World Day Against the Death Penalty 2024: “The Death Penalty protects no one!” – Part 4

Interview with John Allen (Arizona Death Row)

How do you view the statement, “The death penalty serves to protect society”?

This statement is a fallacy. Protection is, by definition, proactive. In order to protect anyone, one must prevent an act that would be damaging to another. Whereas the death penalty is inherently reactive. It only occurs after something terrible has already happened, and prevention of similar acts by the same individual is already prevented through the prison sentence itself. In this way, the death penalty and the idea of protection are diametrically opposed, and so the statement must therefore be untrue.

How do you see the statement, “The death penalty acts as a deterrent, and is intended to reduce the crime rate”?

This statement is also a fallacy. It is not an aspect of human nature to consider that what happened to another might also happen to us. We all would prefer to think that we are special, and can all somehow get what we want and avoid the consequences of doing so. Especially in moments of extreme troublesome emotion. An effective deterrent must work along with human nature, and not against it. While it is certainly intended to reduce the crime rate, it utterly fails. If it worked, these crimes wouldn’t be happening as often as they are.

Which alternatives would you like to see?

I would like to see more energy around reformation around the way we respond and prevent these crimes. Using rational thought, and an evidence based approach of what works, we can save a lot more lives, prevent a lot more crime, and get people the help they need when they need it. Both potential victims, and potential perpetrators.

What is something you would like to tell all the people out here?

I would like to tell them that the death penalty is not being applied only to the worst of the worst. The majority of us are first time offenders, people who have had terrible accidents, and people who were only peripherally involved in something with no real control over the outcome. Justice is not being done. We are all individual, and unique individuals who should not be classified, as a whole, as being terrible people. We may have made a terrible mistake one day, but it doesn’t mean that we are terrible people. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we deserve to die.

The Interview was conducted by Jasmin Blaß-Priester, German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.