Idaho allowed death by firing squad, back into its repertoires of tools to punish criminals. Many consider death by firing squad to be inhumane. However, Idaho is a red state, and when states are red, morality tends to be a bit different there. The bill itself moved in the Idaho state legislature with a veto-proof majority which means it will be passed. However, the bill itself has fine print.
The bill says that death by firing squad is only allowed if lethal injection isn’t an option. Many inmates have already critiqued and sued the Idaho prison system for the inhumanity of lethal injections. This is the state of the American justice system.
A Humanitarian Perspective
From a humanitarian perspective, it would be right to question whether or not death by firing squad, or even the death penalty in general is inhumane. It seems, Idaho has placed itself within the realm of the death penalty debate with this policy choice. While there are nuances like the fact that Black people are significantly more likely to die by the death penalty than others, it all comes down to something simple. The difference between the current justice system and what the justice system could be is its perspective on crime.
For many, crime is produced by moral inequality, or rather the idea that the vast majority of people are just morally higher than the “criminals.” These sorts of perspectives on crime lead to the punitive justice system. A punitive justice system is a system that seeks to punish criminals for their deeds.
The perspective of “do the crime, do the time” almost always ends up falling back on the backs of working-class Black and brown people. So while Idaho has a fancy new firing squad, that same firing squad could potentially be mostly shooting Black and brown working-class faces.
The Morality of Crime
The reason for this is that from a certain perspective, crime doesn’t come from a lack of morality. Crime could be considered the consequence of several factors like racialization, class, and gender. For example, Black Americans struggle to find job opportunities occasionally, because of the color of their skin. As a consequence, many turn to the drug trade as a means of making ends meet.
Then, it is those same means that incarcerate many African Americans today. At that point, the law is criminalizing being poor and Black. Many times it is these same desperate people that get sent to the firing squads. Yes, these people may have done heinous things, but for many of them, these crimes simply come as a packaged deal with survival. Not every inmate that is lined up for execution is like this, however many of them are. The ones that aren’t are the highlight of this debate.
The Restorative Perspective
However, there is an entirely different perspective on this that people don’t consider. The restorative justice model is the polar opposite of the punitive justice system. Ultimately, restorative justice systems are about helping not hurting. Helping those who have been wronged, helping those who went down the wrong path, and helping society regain a member. What this does, is that through a very long process, even people that have committed heinous crimes can still try to be better people and give back what they took from society. Of course, this doesn’t make things magically better, but killing the offender doesn’t either.
All in all, Idaho’s new bill is one of many in America that actively dehumanizes those who may need the most help. Many consider death by firing squad or death by lethal injection to be inhumane. What they do best is wipe society’s hands clean of the consequences of inequality. So, from a certain point of view, the death penalty is inhumane indeed.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources
CNN: Idaho lawmakers approve bill that would allow execution by firing squad
OkJusticeReform: How Poverty Drives Violent Crime by Michael Olson
TheNigeriaLawyer: A Simple Guide To Understanding Restorative Justice by Unini Chioma
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Hugh Llewelyn’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Edgar Omar’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
