Social, Moral, and Historical Aspects of Capital Punishment - Essay Example

SOCIAL, MORAL AND HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Department Introduction Society used punishment to caution individual against engaging in heinous crimes. However, some form of punishment such as the death sentence given that once executed is not reversible poses debates on when or why should it still be used. The issue is that some crimes are so heinous that their perpetrators deserve this punishment while others argue for correction despite the crimes committed. Capital punishment has been used worldwide over many years, the proponents say that death penalty is absolute for instance when a murderer is sentenced to death, no more murder will be executed by the same person and those with similar intention are cautioned. They justify that the measure they gave to their victims also apply to them mainly to stop them and discourage others. They also argue that the states spend a lot on money enhancing the security of dangerous prisoners such as murderers, rapist, violent robbers etc thus executing them create room for other prisoners of less crimes. Opponents of capital punishment see it as an unfair punishment since only the poor who are not able to get strong defense against their cases are executed and hence it denies an individual their right to life. They see it as a cruel and inhuman form of punishment (Bedau, 1998 p.134). The controversy on capital punishment is highly debated worldwide. This debate will therefore range on as long as they are free-thinking people due to the extreme division in opinion that exist around this issue. Researchers and other scholars have concluded that capital punishment is a polarizing topic with different viewpoints and can only be changed through amending existing legislation that legalize its execution in the modern day and adopt more human sentences such as life imprisonment without parole (Bedau, 1998 p. 233). This paper focuses on social, moral and historical aspects of this debate. Historical aspects of the controversial debate on capital punishment Throughout human history, there have been rules that to regulate the society. It was considered that without a severe punishment for immoral acts, the consequences of this action would make society to fall apart. Therefore the need to have ultimate consequences for an act was crucial in promoting a just society. Capital punishment is a sentence given legally to die for crime committed. Research shows that it has been used over ages and was like a norm. Different methods were used and are still used today some include use of lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, gassing and electrocution (Melusky, 2011 p. 45). However, this has significantly changed. Today only capital offenses such as murder, arson, robbery with violence, and treason are punishable through death penalty. The modern question is why still carrying out capital punishment? Should we not have other forms of punishment? Answering this question gives the historical aspects that rotate about this issue. Over the last few decades the debate has emerged on whether capital punishment is justifiable; is there any good that it does to society at large. Activists have been fighting to abolish death penalty terming it as a cruel and inhumane punishment that degrades life. for instance, capital punishment was once abolished in the US only to be reintroduced in the mid 1970s (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011, p.416) Moral aspects of the controversial debate on capital punishment Morally life is sacred. Only God has the ultimate right to take life. All the teachings that we get from our socialization agent is that killing is wrong and that the aim of punishment is for correction. Biblically, punishment should fit the crime committed (Jenkins, 2002, p.104). Today however it is not morally right to deprive an individual the right to life despite the crime they have committed. Capital punishment is against this principle of protecting life as well as it does not serve its purpose for correction since the victim is not given a chance to rethink his act and correct it. A person cannot be rehabilitated by putting him/her to death since they no longer live to learn from their past mistakes. Punishment should be in regard to values that are respected and embraced by a society and that no particular society has killing as it values and thus capital punishment should be illegalized. The other aspect of moral argument is that if capital punishment is meant to caution offender, why we still have crimes whose earlier perpetrators have been subjected to this form of punishment. This gives the idea that capital punishment if failing to achieve the intended purpose and thus should be abolished. It morally wrong as it inflicts torture and pain on the victim. Through use of any method be it lethal injection, hanging or gassing the underlying fact is that there is pain inflicted on the victim which is contrary to the UN Declaration of Human Rights (Jenkins, 2002 p.106). Advocates of Human rights argue that executing death penalty is against the morals of any society and that it only impact negatively on the victims. To them judicial execution are a violation of right to life unnecessary and condemns the physical and psychological torture inflicted on the victims. Justifying a wrong with a wrong is not right as two wrongs do not make a right. They say that capital punishment is an unfair application that degrades on the value attached to human life (Mandery, 2011, p. 20). With evolving issues of human decency, the death penalty has no place and authorities in society have the moral obligation to protect life and not to take it away. Social Aspect There is a notion that handing and implementation of capital punishment is not uniformly considered. Statistics have shown that some social aspects have been used to determine the use of capital punishment for instance race, income and religion. Execution of an innocent person is an injustice which cannot be rectified. In some countries the poor are likely to be put to death since they lack strong defense to argue their cases (Mandery, 2011 p.120). Mistakes can also happen in the justice system and innocent lives are executed though occasionally it does happen. This is seen as a miscarriage of justice (Mandery, 2011, p.111) while in US it has been observed that it is still discriminatory and arbitrary. Racial bias has been observed for in instance in American states, Maryland, the resident use of death penalty is biased racially and is not used to deter crime .They have stated that in US African-American made up forty three percent of death inmate in 1999 (Burkhead, 2009 p.144) their question was why this big percentage, is race a factor in giving death sentence. Ethnic and racial minorities and those from low socioeconomic background in the US are more likely to face death penalty compared to the Whites committing the same crimes more so many Americans support death penalty when there are aware it applying to African-Americans (Hood& Hoyle,2008 p.38) In every society, the citizens and the government have the duty to protect life of all its members. Killing is only justified in self defense that is in saving owns life. Each side gives justifying reason for their opinions which makes it a complex issue to agree on. With whichever side that we agree to, the debate will be with us on the basis that people will always have different opinion. Conservatives are of the opinion that this form of punishment is needed so as to keep our society together. Their strongest point for capital punishment is that it has a deterrence factor that is it discourages crimes especially capital crimes and in the long run save lives since the culprits cannot commit the same crime again (Pojman & Reiman,1998 p.100). They argue that death penalty serves justice to the victim of the crime and helps the law enforcers to keep order. To them, execution of the offender show how atrocious the crime committed was. According to the debate against capital punishment, the race factor as well as the chances that an innocent life may be lost is their major arguing point. They suggest that other means such as life imprisonment serves better as the criminal is a way from the society and due to his limited freedom will rethink his actions. The cost of the death penalty is high and they suggest that by doing away with this method a large sum of money could be saved and used for other purposes such as education or health. In both argument cases of liberalist versus conservatives there are both strong as well as weak points with each contradicting the other. Scholars have said that this debate will live on and the only way to end the use of this capital punishment is to show to the world that the society does not benefit from this execution as well as it is a waste of government resources as the execution are expensive to carry out. Conclusion The controversy of the debate about capital punishments gets complex one day after the other with human rights activists coming up with strong arguments against it. However, due to the changing nature of civilization in the world today, there need to reconsider the use of capital punishment as a legal sentencing .There is need to consider all factors and conclude whether death sentence is worth. It has not served its deterrence factor and therefore is the time to reconsider legislation on other methods of punishment. A good question to rest the debate is for the society to consider the compatibility of capital punishment in today’s society. References Bedau, H, A, 1998, The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Burkhead, M 2009, A Life for A Life: The American Debate Over The Death Penalty, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. Hood R, G, Hoyle C, 2008, The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective 4th Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins J, 2002,Contemporary Moral Issues :4th Edition, Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publisher Mandery E,J, 2011, Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination, 2nd edition Sudbury: Jones& Bartlett Learning. Melusky, J, & Pesto, K 2011, Capital Punishment, Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Pojman, L, & Reiman, J 1998, The Death Penalty: For and Against, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Wilson, J, & Petersilia, J 2011, Crime and Public Policy, New York: Oxford University Press Read More