Are you in support of death sentence?

          Are you in support of death sentence?

“Revenge is not the answer. The answer lies in reducing violence, not causing more deaths.”

I am totally against death sentence. According to me, death penalty or capital punishment violates the most fundamental human right- the right of life. Over 70% of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. India, United States, and China, Pakistan etc: - are some nations that still enforce capital punishment, standing in stark contrast to other democracies. Its used methods are firing squads, hanging, the electric chair, and lethal injections. It is often used against the most vulnerable in society, including the poor, ethnic and religious minorities, and people with mental disabilities. Some governments use it to silence their opponents. Where justice systems are flawed and unfair trials rife, the risk of executing an innocent person is ever present.

                       However, the question that comes in mind is that what about the victims of violent crimes and their families. Well can killing be the only option for giving justice. If this is so, then it is revenge, not justice. Where judgments are often biased and not discretionary, there are high chances that an innocent person is being hanged. An innocent person may be released from the prison for a crime he did not commit, but his/her execution cannot be reversed. 

                      Governments often resort to the death penalty in the aftermath of violent attacks, to demonstrate they are doing something to “protect” national security. But the threat of execution is unlikely to stop men and women prepared to die for their beliefs – for example, suicide bombers. Executions are just as likely to create martyrs whose memory becomes a rallying point for their organization. 

Does it deter crime?

According to the researches, there has been no actual evidence that a death penalty can prevent someone from doing that crime. One instance of this is that the American south has the highest murder rate in the country. However, it oversees 81% of the nation’s execution.

Death penalty around the globe

The Philippines have used government-sponsored death squads to carry out mass execution in 2016. The Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is committed to fighting a war against drugs. In 2016 it cost an estimated 6000 drug dealers and users their lives. He has vowed to do whatever it takes to continue this drug war until the last dug lord is killed.

                  Guillotine is a weapon used to execute people by beheading. It was only about 40 years ago that it was used to execute Hamida Djandoubi for the crimes of torture and murder in Marseille, France. 

                   In the 1600s, it was illegal to be a witch in the United States. Nearly 200 people were convicted and almost 19 of them were executed in the Salem Witch Trial between 1692 and 1693. 

                  James Pratt and John Smith were people who were hanged for Sodomy in 1835 in the U.K. At this point in history, same sex relationships were illegal. So basically they were hanged because they loved each other.  

Reasons to stop death penalty:- 

• It is inhumane.

• It cannot be undone, if new evidence is revealed.

• It doesn’t deter crime.

• The death penalty can be used as a weapon for revenge, not justice.