COLUMN: Dealing death, not justice

From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99 From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99Philip Workman's days are numbered. For the first time in 39 years, the State of Tennessee is set to execute a man for crimes against society. As they would say back home in the Volunteer State, that's a cryin' shame. Despite his lawyers' efforts to introduce new evidence, there is little question that Workman is guilty. What is up for questioning, though, is whether Workman should be killed for his crime. The death penalty is wrong. Period. It is, quite simply, morally indefensible to take a human life in such a calculated manner. But the immorality of the death penalty isn't reason enough to abolish it. Not in America. Like it or not, we live in a representative democracy where the voice of the people demands to be heard. Right now, the voice of the people is screaming for more bodies hanging from the gallows. A 1997 Harris poll found that 75 percent of Americans favor the death penalty, up from 38 percent in 1965. For whatever reason, Americans today like the death penalty, vote for it and think it works. It doesn't. Many politicians will argue that it is an effective crime deterrent, but that's up for a lot of debate. And besides, what kind of society do we live in when we're killing people just to make an example for the next guy? That's a law enforcement system based on terror, not justice. But the death penalty has more flaws than just that. For one, it is racist. If you are black, you are more likely to receive the death penalty from an American jury than a white man convicted of the same crime. Also, supporters of the death penalty will often point toward the high cost of keeping a prisoner under maximum security as reason enough to keep the death penalty. But, believe it or not, it costs more go through the process of executing someone than it costs to keep them in prison, behind bars and separated from society. Finally, death row inmates are freed every year after they are found innocent on appeal, and some legal scholars and jurists would argue that we have already killed innocent men in the name of criminal justice. If we haven't already, it is only a matter of time until we do. And one innocent man killed in the name of justice is one too many. We rarely blink when someone is killed in war or in the act of committing a violent crime. That person represents an obvious threat. But how much of a threat is Philip Workman, alone in his maximum security cell? Not much. Which is why I am -- for the first time in my life -- ashamed to be a Tennesseean. That's saying a lot, considering how much pride I take in my home state. I am proud that the state of Tennessee has such a booming economy. I am proud that the University of Tennessee has such a great football team. And yes, I am very proud of the fact that you are now more likely to see a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City -- as we did this weekend -- than in the state in which the terrorist hate group was founded. But none of that matters as long as we continue to execute our own citizens. The United States puts more prisoners to death annually than every nation in the world except China, Saudi Arabia and Iran -- hardly the nations after which one would model a fair legal system. When it comes to executing juvenile offenders, America is the world's leader. Go USA. Americans need to take a long look at ourselves and decide whether or not this is a trait by which we would like our nation to be defined. Already, the United Nations among others has condemned the United States' use of the death penalty in our criminal justice system. Bottom line is, the death penalty makes little sense. It is neither a practical nor a fiscally sound policy. And lest we forget, the death penalty is morally wrong. Maybe that alone should be reason enough to end the practice of deliberately killing our citizenry. Even in America.