Death Penalty Essay

Capital punishment

Death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death

by the state as a punishment for a crime.
- Kronenwetter (2001:12) -

• Introduction
• Advantages

Outline

– Retribution
– Incapacitation

• Disadvantages
– Human Right
– Deterrence
– Irrevocable

• Conclusion

1
Introduction

140

22

COUNTRIES

COUNTRIES

Abolished for death penalty
For all crimes

Carried out executions 778

1925

EXECUTIONS
An increase of almost 15% compare with 2012

PEOPLE
In 57 countries which have been sentenced to death

- Amnesty International (2013)

The Death Penalty Worldwide
China
US

39

Iran

Irap

169

Thousands

369

Saudi Arabia

79
Somalia

34

Number of executions in 2013

- Amnesty International (2013)

80
%

Iran
Irap
Saudi Arabia

- Amnesty International(2013)

2
Advantages

Retribution(1)

The principle of equality
(Eye for an eye policy)
- Gavrila (2011:87)

Retribution(2)
The most common reason in favor of death penalty
- Aspenson (2012:93)

Murders deserve to receive the death penalty
- Khondaker et al (2011:127)

Incapacitation(1)
• To save future lives
- Aspenson (2013:105)

• The execution on offender could prevent their trials for even more serious crimes.
- Bentley(2007:23)

Incapacitation(2)
For stability of victims’ families
- Gavrila (2011:88)

3
Disadvantages

Human Right

Human Right
• The abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection to life
-- The Global voice of the legal profession

• The progressive development of human rights
-- U.N. High Commission for Human Rights

• The death penalty might be another murder serves no other purpose than revenge
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Limited Detterence
Crimes reduced per prison death, effected on 30-100 violent crimes and a similar number of property crimes.
(Katz et al, 2003:340)

The decline in prison death rates between
1950 and 1990 explains only between 2% and 3% of the observed increase in crime rates over that period. (Katz et al,
2003:340 )

Wrongful Execution

Wrongful Execution
• 1.6% in 1973 rose to 4.1% in 2004, about 340 prisoners involved in misjudgment in USA.
-- U.N. Human Rights

• Any legal system has its limitations and judicial errors are inevitable.
• No possibility of making amends to the person should it turn out later that he or she was actually innocent. 4
Conclusion

Capital punishment is an extreme penalty that is irreversible to forfeit others’ lives and takes the risk of misjudgments. Execute capital punishment against human rights and the executor , to some extent, is a another murder. Even capital punishment can effectively stop recidivism, compared with its deterrent effects on reduce the

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