The Abolishment of Death penalty
The acts of committing a crime occur everywhere and criminal activities have formed part and parcel of our daily lives. The question is whether the society should allow this to darken our society or not. Everyone is mandated to be involved in eliminating crime and criminals, as this is a duty that should not be ignored whatsoever. It is very rewarding when we see the rightly accused being punished justly. Some crimes are committed by those, who have no alternative for survival, whilst others do it for the purposes of fun. I do not solely advocate capital punishment for everybody. For instance, an individual, who has stolen bread from a grocery, definitely does not deserve capital punishment. Conversely, a determined murderer, engaged in killing others either for his own individual gain or for fun, deserves death penalty.
Capital punishment should be circulated as a way of eliminating garbage in any society. It is arguably true that not everyone deserves death, but some should just die. I support capital punishment following multiple arguments. First and foremost, I firmly believe that capital punishment acts as a deterrent by assisting in reducing criminal activities. Secondly, death penalty is truly irreversible, meaning that it is hard to murder a wrongly convicted individual, because of the various chances allotted to him/her to prove his/her innocence. Another reason is that death penalty is an assurance to the society, since it helps to eliminate these criminals once and forever.
Deterrence to Commit Other Crimes
Deterrence simply means giving punishment to a person as an example and a way of creating fear in others for similar punishment. Capital punishment is among those extreme punishments meant to create fear in minds of any sane individual. In his book, Schabas hypothesizes that “… a person will abstain from dangerous actions due to habitual, inchoate, preconscious, and above all, vague, fears” (193). Majority of criminals would deeply consider their actions when they know that their dear lives are at stake. Even if there is no statistical evidence that holds that capital punishment discourages crime, all of us have to agree that we all hold a great fear for death. Assuming there is no capital punishment in any given state, yet life imprisonment without parole serves as the maximum punishment. Then what would stop a prisoner, faced with the judgment of life imprisonment, not to commit a second murder in the same prison? Based on Garland, Randall &Michael, “Prison assaults in the entire US, both against staff and fellow inmates have been on the increase in the past 10 years, according to the figures established by the Criminal Justice Institute in Middletown, Connecticut” (29). Nothing can stop these prisoners from committing bigger crimes within their confined prison, if at all they are already facing maximum punishment.
The proponents of anti-death penalty have argued that imprisonment can deter criminals. They further assert that there is no need of going to the extent of killing the criminals as a way of discouraging further crimes. According to Bosner a criminal psychologist, “Crimes can be discouraged if potential criminals are frightened of undergoing arrest, conviction, and punishment for their felonies” (31). Serious murders serve a perfect example for this case. To this category, capital punishment should be meted out to scare others, who might consider doing the same, since they would be assured that they would be eventually caught.
The Irreversible Nature of Death Penalty
There is a widespread belief that capital punishment is irreversible and can cause irreversible mistakes. This implies that the moment an individual faces death punishment and consequently capital punishment is put in practice, nothing can be effected to reverse the punishment, if it is later proven that the accused was innocent (Bosner 12). Most believe that death penalty is irreversible, though the probability of making a mistake in capital punishment is very low. The judicial system puts a lot of care during the finalizing of the decision, since death penalty is an extreme punishment. Various safeguards assist in guaranteeing protection of the criminals judged with death punishment. For instance, Bosner notes that “Trials are only fair the moment life is at stake, and that capital punishment is usually less often unjustly inflicted than the rest” (193).
Whenever an innocent individual is sentenced to death, then the punishment should not be blamed, but the trial that contributed to the punishment should be. Several cases have recorded the instances, where an individual is faced with life imprisonment without parole, only after sometime to find that the same person was truly innocent. Arguably, there is neither court nor compensation under the earth that can reverse the horrifying years spent in prison. If life imprisonment ceased being accorded to criminals based on this notion, then majority of criminals would walk freely on the streets; say, in a span of 10-15 years. The resultant effect is that the trust and the fear, which the society has put in the judicial system, are likely to evaporate. What the judicial system has done is the minimization of chances of the mistakes, by making it impossible to sentence wrongly accused individuals.
The Morality of Death Penalty
The morality of capital punishment has been debated for quite some time now. Those, who oppose death penalty, hold that it is immoral for any government to consider the life of its citizenry under any circumstance. Immanuel Kant refuted this argument by stating that “a society that is unwilling to demand someone’s life who has taken another person’ life is immoral”. It is, therefore, immoral for an individual, who has committed such an unspeakable crime, to go scot-free (Pojman, Louis & Jeffrey 109). The criminal is executed humanly, paying attention to the way he is subjected to torture or any form of cruelty.
Nearly all states that impose capital punishment use lethal injection. Long gone are the days for subjecting a prisoner to electric chair or hanging in any nation that subscribes to the UN conventional rules and authority regulations. The best way is where the inmates are given the large dosages of an anesthetic to relieve any possible pain; a process that is made as humane as possible, as a way of ensuring that the prisoners do not suffer any physical pain or injury. Even if the issue of morality is very personal to majority of people, it is imperative to analyze the facts and realize that death penalty does not consider morality; thus, is performed effectively.
Elimination of Crimes and Criminal Intents The goodness of death penalty is seen in the way it reduces crime and brings justice to both the innocent and the criminals. Capital punishment must be adjusted and tuned to be effective and efficient in order to serve its core purpose (Schabas 18).
Conclusion
There has been a dramatic change in the justice system during the last two decades; a move that has ensured that the rightly accused face proper justice. I believe that capital punishment should not be eliminated, since it ensures that whole society is safe and at peace, and, most importantly, assists in eliminating crime and criminals.
Works Cited
Bosner, Kevin. “How Lethal Injection Works.” How Stuff Works. Web. 29 March 2013.
Garland, David, Randall McGowen, and Michael Meranze. America’s death penalty between past and present. New York: New York University Press, 2011. Print.
Pojman, Louis P., and Jeffrey H. Reiman. The death penalty for and against. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. Print.
Schabas, William. War crimes and human rights: essays on the death penalty, justice, and accountability. London: Cameron May, 2008. Print.