NCJ Number
75838
Journal
PARADE Dated: (February 8, 1981) Pages: 6-9,11
Date Published
1981
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The question of the propriety of capital punishment is considered and illustrated with comments on the Gilmore case. The impact of carrying out this sentence is considered as it relates to inmates sentenced to death, prison staff, and society as a whole.
Abstract
Whether capital punishment serves to deter potential criminals is questionable; many offenders fail to calculate the costs of their actions while commiting crimes. Also, many of the offenders sentenced to execution have committed crimes which cannot be easily labeled as moral outrages. Offenders committing these types of crimes are usually psychotic and are sentenced to mental institutions rather than to execution. Many prosecutors advocating the death penalty do not wholly support the concept, and do not recommend death sentences in the belief that they will be carried out. Prison guards view executions as potentially dangerous disruptions of prison routine; prison administrators must make difficult choices in selecting those to be involved in executions. Convicts feel a strong kinship with the inmate being executed, and may view the execution as a social wrong being perpetrated against them. The execution provides the offender celebrity status both within and outside the prison. In the Gilmore case, the offender viewed execution as his right to a dignified death. This reason for capital punishment - allowing individuals this right - may represent a valid use of the death penalty. The deterrent value of capital punishment may lie not in the prevention of crime by potential offenders, but in the prevention of social insanity in an era of weak morality. Photographs are included.