Against Capital Punishment - Research Paper Example

The whole purpose of criminal justice system is to rehabilitate criminals but capital punishment defeats this very purpose. Killing a criminal means that state believes there is no chance a criminal can improve. Capital punishment therefore should not be permissible because it is not found to be effective, can result in killing of an innocent person and defeats the concept of rehabilitation. Studies have proved that crime rate does not decrease as a result of administration of capital punishment.

A comparison between two states of similar culture and crime rate has shown that execution does not deter crime (Zimring, Fagan, & Johnson 2009). This comparison was made between two states, one with capital punishment law and other without it. This clearly shows that killing a person does not produce the widely argued ‘deterrence’ effect. Killing a person cannot decrease crime rate and therefore the main argument that is made in favor of capital punishment is rejected. There are many other motivators of crimes therefore death punishment alone cannot reduce crime rates significantly.

A criminal is not thinking rationally when he or she commits a crime therefore it is impossible to stop criminal behavior just by the threat of capital punishment. The argument of deterrence can also work if capital punishment is prohibited. A lifelong sentence in prison can also deter a criminal so there is no need for capital punishment. Sometimes capital punishment is not justified for certain types of criminals. For example serial killers and serial rappers should be forced to live all their life in confinement.

This should be more appropriate for them as killing them at once will only end their life but lifelong confinement will hurt them daily. The concept of retribution, therefore, can also be well served by abolishing capital punishment. Research has also suggested that bad prison conditions