John212000810

Capital punishment should be legalised

Introduction

Capital punishment, the death penalty, death sentence or execution is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. Crimes that can result into capital punishment are known as, capital crime. Death penalty is mostly done by hanging the person, slow slicing, and crusification or by a firing squad.

Positive views

Capital punishment is one of the most debated issues in the criminal justice system. (Frank Carrington, 1978) claims that common sense supports the inference that if the threat of the death penalty decreases, the rate of murders increases. But if the threat of the punishment had decreased, the homicide rate may increase. J. Edgar Hoover, late director of Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) emphasized that most murderers in the states escaped punishment of imprisonment and it is said to be silly. He believed that these murderers do not receive full measure of justice and should rather be sentenced to death (cited in Isenberg, p.129)

A criminal on death row has a chance to prepare his death, make a will and make his last statements, etc. While some victims never get a chance to do this especially those stabbed to death, gunned down or burned. The bible quotes, the Lord declared, “Vengeance is mine” (Romance 12:19). He thus legitimised vengeance and reserved to himself, however the bible also enjoins, “The murderer shall surely be put to death” (number 35:16-18), recognising that the death penalty can be warranteed whatever the motives. ).

negative views

Otherwise, the capital punishment failed to rehabilitate. When the opponents feel “fear of death” will prevent one from committing murder, it is not true because most murders are done during “heat of passion”, when a person cannot think rationally. Therefore, how can one even have time to think of fear during heat of passion? Capital punishment is very disturbing to everyone who values human life. It makes error irreversible and the chance of errors is inescapable when based on human judgement. On the contrary, sometimes defenders insist on execution, they feel it is an act of kindness to them. The argument here, is life imprisonment a crueller fate? “There is no evidense supporting the usefulness of the death penalty securing the life of the citizens (McClelan, G. 1961)” )

Furthermore, capital punishment does not discourage neither reduce crime at all. It is noted that we need extreme penalty as a deterrent crime. Through most of the history executions where public and brutal, some criminals were even crashed to death slowly under heavy weight. Crime was more common at that time than it is now, yet evidense shows that execution does not act as a deterrent to capital punishment. Studies shows that lots of innocent men are wrongly executed. Study by Bedau-Radlet claimed there were 22 cases where the defendent have been wrongly executed. But however, this study is very controversial. Hugo Bedau (1982) claims that the execution of the innocent believed guilty is a miscarriage of justice that must be opposed whenever detected.

Conclusion

In conclusion, capital punishment had changed the world. Picturing it when the leaders such as Osama Binladen, Sadam Hussein were executed, their deaths saved a lot from being harm. Its way better sacrificing one life to save millions as proven by the term “Utilitarianism”, which states that as long as an action’s benefit to the society overweighs the cost, it will be morally exceptional. In this case the cost is the lives of the very few individuals (criminals) who have to be executed to benefit the entire society’s lifestyle. Lastly,”After every revolution, comes a new order” (Lucky Khunene, jerusalema).