Death penalty

 Death penalty or capital punishment is a process where the wrong doer is punished with death sentence. The wrong doer may be involved in capital offence such as murder and the criminal justice system may use capital punishment as an effective control measure of crime (PHILLIPS, 2009). Even though there is an active controversy on this issue, death punishment should be applied with respect to different circumstances. A circumstance where I would support death penalty is when a person commits murder. This is series crime which requires a strict penalty such as capital punishment. This is the best way of deterring crime. The point is that the principle of “an eye for an eye” should be followed and this should be applied for specific crimes such as murder (PHILLIPS, 2009). In this case I support that death penalty is the best method to protect the communities and alleviate the worst criminals in the society. I may also borrow some words from Immanuel Kant and argue that a society is involved in immoral act if it does not demand the life of an individual who has caused murder in the society. In this case, the society has the right to and the duty to protect the innocent lives of people. Note that death penalty should happen in appropriate circumstances and in this case, it is important to understand that there are instances where crimes are egregious and the solution to this is death penalty. Finally, the society should ensure that the murder is guilt before applying death penalty (Costanzo & White, 1994).

 A circumstance where I would not support death penalty is when the wrong doer who has committed the capital offense is innocent. If the wrong doer is mentally handicapped, then the death penalty should not be applied. Note that the criminal justice system should assess whether the wrongdoer has mental retardation and ban the execution. However, people who are mentally healthy and are involved in murder should be accountable for the heinous crime and should get severe punishment (Steiker, 2005).

 

 

 

 

Reference

PHILLIPS, S. (2009). CRIMINOLOGY: LEGAL DISPARITIES IN THE CAPITAL OF CAPITAL

PUNISHMENT. Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 99(3), 717-755.

 

Costanzo, M., & White, L. T. (1994). An Overview of the Death Penalty and Capital Trials: History,

Current Status, Legal Procedures, and Cost. Journal Of Social Issues, 50(2), 1-18.

 

Steiker, C. S. (2005). NO, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS NOT MORALLY REQUIRED: DETERRENCE,

DEONTOLOGY, AND THE DEATH PENALTY. Stanford Law Review, 58(3), 751-789.