aSSIGNMENT WEEK 3

Tonya Taylor-Moyd

PHI 208 Ethical and Moral Reasoning

Professor Louis Schiano

September 2, 2016

IS IT JUST TO USE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT WHEN THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF EXECUTING INNOCENT PERSONS?

Introduction

Capital punishment refers to the legal and authorized killing of a given person as punishment for a crime he or she committed. It is normally referred to as the death penalty normally imposes an irrevocable sentence. Population in prisons is increasing day in day out and capital punishment is considered as a way to reduce this population in the prisons. However, in all the arguments put forth for capital punishment, consideration should be made for the possibility of executing an innocent person. Pilkington (2014) clearly brings out the fact that at least 4.1% of the defendants in the United States that are sentenced to are innocent. These are people who if punished in another way then would be released since they are not criminals. The fact that life once taken away cannot be reversed makes this issue very important and worth discussing.

Position Statement

My position when it comes to the issue at hand is that it is not just to use capital punishment in the justice system.

Supporting Reason

There have been many arguments that have been raised against the use of capital punishment as a way of punishing offenders in the justice system. The arguments include that there is need to value the life of human beings and that everyone has the right to live. Therefore, no one should take away human life. The strongest argument that has been raised against capital punishment is the possibility of execution of innocent persons. Prosecutor, jurors and judges are human and therefore are prone to making mistakes. The legal system in most countries is flawed and thus these two coupled together makes it inevitable for people that are innocent of crimes to be convicted of those crimes (BBC, 2014).

As clearly stated above, it was discovered that in the United States, about 4.1% of the defendants that are sentenced to the death penalty are innocent. There is considerable evidence that has been brought forward of the mistakes that have been made when people are sentenced to death. Unlike the other punishment ways where damages or compensation can be paid as means of trying to make things right, when capital punishment is used, there is no way of making it right. Once life is lost, it is lost. As much as there may be reasons put forward to support the use of capital punishment, the life of human beings is important and as long as there is a possibility of executing innocent persons, then the use of this punishment can’t be considered just.

Opposing Reason

With all the arguments that are raised against capital punishment, especially with relation to the possible execution of the innocent persons, there are others who still support capital punishment. One of the reasons given is that of cost reduction. It is normally argued that the country would rather use the taxpayers’ money on health and education rather than on long term imprisoned murderers. Thus, this becomes one way of proper using of the finances of the state. However, consideration in the case of this reason isn’t made of the costs that will be incurred by the state in appeals that are made by the defendant many times.

REFERENCES

BBC (2014). Arguments against capital punishment. Retrieved from