Positive and Negative Aspects of the Death Penalty - Research Paper Example

Running head: Death Penalty Positive and Negative Aspects of the Death Penalty according to American Law Abstract Capital punishment is a highly debated subject all over the world. Life is so precious since science or technology failed to unveil the miseries of life till now. Capital punishment is normally given to criminals who cause severe damage to the life of innocent people without any convincing reasons. Advocates of capital punishment argue that hardcore criminals will never rectify their behavior and releasing them from prisons may create threats to the lives of innocent people again. In their opinion, keeping hardcore criminals in prison for a lifelong period is expensive and meaningless and hence giving capital punishment to such people can be justified. At the same time opponents of capital punishment believe that by giving capital punishment to the criminals, the criminal justice system is also repeating the same mistake committed by the criminals even though the criminal justice system may have some convincing reasons. This paper briefly analyses the positives and negatives of death penalty according to American law. Introduction According to Sharp, (1997) approximately 5900 persons have been sentenced to death and 358 executed (from 1973-96) in Untied States (See appendix). 56 murderers were executed in 1995 alone, a record number for the modern death penalty. Moreover, executions are seen as the appropriate punishment for certain criminals committing specific crimes. So says the U.S. Supreme Court and so say most death penalty supporters (Sharp, 1997). As of December 2008, United States had executed 1,136 criminals (Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty (Capital Punishment), 2009). Death penalty is a controversial subject all over the world. The right of the government or the criminal justice system to take the life of a criminal under any circumstances is highly debated in United States. Even though imposition of death penalty in United States is extremely rare, many people believe that even if thousands of criminals are escaped from punishments, not even a single innocent should be punished or executed. But because of the loopholes in criminal justice system it is quite possible that innocents may undergo capital punishments. Life is the most precious thing in this world which nobody can create. If we are unable to create something, we have no right to destroy it according to many people. At the same time lack of severity of punishments often result in increased number of serious criminal activities. According to Ferdic et al (2008), one of the biggest challenges of criminal justice system is to keep its competing notions of due process and crime control in balance. A heavy focus on either of them may have detrimental effect on American society (Ferdic et al, 2008, p.4). Nominal punishments cannot prevent serious crimes in the current era in which suicide bombers are ready to sacrifice even their lives for executing their plots. More focus given to the human right issues will prevent the criminal justice system from enforcing severe punishments like death penalties Positives of death penalty In the absence of capital punishment, criminal activities may increase a lot. We are living in a world in which people are ready to even sacrifice their lives for protecting their beliefs. Suicide bombers succeeded in killing even the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. If capital punishments were prohibited, it is easy for criminals to commit serious crimes and escape from the punishments with the help of loopholes provided by the criminal justice system. Even if they were convicted; still they can enjoy the luxury of facilities like probation, parole, bail etc and live a substantial period of their remaining life outside the prison. Under such circumstances, the number of criminal activities may grow up. If capital punishment is in force, criminals will think twice before committing a serious crime as there is no chance for them to escape from the prison if they were convicted for capital punishment. According to the supporters of capital punishment, a criminal, who is deliberately taking the life of others don’t have the moral or ethical right to live in this world. In their opinion, if taking the life of a criminal saves the life of other innocent people, there is no harm in doing so. Man cannot live like animals as he has superior wisdom compared to animals. But before declaring capital punishment to a criminal, the criminal justice system should consider all the dimensions of the crime happened and also the future threat the criminal may raise to the lives of innocent people. “It is said that when a criminal is given a capital punishment, it dissuades others in the society from committing such serious crimes. They would refrain from such crimes due to fear of losing their lives. This would definitely help in reducing crime rate in society” (10 Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment, 2010) In Coker vs Georgia case the Supreme Court of America held that the death penalty was a disproportionate penalty for the crime of rape of an adult woman considering the severity and irrevocability of death penalty. Moreover, Louisiana State Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the capital punishment for the rape of a child below 12 years of age in State vs Bethley case (Ferdic et al, 2008, p.42). Keeping a criminal in prison for a prolonged period is an expensive act. The criminal has no right to sustain his life if he has not shown any sign of rectifying his mistake at the expense of the mercy of the tax payers. Under such circumstances, capital punishment may save money and reduce threat to the society. In many cases, persons with criminal behavior repeat the crimes once they released from the prisons. For example, there is no point in believing that Bin Laden like hardcore terrorists may correct themselves if we succeeded in arresting and sending him to the prison. Such criminals have the belief that sacrificing the life for the religion may bring salvation to them. In short, advocates of capital punishment argue that hard core criminals must be executed in order to save the lives of other innocent people. Negatives of death penalty The essence of American criminal justice system is that partisan advocacy of both sides on a case will promote the ultimate objective that the guilty be convicted and the innocent go free (Ferdic et al, 2008, p.37). Even if the criminal justice system takes extreme precautions, nobody can guarantee that an innocent may not be executed under any