Execution in Washington

AIR DATE: Friday, September 10th 2010
POSTED BY: JULIE SABATIER

Cal Coburn Brown was executed at the Washington State Penitentiary just before 1:00am on Friday. Brown has confessed to murdering 22-year-old Holly Washa in 1991. He was also convicted of torturing and raping her. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has said she will not grant clemency to Brown, and the U.S. Supreme Court has denied his appeal hours before he became the first death row inmate to be executed in Washington since 2001. He was also the first person to die by the state's new single drug lethal injection method.

How have public opinion and execution methods changed over time? Have your views changed? What difference do a prisoner's last words make?  

GUESTS:

Tagged as: death penalty · washington

Photo credit: Adrián Afonso / Creative Commons

Capital punishment is an oddity. It ends the life of an assumed killer, in an attempt at equality, an eye for an eye, a life for a life. It’s odd in that it is the only crime that seems to seek such exacting retribution, such equal payback. It is hard to grasp what kind of punishment it is, or if it is even punishment at all, because it is over before it even begins. The opposition seems to oppose it through technicalities, such as they could be innocent, and the supporters focus on a black and white retribution. Supporters have an easier time because it is a clearer defense. Opponents have a harder time, because they tend to shy away from the crux of it, and instead focus on the periphery and rarely address the act itself, as an idea. Perhaps, there is no clear argument against capital punishment, or perhaps we just need to try harder to develop one.

It seems like very little has changed about capital punishment. Sure the methods have changed, but, death is a constant, it generally occurs in a similar way. What has greatly changed over time, is us! Our cultures, our societies, our abilities to punish people in other ways, our abilities to protect our citizens, to insure their safety, we are a very different people. In some ways this is exactly what makes capital punishment seem so barbarous to many---that, look at how far we have come, how many layers we have developed, but still we must do this, we must return to the brutal simplicity of a legalized killing. It seems to be at odds with the world we dreamed of.

scottmil —

The death penalty is state sanctioned murder. It is a final act from which there is no reprieve. There is no deterrent factor, people still kill people at about the same rate whether there is a death penalty or not. The alternative to the death penalty, life without parole, is, arguably, a greater punishment for the offender, a life's worth of suffering is surely more difficult to bear than a quick exit. More importantly, in the inevitable event of an innocent individual being convicted, it does not allow us to wash our hands...


patcosta —
No discussion of the death penalty is complete without talking about the difference between the cost of taking a defendant through execution, and the cost of putting him in prison for life. Can you tell us these facts? Thanks, Mary Goody
marygoody —

Thanks for the quesiton. The guest who is on right now isn't the right person to answer it but we actually addressed this in a previous show on the economics of the death penalty: http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/high-costs-death-penalty/

- Julie Sabatier, "Think Out Loud" producer

Julie Sabatier —

Comments are now closed.



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