Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty - Essay Example

Seeking to explore the moral perspectives of the death penalty through an analysis of the deterrent argument as well as the application of lethal injection, a potentially cruel and unusual punishment, the following will persuasively argue that the death penalty should be banned. Following this we will look at the death penalty using Emmanuel Kant’s Deontological and Categorical Imperative theories as well as Utilitarian theory. While the deterrence factor is brought into question, this essay will argue that lethal injection runs contrary to the prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” and thus should be banned in its entirety (The Death Penalty Information Centre 2009; Hood 2008).

According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, there has been a global trend towards the abolishment of the death penalty. Despite this trend, there are a handful of countries in the world which continue to use the death penalty as a form of punishment. While 92 countries have now abolished the death penalty (including France, Canada and the United Kingdom), 59 countries worldwide continue to have death penalty legislation on their books. China, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Pakistan remain some of the largest supporters of the death penalty with China the overwhelming leader in total executions worldwide.

What are the ethical and moral issues surrounding the death penalty? It is to this question that we now turn (Hood 2008; Robert 2000). From an ethical perspective, the death penalty raises a whole host of questions. Lethal injection, a particularly insidious form of capital punishment, is practiced throughout the United States and the world and aims to execute a convicted offender through the injection of a fatal amount of drugs. It is undeniably the most commonly practiced form of capital punishment in the United States today.

For advocates of the death penalty,