South Dakota death penalty ‘illogical’
The people of South Dakota have killed three human beings in the last nine years. While an individual citizen may not have decided on this, the lawmakers that every citizen votes for just rejected a proposal that would repeal executions in South Dakota. These executions are nothing new to the state, and go back as far as when Vermillion was part of the Dakota Territory.
There was one period when executions were outlawed (1915-1939), but that is no longer the case with a recently increasing trend nationally. While the majority of U.S. states retain the death penalty option under certain circumstances, there is no good way to justify state-sponsored death. It is, in fact, much cheaper to keep someone in prison their whole life than to execute them due to legal and appeal fees as well as the cost of carrying out the execution.
More importantly though, the entire line of thinking involved in carrying out state-sponsored death is illogical and immoral. It is illogical in that we are told from a very young age that killing is bad, yet young people see the state carrying out the most egregious form of premeditated murder. How is one supposed to grow-up respecting the laws of the state when such a contradictory message is displayed?
Even if you have no moral objections to these acts, the other reasons given should be thought-provoking. The only possible reasons that could be considered for the continuation of executions are the prospect of revenge or that South Dakota is governed by a secret dictatorial regime that retains the punishment for its own ends.
In regards to the former, revenge and lack of constraint puts this state and country in a wonderful group of vacation destinations including but not limited to Yemen, Sudan, North Korea, Chad and Somalia. I will also give mention to the argument that execution acts as a deterrent to murder, but I have yet to see a study showing any statistically significant correlation and therefore find this an invalid argument.
As the people who elect our politicians, it is our responsibility to elect lawmakers that understand these points. This conversation can be and should be led by the flagship campus of South Dakota — USD. Directed campus discussion events, opinions voiced in school media outlets and directly talking to those involved in the decision making process should all be actions this university is taking part in. South Dakota executions began in Yankton almost 150 years ago; let’s end them just downriver in Vermillion.
— Joseph Madison, University of South Dakota student
