english composition 11 unit 5 Death Penalty essay

Death Penalty

Henrietta Watson

AIU Online

Capital punishment is a cruel act where the state is engaged in cold-blooded and pre-mediated killing of humanity in the pursuit of availing justice. Justice practices through death penalty are meant to earn deterrence of similar crimes and retribution against the criminal. The cost of death penalty is huge, not only to the individual but also to the state as well as the larger society. In the 1980s, the tough debate that arose to abolish capital punishment has established a change in the perception of criminal punishment. Although there are some states that perceived death penalty as a way to deter crime, the last two decades have recorded an improvement into the abolishment trend. It violates the morality of the society, takes up resources, exposes the imperfection of within the justice system and contradicting the universal declaration of human rights.

Proponents of death penalty find it a way to execute justice for certain ranks of crimes. Criminals involved in heinous crimes and having certain characteristics of crime are approved for capital punished in some sates. The offender is exposed to a save method of killing that earns the society justice. In support of the punishments, proponents find death penalty a way to deter crimes, cheaper than life imprisonment and a means to preserve law and order (Stearman, 2007). For instance, in 2012, up to 21 countries were engaged into capital punishment against crimes despite the global trend to abolish it. 2012 saw to the execution of 682 criminals, which translated to an increase when compared with the previous year 2011 (The Editors, 2014). This did not only earn justice but also revenge in the light of proponents for death penalty.

Capital punishment is immoral is an immoral act where the state practices evil through pre-mediated killing. There is no right that approves for killing; the states practicing death penalty repay evil with evil (murder). These practices are disguised in the basis of maintaining law and order by eliminating the criminals who commit heinous crimes. For example, Pol Pot or Adolf Hitler cites good examples of these criminals deserving death as punishment. Execution of criminal, however, violates the human right to life (Guernsey, 2010). Everybody is entitles to live and earn respect for life. It is cruel to terminate a life, and thus an inhuman act that degrades the value for life.

Death penalty challenges the nature of the justice systems, because they are proven imperfect. In several cases, eye witnesses have presented limited testimonies while prosecutors and police have expressed their misconduct in court. The DNA evidence recently used also disapproves the need for death penalty. It has been revealed that this punishment is prone to mistaken identities. For example, over 130 people have been found innocent and freed from death row following wrong convictions in the last 40 years (Stearman, 2007). This implies that the innocent face trials and suffer while the guilty walk free and continue with their criminal affairs.

The major intention of punishment of criminals is to prevent occurrence or reduce the rate of occurrence of crime, but death penalty has failed to meet these standards. Death penalty takes up more of vengeance attitude than corrective perspective (Guernsey, 2010). This is explained by the ineffectiveness of death penalty of the levels of crime. One may wonder why only murderers are punished by death. Think of a rhetorical bit such as where a rapist was raped, a thief was stolen from or one who bribes was also bribed. It is quite unfair to the persons who conduct heinous that are said to be punishable by death. The application of capital punishment is so haphazard. Conversely, life imprisonment is quite humane, honors life, less expensive and severe form of punishment for heinous crimes that can stand in for capital punishment (Guernsey, 2010).

The cost of capital punishment is a bit high, because the counties are responsible for paying the court expenses. The counties have other responsibilities to play and other projects to run, that call for its funding. When death penalties take long in the trial bit, they translate to extra expenses. The possibility of counties running bankrupt when having death penalties is high compared to when there are few or no death penalties to attend to. For instance, Clallam County spent one million dollars on a death penalty in 2013, which ensued to ‘emergency budget’ (The Editors, 2014). Unlike the states that access finances to defray justice costs that are extraordinary, counties receive a small portion of reimbursement that they request

Death penalties are disproportionate to the target groups, because they are associated with social injustices. Racism and poverty are key factors that enhance biased prosecution and execution of capital punishment (John, Theodore & Martin, 2004). For instance, the people of color (black race) is highly vulnerable to capital punishment compared to the while people. In case a White victimized against a Black with heinous crime the chances of the white facing capital punishment is lower compared to a Black violating against a White. Maryland cites a good example where Black defendants are eleven times vulnerable to death penalty against White defendants unlike a White defendant against a Black victim. In addition, people who cannot afford good and classist attorneys due to their poverty or are uneducated are prone to have the death penalty imposed on them. They are despised in the light of their substantial lawyers.

In summation, death penalty does more harm than good on individuals, governments and society at large. It has not helped in preventing crime, but accelerated the levels of hurt emotionally, financially and socially. Capital punishment violates the right to life, consumes state finances, corrupts the social justices and challenges the justice system by exposing its flaws. The opponents of the death penalty trend have a strong reason towards abolishing it and settling on a humane disciplinary form-life sentence.

References

Guernsey, B. (2010). Death penalty: Fair solution or moral failure?. Minneapolis: Twenty-First

Century Books.

John, B., Theodore, E., & Martin, W. (2004)."Explaining Death Row's Population and Racial

Composition," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 1( 1): 165-207.

Stearman, K. (2007). The death penalty. New York: Rosen Pub. Group's Rosen Central.

The Editors. (2014). Ban the death penalty. Bloomberg. Retrieved from

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-23/ban-the-death-penalty