Utah should end the death penalty
by Sam Hill
In the recent years, more and more states have been restricting or outright removing the death penalty as a punishment for certain crimes. A bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats in Utah have been attempting to remove the death penalty for over five years, and this year the chances of doing so are significantly higher than in years past because of a bill in the Utah House of Representatives.
If it wins approval, HB147 would repeal Utah’s death penalty and replace it with a new law that would give prosecutors another option when offering plea deals – a sentence for aggravated murder of 45 years to life in prison.
Even though this bill has the backing of a number of conservative and progressive lawmakers, a staggering number of Utahns remain confused about the death penalty. So what is the death penalty, what are the arguments for and against it, and why is this year any different?
The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the execution of a guilty criminal ordered by a court of law. The penalty can only be used for certain serious offenses, such as murder. No one under the age of 18 has been executed in Utah. Utah has never executed a woman, though it did put one woman on death row (she was later released). In 1973, the death penalty was found unconstitutional as practiced by the U.S. Supreme Court, but after states changed their laws, it was reinstated and Utah became the first state to use it again in 1977 with the execution of Gary Mark Gilmore.
In its history Utah has executed 51 people with the most recent being Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Forty-one people have been executed by firing squad, six by hanging, and four by lethal injection.
The death penalty was instated in Utah in 1847, but the first execution was committed in 1854. As explained by Pat Reavy in his article “Utah has an interesting history of execution. . . . The first two men to be executed in Utah was in 1854. Two Native Americans were hanged at the Jordan River bridge for killing two boys.” Hanging was outlawed in Utah in 1980. In 1987, Ogden killer Pierre Dale Selby was the first person to be executed by lethal injection in Utah.
There are many arguments against the death penalty, both religious and political. One of the bigger arguments is the cost of execution. Including the trial and the execution itself, an execution costs around $1.6 million. In 2017 the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice conducted a study that found that state and local governments spent roughly $40 million over 20 years on death penalty cases. That $40 million resulted in only two death penalty sentences.
However, many argue that no price is too high to get justice. The Catholic Church argues that all life is sacred, and created in the image of God, and a life should not be intentionally taken.
There are a few arguments for the death penalty with the penultimate one being “eye for an eye.” An eye for an eye in this context is used as a way to justify executing a killer; “They killed someone so we should kill them.” However, this is not true justice, but is instead an out for the murderer. Other arguments include; deterrence, retribution, closure and vindication.
The death penalty is incredibly flawed and has sent many innocent people to death. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, a total of 185 “criminals” on death row have be found to be innocent.
America is the only Western country that still has the death penalty, and only 27 states still use the death penalty. In recent years, New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011), Connecticut (2012), Maryland (2013), New Hampshire (2019), Colorado (2020) and Virginia (2021) have abolished the death penalty
Utah has been seen in a negative light when it comes to the death penalty due to our methods of execution. While most firing squad executions only have one real bullet in one of the five guns, Utah uses four bullets. The whole point of the single bullet was so that nobody knew who fired the bullet that killed the criminal, and yet instead of one executioner, we increased it to four.
Nationally, Death Row is composed primarily of the poor and 90% could not afford their own attorney. Death row also shows extreme racial disparity. Of the 15,978 executions in the U.S. since 1989 only 30 were for white on Black crimes, and 35% of the executed were Black, though Blacks make up only 14% of the U.S. population.
It is time to put an end to the death penalty in Utah. It fails to accomplish what it was put in place to do. The death penalty does not act as a deterrent. Its cost is astronomical. Families of victims – like Sharon Wright Weeks – claim that it does not provide closure towards the murder of their loved one because of the lengthy appeals process. Death Row inmate Ron Lafferty was on Death Row for 34 years but was never executed. He died of natural causes in prison.
The death penalty simply does not work. Utah’s long history with it makes it clear that murder doesn’t justify murder.
Go to this Utah State Legislature site to find out who your state representatives are and get your voice heard on this and other issues.
