Lots of people are very cynical about capital punishment as they consider this as the gravest of all punishments. Well, not everyone has similar points of view regarding the suitability of such a legislative decision. Thus, this often results into an endless loop of debates. The notion of death penalty might not be an all-time favorite, but this has been created in order to curb the occurrence of heinous crimes. In fact, many believe that this could set as an example to others so that they will no longer engage in such crimes.
In order to get a glimpse of what capital punishment is all about it is important to look at both sides of the coin. Activists, psychologists, and scholars even come up with varied ideas regarding this matter. If you think that implementing capital punishment is just an exaggerated way of reacting to certain crimes that happen every now and then, it might only be fair to consider the positive impact of this act as well. Hence, here are some of the pros and cons of capital punishment that you should ponder upon.
List of Pros of Capital Punishment
1. Act of Retribution
The strongest argument that could relate to capital punishment is the justice that demands for “a tooth for a tooth or an eye for an eye” theory. When criminals do their selfish motives that result to personal gains, it tends to create disturbance of the justice equilibrium. Therefore, to keep it in balance, criminals must be punished with equal intensity of punishment even if it’s death penalty.
2. Serves as a Deterrence
The ultimate way of preventing a person from indulging into a criminal activity is to give an example of fear in response to his or her actions. This can be likened to the fear of going to “hell” when one dies after doing an immoral act which is also similar to capital punishment. By instilling fear into the minds of these criminals, they will experience the greatest fear of losing their lives.
3. Doing Less Damage to Prevent Many
Criminals are likened to a bad apple among the good bunch. Hence, they are like viruses which can infect others of that same disease. Likewise, removing any defective part of the body by the doctor will result to saving the life of the patient which is the same as cutting out criminals from the society.
List of Cons of Capital Punishment
1. Violation of Human Rights
Any individual should respect the basic rights of a person in leading a respectable life. This is the most important right to be observed as it is the right of every person whether he or she is a criminal or otherwise.
2. Racial or Social Bias
According to offenders of death penalty, it is a biased form of punishment which is performed in a racial manner. In fact, this is due to the number of people facing death row in which 48% is approximately African American.
3. Wrongly Executed
Lots of innocent people have allegedly been executed wrongly. So, the more people who have become victims of such wrongful execution, the more people lose faith in justice and the law. More so, unfair execution has been caused by improper procedure.
Brandon Miller has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a seasoned writer who has written over one hundred articles, which have been read by over 500,000 people. If you have any comments or concerns about this blog post, then please contact the Green Garage team here.