Yesterday a convicted murderer was executed in Arizona. Most of the US States still have, and carry out, the death penalty. Most civilized countries, and even Russia, frown upon capital punishment. To them, killing is an act of barbarism. First, there is always the possibility (currently estimated to be as high as 1 per cent) that the convict is not guilty of the crime they are to be killed for. But more importantly, although most perpetrators of crimes deemed fit for capital punishment may deserve to die, it is the defining mark of humanity to not be a savage, to refrain from indulging in the same cruelty as the criminal. A rational argument would also be the fact that capital punishment has never been shown to be a more effective deterrent than incarceration. This only leaves revenge as the main reason for capital punishment – something no ethical person would deem sufficient.

U.S. 9th Circuit Court Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, himself a supporter of the death penalty, shone a harsh and revealing light on a truth that the US would like to ignore. He wrote

Using drugs […] to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and beautiful.

It’s indeed remarkable that the US prefer lethal injections to other forms of execution for one reason only: to make the act of killing look better. Kozinski is the first US official who states it that clearly. In his dissent in the Arizona death penalty case of Joseph Rudolph Wood III, Kozinski put it more aptly than I ever could:

But executions are, in fact, brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should we. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf.

Although personally I find this a rather disquieting argument in support of capital punishment, I can’t help but notice that most of the countries that stoop so low to kill their criminals also revel in that brutality; most execute publicly. To re-quote:

Executions are, in fact, brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality.

Perhaps the US should either own up to the fact that they are primitive savages, or finally come to their senses and stop this barbarism.