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It seems that capital punishment stands on death row, and rightfully so.

Developments within the case of convicted murderer and rapist Michael Morales are convincing enough to illustrate capital punishment’s termination in the United States. Morales’ execution by lethal injection was postponed when the anesthesiologists assisting with the execution refused to participate, stating that the act would violate their medical oath.

According to the Los Angeles Times, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel proposed modification of the lethal injection process because executions in the past have not resulted in completely pain-free deaths.

The case illuminated the fact that even lethal injection – the most frequently practiced method of execution due to its more “humane” nature compared to other forms – still exists amid procedural complications.

Execution is synonymous with murder, and the U.S. seems to be one of the last to realize this.

The U.S. remains one of the few countries (including South Korea and Japan) out of the world’s developed democracies that still retains capital punishment as an institution for justice.

It is quite ironic that this is the same country proclaiming and fighting for just government systems overseas. How potent can the moral authority be if it stands on the same side of human rights-violating countries regarding capital punishment?

Even South Korea is now jumping on the bandwagon toward eliminating capital punishment. According to The Korea Times, the South Korean Ministry of Justice recently declared plans to review execution procedures and possibly implement life imprisonment instead.

A similar moratorium in California was proposed in February 2005. Although it is currently inactive, the capital punishment debate stirred by the Morales case shifted attention to the bill.

The moratorium would review the effectiveness and procedural integrity of the death penalty, stalling executions in California until January 2009, according to the Web site for California legislative information.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no real difference exists in the crime rates between states where the death penalty has been abolished and where it’s in effect. Permanent removal of criminals does not encourage a safer society, nor does it deter future crimes.

Additionally, while great pain is inflicted upon victims and their acquaintances and they deserve great empathy, execution is still literally killing and thus is an illogical and contradictory method of vindication.

Recent trends have witnessed moratoriums in states such as Illinois and Maryland (though both have been reversed) and New Jersey most recently, according to National Public Radio.

Continuing studies by Amnesty International have indicated bias between race and socioeconomic status in the placing of prisoners on death row, and DNA testing proved innocent in 2002 the 100th person on death row.

With these findings, capital punishment continually seems to be an antiquated method of justice in danger of elimination.

And with the recent failure to improve the system in the Morales case, only time and history can prove whether someday the U.S.’s archaic form of justice will expire.

E-mail Yoo at jyoo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.