Written By: Akhila J and Siddhi Mehta
Edited By: Pranav Jatin Goud
Introduction
“An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind,” said Mahatma Gandhi.
We’re all more than the mistakes we make because we are capable of change and we should not be defined by our mistakes but by our capability to change. Everyone deserves a second chance and anyways what would life be without second chances? However, some people have misused their second chances and how many times can we give it to them? This article tries to look through the death penalty - is it right or wrong?
Proposition
We need to be ‘tough on crime’
Crime is unacceptable and it needs to stop immediately, and once it stops the world can have a sense of peace and relief. If the death penalty can be used on crimes, deterrence. In the world we live in, fear is an important substance that can make up our character. One can never be fearless. The retention of the death penalty is needed to curb serious crimes.
A sentence of life in prison is disproportionate to the capital crime
Almost all death sentences handed out by the United States or state-level justice systems are for aggravated murder. Only two people were on death row for a non-murder offence when the Supreme Court last ruled on the validity of the death penalty in 2008. Both inmates were convicted of the aggravated rate of a child under the age of 13, including Patrick Kennedy who was sentenced for raping his step-daughter. “As it relates to crimes against individuals… the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim’s life was not taken,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2008 when the sentence was overturned. If a convicted criminal receives life in prison for taking a life, proponents argue that this is not justice because the outcome is disproportionate to the action taken.
The death penalty can provide a deterrent against violent crime
Capital punishment creates an irreversible deterrent that the murderer will never get the chance to take a life again. It is a form of incapacitation that helps to protect society by preventing future crime in this manner. “Capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anything else,” said Ernest van den Haag, Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University. “They fear most deaths deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled by the courts. Whatever people fear most is likely to deter the most.”
Opposition
The death penalty is irreversible
“We can’t take back death, we know that systems make mistakes and we are lucky enough to live in a country where the majority of people oppose this cruel punishment” Absolute judgments may lead to people paying for crimes they did not commit. For example, a man from Texas named Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three daughters. Following his execution, further evidence revealed that Willingham did not set the fire that caused their deaths. But it came too late.
It doesn’t deter criminals
There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than a prison term. In fact, evidence reveals the opposite. Few consider the consequences of their actions and believe they will never be caught. I have never met a criminal who expected to be caught or was deterred by the slight possibility he would be sentenced to death instead of spending the rest of his life in prison. There is no crime in this world who is deterred by the fact that he will be sentenced to death instead of spending his life in prison.
It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way
The weight of the death penalty is more for the people of less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds or belonging to a racial, ethnic or religious minority. For example, Professor Katherine Beckett of the University of Washington found that jurors were 4.5 times more likely to impose a capital punishment sentence on a defendant who was black compared to a white defendant in a similar circumstance in an examination of 285 cases.
The death penalty does not improve public safety
We all want a criminal justice system that’s sensible, effective, and creates a safe society with less crime—and evidence shows that the death penalty has no impact on public safety. Stats from the Death Penalty Information Center indicate that in the past forty years, there have been 1,184 executions in the South compared to just four in the Northeast, and yet homicide figures in 2015 were nearly 70% higher in the Southern states. Police officers don’t believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent. Police chiefs ranked the death penalty last among effective ways to reduce violent crime.
We can all change
We’re all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done because all human beings are capable of change. If our criminal justice system is to change, it should be designed not just to punish, but to also rehabilitate those who’ve committed crimes. There should always be the opportunity for rehabilitation, redemption and grace. We have the capacity to hold people accountable and separate dangerous people from society without foreclosing that opportunity. We’re only human, right? Everyone makes mistakes at some point. But when someone decides to forgive you and gives you another chance, you should grab it with both hands — because you might not get the third one.
It creates a revenge factor, which may not best serve justice
When we kill someone because they’ve killed someone else or because they’ve done a horrible crime, it is known as revenge. As we all know, revenge is not the best way to solve conflicts.
In our opinion death cannot be taken back, it is irreversible. Even if an innocent’s life has been taken we can’t take a chance to take another person’s life. Life is precious and we can’t let it go by itself, it also can’t be just taken back.
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