circumstances. Courts always give their verdicts based on evidences and these evidences can be easily fabricated by the police who arrested a criminal. We have witnessed the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Husain. Saddam was accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction before he was caught alive. But even after many years, American troops failed to seize any biological, chemical or nuclear weapons from the Iraqi soil. On the other hand, Saddam forced to accept capital punishment because of the unfair trial as believed by many people. One of the studies has shown that capital punishment is around 70% expensive compared to non death penalty cases or life imprisonment cases (Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty (Capital Punishment), 2009). In order to sustain the death penalty California needed to spend $ 1 billion over more over the next five years (What's New, 2009). The trail leading to capital punishment is not like ordinary trials. Such trials are required to analyze all the dimensions of the crime and the future consequences if the criminal was set free at any point of time during his life span. Evidences from eye witnesses, forensic testing, and the services of expert advocates etc are necessary before the court taking their ultimate decisions against the criminal. In short, all the above procedures are time consuming and expensive. It is totally wrong to spend huge amounts of money to save the lives of hardcore criminals when millions of poor people all over the world struggle to find their livelihood. “If we execute a person, what is the difference between us and the criminal who has committed the horrifying crime of killing another individual?” (10 Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment, 2010). Taking the life of another person under any circumstances cannot be justified considering the principles and life philosophies of a civilized society like ours. Life is the most precious thing in this world and it should be conserved at any cost. Only the creator has the right to modify or take back the life of his creations. As we are unable to create a life in a laboratory set up, we don’t have the right to destroy a life. The threat from that criminal can be eliminated if he is jailed for life term. At some point of his jail term sometimes he may change his criminal attitudes and behavior and thus he will get another chance to live like normal persons in this society. As per the 2004 statistics, China, Iran, Vietnam and the US together accounted for 97 percent of all global executions. On average, every 9-10 days a government in the United States executes a prisoner. (Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty (Capital Punishment)). There is no surprise in seeing the names of China, Vietnam and Iran like countries in the above list as these countries are infamous for human right violations. But one would definitely surprise to see the name of United Sates in the above list considering their positive stands towards human right issues. The Americans are talking loudly about the human rights at one side and violating such things on the other side. Most of the Americans are against capital punishment, but the government wants to convince the public that they are strict in their approach towards criminal activities. “Being 'tough-on-crime' has become one of the favorite ways for the American politicians to demonstrate that they are energetic and resolute” (Fight the death penalty in USA). “Executing a person kills him before the time of their natural death. The death penalty denies the sacredness of human life” (The death penalty Basic reasons: pro and anti). The mysteries surrounding birth and life after death are still unknowns to human being. Nobody knows what will happen to our soul after death. According to scientific principles, energy cannot be destroyed, but can be transformed from one form into another. Soul is the energy which guides us throughout our life. If that is true, it is impossible for us to destroy the soul even if we would be able to destroy the body. The creator has certain plans on the lives of all the people in this world. Capital punishment is definitely an action against the plans of the creator according to the critics of capital punishment. Most of the criminals forced to commit crimes only because of the circumstantial pressure. For example, in some rape cases, the victim may face death. It is totally wrong to execute such criminals, since such rape cases might have happened only because of the favorable circumstances. Conclusions Death penalty or capital punishment is a highly controversial topic. Even though America is a democratic country, death penalties are more in America compared to many other countries. There are many arguments in favor and against capital punishment. Proponents of death penalty believe that it is better to give capital punishments to the hardcore criminals in order to save the life of innocent people, save money, reduce criminal activities etc. On the other hand, critics believe that death penalty should be prohibited considering the value of human life on earth. In their opinion, only the creator has the right to take life of his creations. Moreover, death penalty denies the person a second opportunity to correct himself. Considering the pros and cons of death penalty, in my opinion, death penalty should be prohibited under all circumstances. Instead of death penalty, life imprisonment is a better option. Since we are unable to create an artificial life, we have no right to destroy one. References 1. 10 Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment, (2010), Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/10-pros-and-cons-of-capital-punishment.html 2. Ferdico J N, Fradella H F & Totten C D. (2008), Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Tenth Edition 3. Fight the death penalty in USA, Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://www.fdp.dk/ 4. History of the Death Penalty & Recent Developments (2009) University of Alaska Anchorage, Justice Centre. Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/history.html 5. Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty (Capital Punishment), (2009) Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://uspolitics.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/death_penalty.htm 6. Sharp D (1997) DEATH PENALTY AND SENTENCING INFORMATION, Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/dp.html 7. What's New (2009). Death Penalty Information Centre, Retrieved on 15 July 2010 from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ Appendix (History of the Death Penalty & Recent Developments) Read More