I spent some time in Nebraska this summer, which gave me the opportunity to have a ring-side seat for the three-ring freak show that is the implementation of capital punishment in modern America.

I wasn’t a supporter of the death penalty before the execution of confessed child killer John Joubert this summer, but witnessing the ghoulish behavior of people outside the prison gave me a new reason to oppose it.

Not only is the death penalty pointless and barbaric, it brings out the worst in what are probably normal people.

Probably.

A common argument in favor of sentencing murderers to death is that it deters others from committing murder.

Opponents, of course, say that is a crock. I’ve written papers on this subject before, and have seen plenty of research supporting both positions.

However, I’m inclined to believe that the death penalty is not a deterrent, for two reasons.

One is that our judicial system is too slow for the death penalty to be a deterrent.

Joubert murdered two Nebraska boys in 1983 and was sentenced to death in 1984. A mere 12 years later, he finally went to the chair.

That is too long to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the crime and the punishment.

If Pavlov’s dogs were fed three weeks after hearing the bell they would probably have never developed their drooling problem, especially since that would be 21 weeks in dog time.

Also, keep in mind that Joubert was in a minority among death row inmates in that he was actually executed. Most never will be.

The message being sent is that if you kill someone in Nebraska, you might possibly be executed many years from now.

Maybe.

The judicial system is slow, and it has to be. We are talking about people’s lives here.

Even if 100 guilty people are executed every year, it isn’t worth it if even one innocent person is put to death.

Second, the deterrent theory is based on the assumption that people who commit murder are concerned about the consequences of their crime before they commit it.

People who commit murder either don’t believe they will get caught or don’t care what will happen to them if they do.

Is the assumption here that in states like Iowa, which does not have the death penalty, people figure it’s okay to commit murder because the consequences really aren’t that bad?

“Let’s see, if I kill this guy, I can look forward to spending the rest of my life auditioning for the part of Maria in the prison’s rousing rendition of ‘West Side Story’ and fending off the romantic advances of other inmates in the shower room. I guess that’s okay.”

Well, Joubert apparently didn’t read up on Nebraska laws because he did commit murder and was put to death over the summer.

On the night of the execution, the Omaha television stations broadcast live from outside the prison.

Assembled there in the middle of the night were two groups of people: the death penalty opponents who were holding candles and singing “We Shall Overcome” (that song is really overused), and the death penalty supporters who were tailgating, drinking, taunting their foes and just generally reveling in the execution atmosphere.

The two groups were kept about 20 yards apart by barricades and several police officers, and with good reason.

During the last execution in Nebraska, they had a little trouble with fistfights among the spectators.

I watched the scene on television until I became sickened by the spectacle, and then I went to bed.

I firmly believe in the right of people to assemble and make their feelings about an issue known, but there is a difference between supporting the death penalty and enjoying it.

Ending someone’s life, no matter how much they may seem to deserve it, is not something to be happy about.

The party atmosphere outside the prison capsulized the real reason the death penalty exists in American today.

It’s not about deterring crime, it’s about revenge. The death penalty does not make us safer, but it makes us feel safer by getting rid of a bad person.

We would all be better off if murderers were unceremoniously locked away for the rest of their lives instead of being executed and made the focus of a spectacle like the one that occurred in Nebraska this summer.

The death penalty only encourages people’s lust for revenge, and the government should not be in the revenge business.

Steven Martens is a senior in journalism mass communication from Cedar Rapids.