Jane Doe
Alaska, the state in which I reside currently does not allow for the death penalty. Two years prior to Alaska gaining statehood, the death penalty had already been abolished in 1957 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2016). Only seven individuals were executed in Alaska while under the miner’s court, which was in place prior to 1899; between the years of 1900-1957 an additional eight individuals were condemned to legal executions (Death Penalty Information Center, 2016). With a grand total of only 15 people killed as a result of murders committed, the state of Alaska clearly has not been a strong supporter of capital punishment as a means to address crimes of murder.
House Bill 9 was introduced by Representative Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski) with the help of Representative Jay Ramras (R-Fairbanks) in 2009 to implement capital punishment in Alaska for cases where the felon is convicted of first degree murder; however the proposition remained in the House Finance and House Judiciary committees (The Death Penalty in Alaska, 2009). Despite the attempts that have been made to instate capital punishment in Alaska, the state continues to avoid legalizing the death penalty as a method of punishment for murderers.
USA Today published an article in 2013 which listed Alaska as one of the most dangerous states in the United States (Kent & Frohlich, 2015). The article stated that Alaska’s violent crime rate involved over 600 per 100,000 residents, which was quite high considering the poverty rate being so low at only 9.3% (Kent & Frohlich, 2015). Typically the states with the highest rates of crime tend to be ones with high rates of poverty, making Alaska unique.
One may consider or correlate the high crime rate to be associated with the lack of capital punishment as the reason for such dangerous conditions; however statistics show otherwise. According to The Death Penalty Information Center (2016), states without the death penalty tend to fare better in crime rates that the counterpart. For example, in the states where capital punishment is practiced, over the past two decades the homicide rate has been 48%-101% higher than the states that have banned the use of the death penalty (The Death Penalty Information Center, 2016). Facts and figures continue to show a correlation with a lower rate of crimes involving murder in all states that have banned capital punishment compared to the states where death penalty continue to remain an option.
Therefore, it appears that Alaska has made a wise decision on standing their ground and avoiding legalization of capital punishment as an option for punishing murderers. Not only is there ample evidence in the lack of the death penalty as a deterrent in violent crimes, but it also does not always bring comfort, peace, or a sense of closure to the family and friends of the victims who are killed. If anything, it seems that the death penalty allows the criminal to have an easier way out and suffer less when he or she is killed versus facing the rest of their lives in prison where they must live with the heinous acts they have committed.
As the Supreme Court has begun to face many cases where new trials have be awarded to prisoners for mistakes made during the original ruling of the death penalty, more evidence for banning capital punishment becomes apparent. It would be a disgrace to the criminal justice system to continue to kill convicts who may potentially be innocent, which is becoming more and more common as science and DNA testing advances. This along with many other reasons supports the argument to ban capital punishment throughout all the states within the nation. It is my belief that the future brings with it a more civilized method of punishment that does not involve the death penalty, which is rather archaic. In conclusion, I am proud to live in a state that does not honor such a brutal method of punishment.
References
Death Penalty Information Center . (2016). Alaska. Retrieved from
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/alaska-0
Kent, A. & Frohlich, T.C. (2015, January 3). The Most Dangerous States in America. USA Today. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/01/03/24-7-wall-st-most-dangerous-states/21214169/
The Death Penalty in Alaska. (2009, Winter). Alaska Justice Forum, 25(4), 1-12.
Retrieved from http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/forum/25/4winter2009/f_death-alaska.html
