Is it Time to End the Death Penalty?

The price of state-sanctioned violence might be state-sanctioned violence.

Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash.

The recent killing of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers has inspired — once again — all-too-familiar feelings of rage and helplessness across the U.S.

While media outlets parse details, criminal justice experts analyze the case, and America mourns, it’s worth noting again — and never too often — why such killings are particularly heinous.

Any person coming into contact with law enforcement is guaranteed the presumption of innocence by the U.S. Constitution. When police officers kill someone during arrest, that person is deprived of their constitutional right to due process.

When it comes to examining systemic flaws in the U.S. criminal justice code — and especially as it pertains to the extra-judicial killing of as-yet-innocent suspects by officers of the law — the subject of state-sanctioned violence should lead — inevitably — to the death penalty.

What is the price of such state-sanctioned violence in a society like ours? Agents of U.S. law are working within and perpetuating a legal system democratically empowered to kill its citizens. What impact does that underlying factor have on policing in America?