Position on capital punishment - Research Paper Example

Some believe that it is a good way to punish serious criminals such as murderers, while others consider it unethical and immoral. Personally, capital punishment is right and should never be abolished, especially for certain horrid crimes such as murder. The main aim of this essay is to give readers some facts about capital punishment, and convince them that it is right and should be practiced as punishment for horrid crimes. Capital punishment is sometimes referred to as execution, the death sentence, or the death penalty.

All these terms refer to a legal process whereby the state puts an individual to death to serve as a punishment, usually for a crime of high magnitude, committed by that individual (Mandery, 2005). Crimes that can lead to capital punishments are usually very serious crimes and are usually referred to as capital offences or capital crimes. The term capital has its origin in the Latin word ‘capitalis’, which literally refers to execution through beheading. Many societies have been practicing capital punishment for many years in the past (Rita & Blaskovich, 2007).

Governments have been using it to execute political opponents and criminals with the aim of suppressing political dissent and punishing serious crimes. In most places where capital punishment was practiced, it was usually reserved for crimes such as military injustices, political crimes, treason, espionage, and murder. In other countries, capital punishment was used to punish sexual crimes that included sodomy, incest, adultery, and rape. Capital punishment was also used to punish religious crimes, for example, apostasy in Islamic countries.

In other countries, any crime that was considered a capital offence was punishable through capital punishment. Such crimes include drug trafficking, and human trafficking or corruption in China (McCafferty, 2010). Formal execution (capital punishment) dates back to the start of recorded