Essay on Capital Punishment and Cons
Capital punishment, which is also related to as the death penalty, is the roughest punishment, sentenced upon the individual for committing a crime. Capital punishment is the subject of hot debates all over the world. Pros and cons of death penalty are well-known, but the majority of arguments depend on the personal ethics. The ethical problem related to death penalty involves not only the general moral issues of punishment, but also the problem of whether it is ever morally right to deprive a human being of life. This essay would review the pros and cons of the capital punishment, providing supportive illustrative material as the examples from the historical juridical practice.
The thesis statement of the essay is the following: despite the ethical issues related to capital punishment, it should be used, but the strict limitations and regulation are needed.
From the very beginning it would be essential to define what the capital punishment means: “Capital punishment is the practice of executing someone as punishment for a specific crime after a proper legal trial. It can only be used by a state, so when non-state organizations speak of having ‘executed’ a person they have actually committed a murder. It is usually only used as a punishment for particularly serious types of murder, but in some countries treason, types of fraud, adultery and rape are capital crimes” (BBC, 2011).
Capital punishment has been widely spread for a long time during the history. Debates about the death penalty also started centuries ago. Even the roots of the statement date back to the Ancient Rome and have Latin origins: “The phrase ‘capital punishment’ comes from the Latin word for the head. A ‘corporal’ punishment, such as flogging, takes its name from the Latin word for the body” (BBC, 2011). Currently 58 nations actively practice Capital punishment, compared to 95 countries abolishing it: “Capital punishment is used in many countries around the world. According to Amnesty International figures as at December 2009, 58 countries and territories retain the death penalty, although many never actually use it” (BBC, 2011). The current trend is that a number of Western and Eastern countries have reduced the capital punishment, but the same time the crime rates increases severely. But nowadays the United States of America is one of the few developed countries that still use capital punishment.
There are some basic points usually used by the advocates for capital punishment.
First of all, Capital punishment helps to raise the healthy society. Capital punishment is very powerful and effective way to set an order, as it reduces and prevents crime very effectively because any living being fears death. Murderers are very brutal, but the same time they are afraid of death, as a result, a social justice could be embodied. Executions also have an effect on eliminating social dissatisfaction.
Many people consider capital punishment as retribution. Basic argumentation behind the retribution is the following: all guilty, and only guilty, should be punished, and the severity of punishment should correlate to severity of crime. In many case of murder the murderer deserves the death.
The issue of rehabilitation is also a frequently used argument in capital punishment debates. Thomas Aquinas wrote that waiting for death the crime can experience spiritual rehabilitation. The same purpose is intended by long sentences in prison, but the success is questionable.
Vindication and closure in victim’s close people is the next argument. Some investigators and legislators argue that capital punishment brings closure to victim’s family. Thus, in 2006, “the state of Florida executed a 52-year-old serial killer and rapist named Danny Rolling” He brutally murdered five female college students in 1990. “Ada Larson, the mother of one of Rolling’s victims, said afterwards that the execution finally allowed her a measure of peace.” (Liptock, 2007)
Social satisfaction elimination is also considered as an effect of death penalty. Is is almost the same argument as the previous, but this time it involves not only the victim’s family but also the whole society: executions also have an effect on eliminating social dissatisfaction.
Capital punishment also helps to raise the healthy society because it is very powerful and effective way to set an order. It reduces and prevents crime very effectively because of fear of death. Murderers are very brutal, but the same time they are afraid of death, as a result, a social justice could be embodied.
Capital punishment can also be analyzed as a measure of human rights protection. Criminal who commits a serious crime, like serial murder, child rape, and terrorists, has already rejected the sanctity of life by stamping on the sanctity of life. Such criminal violates the human rights of other people.
At last, cost reduction for prisoners should be taken in attention. Every prison and jail is operated by the citizen’s tax. It means if a criminal goes into prison, his is fed, lodged, and clothed by the other citizens of the country. Life lasting imprisonment is coming quite expensive. The criminal could be compared to waste because he doesn’t work for a thing. In this context, the government could avoid budget waste by performing an execution. As a result, crimes are reduced and the number of prison would decrease.
Opponents of capital punishment also use a number of obvious arguments in support of their point of view.
The main argument of capital punishment opponents is a value of human life. Human life is really valuable. Opponents of capital punishment claim that the life is so valuable that the lives of worst crimes cannot be destroyed. “No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed” (Official Journal of the European Communities, 2000).
Opponents of death penalty also appeal to human rights protection. Argument “everyone has a right to live” sounds similar to the argument of human life value, but it reviews the same problem from the aspect of human rights.
The imperfect law system can lead to execution of innocent. Risk of punishing the innocent person exists even in the most effective law system. Opponents of death punishment argue that since 1973 more than a hundred people sentenced to death in the USA were found innocent.
Unethical and insufficient nature of retribution is also the argument of capital punishment opponents. Opponents of capital punishment consider retribution as the unethical principle, because it is nothing more than the modern interpretation of the Old Testament ‘’Eye by eye”. They say that it is impossible to explain that killing is immoral with killing. Besides, many people say capital punishment isn’t the enough retribution for many criminals, for example, serial murderers.
Opponents of death penalty also reject the idea of capital punishment as a help to police. Statistical data could hardly provide relevant supportive data, which illustrate the effectiveness of death penalty. Thus, in 2000 led the nation by the number of death penalty convictions and executions. At the same time Texas ranked 13th in level of violent crimes and 17th in murders per 100,000 citizens in the USA.
A concern regarding the mental state of crimes is the next argument. Terrorists and even serial killers might not understand what they are doing because they could have mental illnesses. Nowadays medical science has a broad knowledge regarding the brain functioning on physical level. However, the nature of many mental diseases is still unknown. “The most important one is the virtual certainty that genuinely innocent people will be executed and that there is no possible way of compensating them for this miscarriage of justice. There is also another significant but much less realized danger here. The person convicted of the murder may have actually killed the victim and may even admit having done so but does not agree that the killing was murder. Often the only people who know what really happened are the accused and the deceased. It then comes down to the skill of the prosecution and defense lawyers as to whether there will be a conviction for murder or for manslaughter. It is thus highly probable that people are convicted of murder when they should really have only been convicted of manslaughter.” (Capital Punishment U.K., 2011).
Even killer may have close relatives or friends. Very often people could hardly believe that their beloved person could commit such an outrageous crime as murdering someone. Capital punishment can be the real shock for them and can even provoke the wave of violence: “The innocent family and friends of criminals must also go through in the time leading up to and during the execution. It is often very difficult for people to come to terms with the fact that their loved one could be guilty of a serious crime and no doubt even more difficult to come to terms with their death in this form. One cannot and should not deny the suffering of the victim’s family in a murder case but the suffering of the murderer’s family is surely valid too” (Capital Punishment U.K., 2011).
