Death Penalty (Against)

Capital punishment, or more commonly referred to as death penalty, is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. Presently, there are fifty-eight nations who continue following this age-old act; whereas, there are numerous countries who have abolished it, some considering this form of punishment as the ultimate penance for some heinous crimes.

The world has seen a long narrative of capital punishments in various manifestations like, boiling to death, crucifixion, slow slicing, dismemberment, stoning, execution by burning, decapitation and many more. Citizens were executed for multiple crimes ranging from murder, treason, rape, corruption and espionage to religious crimes (like, apostasy, Zina in Islamic nations) to even trivial crimes like shoplifting, petty theft, stealing cattle, etc. The Soviets executed 158,000 soldiers during World War II for desertion.

Capital punishment not only encourages a violent and inhumane approach towards the society, but is also irreversible. Advocates argue that it deters crime by fabricating a fright in the public’s brain for what might be the outcome of such atrocious crimes. As, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. We cannot let ourselves fall down to the levels of the accused.

Some supporters of execution state that death penalty is morally justified when applied to murders especially with aggravating elements. Yet, retribution is simply revenge and cannot be condoned. A sufficient punishment for such offences shall be ‘life without parole’. It is also argued that the punishing of a killing with another death is a relatively unique punishment for a violent act, because in general violent crimes are not punished by subjecting the perpetrator to a similar act (e.g. rapists are not punished by corporal punishment).

Furthermore, an execution is not simply a death. It is the worst violation of human rights, specifically, the ‘Right to life’. It is entirely an irreversible denial of Human Rights.

Opponents of capital punishment also argue that this form of vengeance is more often used against racial and ethnic minorities and people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, history has seen many cases where the outcome of the case was altered because of the background of the accused in hand.

Besides, there have been quite a number of wrongful executions in the past. This is one of the major drawbacks of this particular culture of justice. There have been numerous instances where a case was reinvestigated years later and the accused is charged not guilty. One case is of Colin Campbell Ross from Australia who was hanged for the murder of 12-year old Alma Tristschke in 1922. The case was reinvestigated in 1990s using modern techniques and Ross was eventually pardoned in 2008. Following this, Australia abolished capital punishment in all jurisdictions. Another case from United States was about a 14-year old black boy who was electrocuted in 1944 for the murder of two white girls, 7 and 11. The case was scrutinized more than 70 years later. The judge claimed that it was a “great injustice”. Even though there are scientific methods available to investigate the crime, nothing is guaranteed. You cannot remove the chances of punishing innocents completely and there is no possible way of compensating them for the miscarriage of justice.

The cost involved on the death penalty prosecution is greater than the expenses occurred in the life imprisonment of the accused. The appeals against such capital punishments take too long to decide, and often it takes years to decide the fate of the death penalty. All these things make the death penalty an expensive option for the governments who spend millions of the dollars of the taxpayer money on death penalty prosecutions.

Moreover, there are diverse religious views on capital punishment. There is disagreement among Buddhists as to whether or not Buddhism forbids the death penalty. The first of the Five Precepts is to abstain from destruction of life. Chapter 10 of the Dhammapada states: ‘Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore you do not kill or cause to be killed.’ Views on the death penalty in Christianity run a spectrum of opinions, from complete condemnation of the punishment, seeing it as a form of revenge and as contrary to Christ's message of forgiveness, to enthusiastic support based primarily on Old Testament law.  Hinduism preaches ahimsa, but also teaches that the soul cannot be killed and death is limited only to the physical body. The soul is reborn into another body upon death (until Moksha), akin to a human changing clothes. Sharia, the religious law in Islam, requires capital punishment for certain crimes. For example, the Quran states, ‘The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and trive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.’

Conclusion being that alternatives to death penalty shall be followed. Any punishment must be fair, just, adequate and most of all, enforceable. Society still views murder as a particularly heinous crime which should be met with the most severe punishment. Whole life imprisonment could fit the bill for the worst murders with suitable gradations for less awful murders. Many opponents of capital punishment put forward life in prison without parole as a viable alternative to execution for the worst offenders, and surveys in America have shown that life without parole (LWOP) enjoys considerable support amongst those who would otherwise favor the death penalty.

The death penalty is the bluntest of "blunt instruments," it removes the individual's humanity and with it any chance of rehabilitation and their giving something back to society. Hence, capital punishment shall be abolished and measures to control crimes should be adopted in different fashions.