Chris Hedges: Murder Is Our National Sport

The state of violence in the United States is palpable. The spectacle of violence is what entertains us, and shapes our culture. The culture of violence is evident in those things that Americans embrace: violence in sports, violent video games, movies, television, books, articles, news stories and television news programming that present vivid pictures and descriptions of violence; its what sells. Its evident in Americas infatuation with guns and war, in the current military sexual assault crisis, and its evident in our penal system, on death row and in the death penalty laws that put people there. The death penalty is legal under federal law and under military law and legal in 32 states. One of these states is Florida. In Florida, new legislation, the Timely Justice Act, is waiting for Governor Rick Scotts signature before it becomes law. The legislation calls for the accelerated execution of death row inmates because under current Florida law it just takes too darn long to kill them. We condemn murder, and, depending on the legal circumstances, kill those who do. But to take a life legally is no more moral than taking a life illegally and even more so when we are more concerned with expeditiously taking a life over taking every precaution to make sure we are killing the right person for the crime. The Timely Justice Act requires the governor to sign an execution warrant within 30 days of review by the State Supreme Court. And the state of Florida would be compelled to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant, writes David Love, Executive Director of Witness to Innocence. It certainly is not enough time to overturn a wrongful conviction. Moreover, Florida's death penalty law has been highly scrutinized by the American Bar Association (ABA). In 2006, the ABA along with Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team has identified several flaws in the system and has made recommendations for reform. Among the problematic flaws is a concern over wrongful convictions. Yet, unfortunately, the intent of this legislation is not to minimize the risk of executing innocent people; rather, its a rush to execute people.

Republican State Representative Matt Gaetz said during House debate, Only God can judge, but we sure can set up the meeting. His statement reveals a great deal about the mindset of those who support the death penalty. Its not about justice but retaliation. From the time the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty in 1976, its unknown how many of those executed were innocent, executed even though there was considerable doubt about their guilt. The problem of wrongful convictions lies in the fact that once an execution takes place there is no motivation to further determine guilt or innocence, making posthumous exoneration highly unlikely. Its way past time for the U.S. to take steps to turn murder away from being our national sport. A good start would be to adopt the capital punishment policy of the European Union, wherein, The EU considers the death penalty as a cruel, inhuman, and irreversible punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to criminal behavior [sic]. The abolition of the death penalty is essential for the enhancement of human dignity and for the progressive development of human rights.