A number of discussions encircle the question of death penalty today: it is considered to have good preventive and deterrent means but most specialists agree that this type of punishment is out of date and should be prohibited nowadays and substituted to lifelong imprisonment. Capital punishment (the second name of death penalty) is abolished in 81 countries but some states has left it for especially serious crimes, such as fraud, treasons, rape and murder. Here are the arguments for pro and con sides of the issue.
- Why can we support death penalty?
- Capital punishment is fair enough for the reason that guilty people must be punished to the same extent of how strong their fault is. We cannot set free the after keeping in prison for some years people that are able to kill others on purpose.
- Death penalty is the only certain way to stop the murderer. This form of punishment will, for sure, prevent possible re-offences from his side.
- There is a moral rule that one should expect to get be treated by people same as he or she treats them. In this case the guilty one must be aware that he can be killed as well as his witnesses.
- Capital punishment is a good lesson to others: once someone sees how severe the penalty is he or she will not want to commit a crime.
- Death penalty is cheaper for the state than lifelong imprisonment. The government and citizens will not need to spend their earnings on taxes, which, in their turn, will go on supplying the life on imprisoned.
- Why should the death penalty be abolished all over the world?
- First of all, capital punishments denies the basic human right to live. If we claim that we respect and defend human rights we are not allowed to decide on someone’s life.
- Capital punishment is violent: although we do not have tortures and gallows nowadays, lethal injections can be painful and bring suffering to the executed as well as electrocution.
- For real, death penalty is not a fair form of retribution but rather a vengeance. Executed are not always punished in the same way what they are accused of. This is why we cannot state that the proportion is saved but just show our cruelty by executing people to death.
- Death penalty is brutal as it makes people, society and law crueler. Indeed, the rates of murders are increasing due to capital punishment. Also, giving an opportunity to a state to do with human lives whatever it wants is brutalizing and can have seriously negative consequences. As death penalty is a part of a law it links it with violence.
- There are several categories of people that are not responsible for their actions, such as insane or people under a certain affect. They cannot be executed in this way as they might just not realize what they do.
- One of important factors to consider that mistakes in judiciary system and accusing wrong people can happen, which is why innocent people may be killed by state for just no reason.