime, is wrong.  

        There is an argument to be made for capital punishment, but we should, at the same time be prepared to admit that killing is in the final analysis wrong.  As a punishment, the death penalty may be needed in today’s world, but we should still accept that it is at best unavoidable and is still wrong in and of itself.