Capital Punishment

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Essay

Introduction

Capital punishment is the execution of an offender after being sentenced to death when the court declares him/her criminal, for committing a crime. It is also known as the death penalty. In other words, it could be said that it is a practice of executing someone for a specific crime after following a proper legal trial. Generally, it has been seen that offenders are punished for committing a crime like murder, fraud, rape, treason, arson, and adultery etc. By taking all the facts and ethics in considering, it has been seen that there are various perceptions build by different people as well as countries about Capital punishment. For some, ethically it is acceptable to punish people who commit a crime but according to some other people, it is unethical to punish people and end up their lives. Capital Punishment is treated as a tool to mitigate crime, taking into account that it is one of the approaches to control crime, provided it is against humanity and utilitarian view as well.

Discussion

By taking a look at its history, it could be found that Capital punishment or the death penalty started with American colonization. This fact cannot be denied that there are some countries that have raised serious questions against Capital punishment. It has become one of the controversial topics in the world. There could be seen many positive aspects of Capital punishment though it is understandable that it becomes difficult for the families to accept that their loved ones are being separated from them forever. Researches proved that after the implementation of Capital punishment, there has been witnessed a considerable decrease in the crime rates (Colucci,et,al,2019). According to a study that has been conducted in the 1960s, during the years of the abolishment of Capital punishment, an increase of 7% in the crime rates was observed. Contemporary it was analyzed that crime rate dropped when the criminals were executed in a death row each year. Proponents claim that facts and figures about Capital punishment clearly depict that efficacy of Death penalty/Capital punishment on deterring crimes. Experts found that the absence of Capital punishment is a synonym for an increase in crime rates. It has been witnessed that loopholes in the criminal justice system and leniency in the punishment are instigating criminals to commit crimes that add a lot in the number of crimes. According to me, Capital punishment arrives as a rescuer of these loopholes and control crime rates.

Another major reason why Capital punishment is favored is that it costs less to the government as compared to imprisoning the offenders. After being convicted by the court, the offender has to live in prison and all the expenses of the criminals (food, medicine, clothing) are managed by the government, so in order to lessen the burden of government most of the countries are supporting Capital punishment. One of the most important things that must be kept in mind is that Capital punishment is just the punishment of a crime that one has committed against others right to life, safety, and freedom.

All humans are same in the eye of law, religion and world. Being humans, they all deserve to be protected and all they should be provided with all basic needs of life. It is the basic right of every individual to live his/her life according to his own will and religious beliefs. Every individual is being given the right to live freely. It has been seen that crimes, murder, rape, and other such things, committed by perpetrators ruin other lives. Justice claims that perpetrators, as violates the laws and destroy other lives, should be punished and brought to justice (Kagan,et,al,2018). Perpetrators deserve the pain and suffering that they gave to others and Capital punishment is the only thing that could provide justice to sufferers.

In my opinion, people who think Capital punishment is the harshest and ultimate punish should reconsider their point and must think about the punishment that is being given to the victims and their families. People who are against Capital punishment and claims that forgiving criminals would cast positive effects on them that would make these human beings better person, but this claim is not sufficient as if other people start taking punishments for grant crime rate would increase (Sarat,et,al,2019). Opponents who are against Capital punishment failed to convince me that every individual have the right to do whatever he/she want to do and no government/authorities should have the rights to decide about their future. This thing must be kept in mind that if one is going to choose a way that would cast negative impacts on other’s life then at the end, that person would be answerable for his deeds as well.

It is rightly said that every action has a consequence and those who by their own free will choose their ways of action, could be constructive part of the society or the destructive par. Undoubtedly, destructive action would have unpredictable consequences at the end that would harm everyone (Tarlow,et,al,2018). People who are against the Capital punishment are of the view that it is a kind of revenge and nothing good comes out of hate, but here I would say that there could be seen something good out of it as Capitalism punishment symbolizes death of criminals and pushes them away from crime. Most of the time, opponents who does not agree with me, claims that it is inculcating in people feelings of hatred as they believe Capital punishment snatches the opportunity of reformation for those who want to make themselves a better person, but I don’t agree with their claim as it could be seen that if criminals are not going to be punished may be we would be saving present time criminals, but at the same time this social injustice would give birth to future criminals.

Conclusion

It has been observed that views presented by both proponents and opponents regarding Capital punishment makes it difficult to choose, which group is talking more logical. This fact cannot be denied that every individual has his/her own perception but being a part of the society, one must think about the things that would be more beneficial for the greater numbers of people. At the same time, it is better to promote things that would be accurate ethically and would not negate any of the ethical rules. So as a whole, it could be concluded that Capital punishment is supported in some countries while in others, this conception is discouraged. There are different viewpoints about it, but as far as my personal observations are concerned I would say Capital punishment is one of the finest ways of threatening the criminals that would ultimately reduce the rate of crime in the society. Most of the time, people oppose my perception about Capital punishment as for them supporting it is quite illogical and they also negate most of the things that I support about Capital punishment. Pieces of evidence should be used from real life examples as it was seen that abolishment of Capital punishment again increased the crime rate to a greater extent. This shows that the claim, Capital punishment being a cruel and unusual way of treating people flopped badly.

Work Cited:

Colucci, Alex R. Knowledge Production, Capital Punishment, and Political Economy. Diss. Kent State University, 2019.

Kagan, Shelly. Normative ethics. Routledge, 2018.

Sarat, Austin. The Death Penalty on the Ballot: American Democracy and the Fate of Capital Punishment. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Tarlow, Sarah, and Emma Battell Lowman. "Conclusions: Ethics, Bullet Points and Other Ways of Telling." Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018. 239-268.