Introduction
Capital punishment is a contentious issue in society, with critics and proponents positing valid reasons for their stances. It is a major punishment that involves taking a life but is reserved for extreme cases in a community. Nonetheless, the issue has accurate connotations that go beyond people’s opinions, eliciting its capacity to reduce violent offenses among potential criminals. Governments should repeal capital punishment as it does not illustrate an association with a reduced crime rate or protect the nation’s citizens.
Capital Punishment
Proponents argue that capital punishment is the best deterrent to violent crime, and governments have a moral obligation to protect their citizens’ welfare and safety. They claim that murderers threaten these issues and should be executed to ensure convicted killers do not conduct these crimes again (Toth, 2020). Nonetheless, this assertion is baseless because murders exist in society despite using capital punishment. Countries such as Norway have started adopting a varying system to deal with such criminals that involves a humane way of holding them in prisons and rehabilitating them instead of killing them.
It is important to consider that capital punishment would affect black and poor people more in many nations. For instance, the US disproportionately imprisons black individuals more than their white counterparts (Huygebaert et al., 2019). They would be charged more frequently and given the death penalty than others in the nation, illustrating a form of genocide against the race. Societies have a moral obligation to nourish life instead of taking it. In this way, taking a human life may only be permissible if it is a societal need, as a contrary action would elicit an imbalance between good and pain. It is important to discern that if a less drastic action compared to the death penalty exists, individuals are bound to champion it while admonishing the death penalty.
Additionally, capital punishment does not deter violence despite the issue’s major prominence in society and numerous studies based on its application worldwide. It does not differ from other forms of punishment such as life imprisonment. In contrast, evidence suggests that the rate of violence depends not on whether a society has the death penalty. The only way to discern the death penalty as effective is if proponents show no alternative can deter murder crimes (Huygebaert et al., 2019). It is unfair to impose such a law if it has alternatives and would constitute a cruel system. It is also necessary to note that life imprisonment eliminates the threat of integrating murderers into society. In this case, the punishment protects the public while eliminating the gruesome nature of capital punishment.
Finally, it is crucial to note that justice systems frequently make mistakes and rule in favour of the wrong party. Killing an individual is irreversible and eliminates the chance of correcting injustices committed to them in the future (The New York Times Editorial Staff, 2019). In this situation, the real culprit remains free while an inno9cent person takes their place. They cannot defend themselves and remain mostly isolated before they are executed. The death penalty eradicates the value of human life by legitimizing the state to take any life, diminishing everyone.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the death penalty should be replaced by different alternatives that are humane and do not involve killing convicts. Normalizing death in society does not deter would-be killers from committing these acts; it provides them with an obstacle to their goal. Societies should eliminate capital punishment and use tools such as life imprisonment to effectively and humanely deal with capital offenses.
References
Huygebaert, S., Martyn, G., Paumen, V., Bousmar, E., & Rousseaux, X. (2019). The art of law: Artistic representations and iconography of law and justice in context, from the Middle Ages to the first World War. Springer.
The New York Times Editorial Staff. (2019). The Death Penalty. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Toth, Z. J. (2020). Changing attitudes towards the death penalty: Hungary’s renewed support for capital punishment. Springer Nature.