Paul Rhoades, convicted of rape and murder, is scheduled to die Friday after 23 years on death row.
Rhoades has exhausted every appeal, including an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld his conviction. His only remaining options are to request that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider his case.
Rhoades is not an anomaly. Despite the death sentence being reinstated in Idaho in 1979, only one of 40 inmates sentenced to the death penalty received their sentence, and that one waived his appeals. The last time someone was executed against their will was in 1957.
The death penalty is intended for those who have committed heinous crimes and to protect society from their possible future actions.
Whether people agree or disagree with the death penalty, and there are many on both sides, the real issue is the law. People have been sentenced to the death penalty as recently as 2005 in Idaho, which means the law is still being used — just not carried out. What good is a law that is never enforced? Though the severities of the laws differ, it would be the same as if there were speed limits but no one ever received a ticket, or shoplifted without being arrested.
It seems the legal system is more interested in protecting the institution than following through on the law. The extent to which an inmate can appeal may be their right, but there is a point when it becomes a repetitive and desperate attempt to stay their conviction. Those convicted may be fighting for their life, and some form of appeal is necessary to ensure that there wasn’t a mistake, but this continuous chain of appeals is obstructing justice.
Enforcing the death penalty is also expensive, but not enforcing the law weakens the confidence and trust citizens have in the court systems.
Opinions on the law itself are not what is important. The larger issue lies with justice. If a law exists and is still used for sentencing, then it needs to be enforced. If the courts and the legal system are too afraid of the consequences to follow through with the death sentence, then it needs to be eliminated.