Is Capital Punishment Bad Public Policy - Essay Example

Is Capital Punishment Bad Public Policy? Introduction Capital Punishment is referred to the death penalty for committing crimes that are listed as capital crimes in a Judiciary of State. Encyclopedia Encarta Defines Capital Punishment as “legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law”. [1] Capital Punishment is either prohibited or given as the last option to punish an accused in almost all major religions of the world including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. [2] Awarding death penalty as capital punishment is an issue which has had its share of through debates. It is as old as the idea of government and governance it self. In older days Capital Punishment was not considered a controversial verdict with judiciary committing wide variety of punishments via death while controlling social evils among human subjects. The most brutal form of punishment since ancient times has been the verdict of death! By 1500 AD in England, only major felonies carried the death penalty - treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. Passing this practice from the earliest form of death penalty; which was non other than stoning to death, to the present form of this practice; hanging of the guilty, governments have enacted many new capital offences and an uncountable number of people have been put to death each year. Today capital punishment is announced only for a few crimes most commonly treason, murder and kidnapping. Even where the verdict for death penalty is allowed, it is infrequently used! Recently, Capital Punishment has received limelight after the execution of the former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, accused of serious crimes against humanity and was awarded penalty of hanging till death on 30th December 2006. [3] Opposing Death Penalty as Capital Punishment In 1750’s Europe took the lead to make reforms in the death penalty, although this was never accepted by a large number of the population as a rational act. Along with Quaker leaders and other social reformers, they defended life imprisonment as a more rational alternative. It was not until early 1850s, that the most brutal form of punishment was abolished by some countries e.g. Venezuela took the lead by abolishing this form of punishment in 1853, followed by Portugal in 1867. World War II brought about a global change in most humane practiced trends, Britain following the foot prints and submerged with the media abolished the capital punishment in 1965. Israel being an exception in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and America still retain death penalty for certain crimes. Joining the list of countries which have abolished this crime, the most recently joined country is Albania in early 2007[4]. To date there is a record that 89 countries have abolished capital punishment for all offences; although 10 retain this punihsment for some special cases, while 29 countries who have not abolished this brutal act have not practiced it within the past 10 years; the figure still needs to be cut as 69 countries retain this penalty. Poeples Republic of China has a record of more than 3400 executions only in 2004; which contributed to 90% of the worldwide executions in that year alone. [6] Supporting Death Penalty as Capital Punishment As informed above the United States is the only western industrialized nation where executions still take place. Furthermore, it is the only nation that merges regular executions with a highly developed legal system keeping in view respect for individual rights. Many public opinion polls indicate that capital punishment enjoys significant support in the United States. Nonetheless, it remains a highly controversial issue. There have been various critisism on capital punishment since the day it was introduced; various groups support or oppose this act. Amnesty International and the Roman Catholic Church oppose the death penalty pretaining to moral justifications; some groups also debate that with the new methods of DNA testing, some convictied may be proven wrong. On the other hand, Southern Baptista, some law sectors and rights groups are vital supporters of the capital punishmnet. Gallup poll in May 2005 had 74% responded with "favor of the death penalty convicted for murder", in the same poll, when life imprisonmet was floated as an option, 56% supported capital punishment, 39% supported life imprisonment and 5% had no opinion.[7] After reviewing facts and figures; as to why the need arose and to what extent this practice is being alined with, one’s mind is simply baffled! Capital punishmnet should be enforced in every country, is what I would agree with; firstly, to incline with my arguement I would like to state that the death penatlty is demanding justice for an unimaginable crime. Referring to the famous quote "eye for an eye", is again a valid justification for supporting capital punishment; this is the only mean through which the convicted will never commit such a crime leading to a crime free state. This will also serve as an example for others who bear the same thoughts, which though have not been activated in the form of committing such a crime; this will serve as a lesson for them to hush their evil thoughts. If the convicted is left open in the state there is a possibility that a ripple effect is created and more people are provoked to do evil practices rather than to refrain from them. Capital punishment of Death panalty will leave an impact and before another crime is commited, the person will think over and over again as to what consequences await him. If the criminal is not subjected to death penalty, there is a potential threat that he will ultimatly repeat committing the same crime as he would be well aware that the state and law enforcing bodies will not give him any severe punihsment. Last but not least why should the innocent be left with bitter memories, he also has a right to be free of the torchures and live a satisfactory life. Capital punishment to the crimal is the right of the innocent. Human tendency to treat human death toll was well understood by former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalins unique statement; "One death is a tragedy, but a million deaths are statics"[8]. Reviewing my own arrgument if I decide to go with the pros of the argument; where and how shall I do justice with the ‘Universally’ accepted ‘Declaration of Human Rights’ which was ananimosly accepted by the United Nations in 1948? Freedon, justice and universal peace were the foundation of this declaration. Article 3 of the declaration proclaims: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Capital punishment which is our point is a violation since it deprives a person to life. In the same way Article 5 states that no one shall be subjected to cruel or degrading punishment, but the fact also lies that in very same declaration the capital punishment is not specifically condemned as a human rights violation! Conclusion: Moving to the most commonly refered words “moral values”; the most vital certainity is that innocent people might fall prey to capital punishment further leaving no compensating means for miscarriage of justice. There maybe cases where the victim may agree killing/ murdering another person and also retain silence for his doings, but this again in no way should lead to manslaughtering as there might be more depth in the case than precieved. The victum may have fallen prey to another person’s deeds and remains silent as a result of black mailing etc. At the end of the debate, we are left with 3 options. a) Not to have the death penalty and the problems it ends in and continue to accept murder and other serious crimes that we have around us b) Capital punishment should be for "worst" murderers which would at least be some reward for the terrible crimes they have committed and would permanently stop them. This option is unlikely to reduce crime levels. c) death penalty should be in the really stern and strict procedure and study the drop in serious crime accepting that that there will be a lot of human misery caused to the innocent families of criminals and that there will be the occasional mistakes. Together we should hope for the best of futures to come. Works Cited Page: [1] Capital Punishment on Encarta Encyclopedia. Available Online at http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570630/Capital_Punishment.html [2] “Religion and Capital Punishment”. Available Online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_capital_punishment [3] "Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq", BBC News, 2006-12-30. Available Online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6218485.stm [4] Thoughts on the Capital Punishment. Available Online at http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html [5] Amnesty International. Retrieved on April 7, 2007. Available Online at http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng [6] China Leads Death List as Number of Executions Around the World Soars by Anne Penketh. Available Online at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0405-07.htm. [7] Capital Punishment in the US. Available Online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States#_note-Clark [8] Pro Death Penalty Web Page. Available Online at http://www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html Read More