Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is also known as the death penalty, where the state punishes and executes a criminal for a specific crime. It can be used for severe kinds of murder, but in some countries, it is also used for frauds, adultery, and rape, where capital crimes are different. It was initiated in Rome but is now a practice in many countries. China uses the death penalty the most executing over a thousand people each year. Capital punishment has been a heated debate about its effects on society and the criminals.
Many people support death penalties and capital punishments in general because they believe that people who commit these dangerous crimes like murder, frauds, and rape affecting so many people around them adversely, taking someone’s right to live should lose their life as a punishment. The seriousness of the punishment should equal the seriousness of the crime, and the lawbreakers should take lessons. Another main reason is the compensation of victims and the relief that others would be safe from the criminal. Moreover, potentially violent citizens would stay away from society and benefit everyone else around them. According to the supporters, there lies a big responsibility, and every severe criminal should be sentenced to death to provide justice to the rest of the criminals (Hood, 2020).
This heated debate also has opposers that argue that the death penalty should not be used in the country by the state, and this punishment should be abolished entirely. There are many reasons for the arguments laid down, including ethos, i.e., ethical views convincing an argument, pathos, i.e., emotional views supporting an argument and moral or practical views. One of the most common and robust reasons that promote our ethical values is that this practice of the death penalty is barbaric in a democratic state. It is a cruel, aggressive punishment where every citizen is responsible for a fellow citizens murder, despite being considerate towards the criminal and the victim’s family, we act as being cruel and taking another life. This unusual punishment just takes away another citizen from society despite any lesson learned by the criminals. After all the advances in mental health, psychology, sciences, and technology, our society needs to be non-lethal and a socially productive society that can build techniques and strategy to punish criminals in a way that no one loses it lives. Rehabilitation Centres are a great way to save everyone, criminals, and victims both because, in the end, they both are humans and citizens that everyone is responsible for.
The death penalty has been practiced since the past decades, but the crime rate has been increasing, there has not been a decrease. Murders and serious crimes are still rising. This shows that this punishment is simply inhumane as it does nothing to the criminals. There are thousands of criminals that run away and are not caught and eventually not getting the punishment. While people who are executed are the ones that are lined for the death penalty since ages that makes no connection to the crime they have done. According to studies and surveys, the deterrence rate has not decreased, and murders are still widespread in society. If there is not any change in the deterrence and homicide rate, then death penalties are ruining people’s mental health and affecting the ethical values of a society.
Adding to the inhumane behavior that death penalties exhibit, they also have a brutalization effect on the society where the homicide rate is increasing, ultimately leading to more violence. This makes it more dangerous for the people living in society. Many countries have already realized that the death penalty is an ineffective practice and an uncivilized one too. Burkina Faso, Portugal, Burundi are some states that have abolished capital punishment that promotes violence and killings. States like China, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and the united states still practice death penalties that even raise human rights issues in these countries.
According to many types of research held, the death penalty is also considered and known to be a biased and racist practice. The race has been an influence on murder, arrest, and execution. African American men are usually sentenced to death. In both countries, the opposite-colored men are accused of crimes leading to serious responses and decisions taken by the judges and jury in favor of others and not the victim. This also takes innocent people on death row. According to the study, four percent of people were wrongly accused and sentenced to death in America. Since the 1970s over hundreds of people have been proven innocent, that was on the death row and were to be executed. Death Penalty Information Centres have proven that innocent people are convicted.
This brings us down to the fact that people who are wrongly accused and arrested must be in a mental state and under stress and tension about their friends and family. There would have been bread earners and caretakers of the family in this list, who was then behind bars for their innocence. Their families are affected for years and not compensated, looking for proof to release their members. This unjust behavior of the authorities makes it unacceptable. If the family cannot find proof, then they may just lose their family member on a case that they were never aware of. These emotional and moral values should be the concern of the society rather than sentencing anyone to death (Brook, 2014).
Apart from all the emotional, ethical, and moral reasons for opposing the death penalty, many logical and practical reasons convince us to oppose the decision and law of the death penalty. Most of these capital crimes are committed on the heat of the moment where someone is going under extreme stress or has consumed alcohol or drugs. Even if a criminal has been planning a capital crime for long, they will plan out their escape and thus making the deterrence rate not fall. Death penalties would not scare them, but they would consider it a stroke of bad luck. For the people who have committed these crimes drunk or high, they should be given a chance to live their life. They should be sent to rehabilitation centers rather than executing them. This would affect them and their families adversely because they were going through a rough patch, and now it is even worse for them to cope up with. A conscious state should be considered whenever such sensitive cases are dealt with. Considering the immediate response of the victim or victims’ family would be to punish the wrongdoer. However, a mature society would opt for a measured response, where everyone’s life is important to society, whether it is the life of a murderer or a rapist. It is widespread to hear an eye for an eye, but torturing a murderer for murder or raping a rapist would not heal or cure the society. It would bring out more violence and disrespect. In a biased society, a criminal that has fewer resources to save himself will only reach the death row while the rest will be out in the world freely, making it the worst place to live in (deathpenaltycurriculum.org, 2000).
Concluding the argument, apart from some of the benefits that the death penalty provides, which can be fulfilled from many alternatives through developing strategies and techniques, we need to focus on killing the death penalty rather than killing people. Many countries have already moved to the abolition of this practice, and drug companies are banning their products from being used in capital punishment. The public is inclining to develop a state that is injustice free, where every citizen plays their responsibility and abides all laws.
References
Brook, D. (2014, July 15). Kill the death penalty: 10 arguments against capital punishment. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from https://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/07/15/kill-death-penalty-10-arguments-against-capital-punishment
deathpenaltycurriculum.org. (2000). Arguments for and against the Death penalty. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from deathpenaltycurriculum.org: https://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/student/c/about/arguments/arguments.PDF
Hood, R. (2020, April 6). Capital Punishment. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Irving-Robert-Kaufman
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