Capital Punishment: Obsolete and Unethical? - Essay Sample

Introduction

As the world continues to develop and open up to new ideas of solving problems. There are still debates on whether the courts and the law systems should abandon the traditional capital punishment of murder. Human life is meaningful and should be preserved. It is so valuable that even the worst people should not be killed. This paper discusses why capital punishment by murder is obsolete and unethical. It offers some alternative ways of punishing capital offenders.

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According to leading human rights activists, an offender cannot pay for bad conduct by being killed, even if it is the worst one ever witnessed (Long &Walter, 2011). The law, however, limits the belief, as it states that life can be preserved until there are special reasons not to do that anymore. There are many reasons that the people who are for the murder as a capital punishment have, it includes the common saying that any offender who commits a robbery with violence or cause the death of an innocent person, no longer deserves life, for losing basic respect for fellow human beings. There are, however, several reasons why murder should be abolished. It not only affects the offender being killed but affects their families, friends, and society. The trauma can be so much that the affected persons might suffer mental breakdowns.

Everybody have a right to live, no matter the situation, as long as the person is considered a human being. The description in the right covers everybody, including the offenders of the worst crimes. This opposing idea, is an approach of the argument, about the sanctity of life, but in a plan of human rights. The state and the laws that advocate for murder violate this universal rule. There are counter-arguments that there are situations, when people choose to forfeit, their rights to life, for example, by engaging in crimes that have grave consequences. This counter-argument cannot be justified, because, there is no way the wrong already did, can be undone, by killing the offender.

The other reason why capital sentence through murder should be removed is because of the possible execution of innocent people, who fails to prove their innocence. Many mistakes can occur in a court setting. Witnesses and prosecutors can make mistakes and end up convicting people wrongly. This issue might lead to fear among people and the resentment of the court system. There are at least a hundred and thirty people released from death from row after being found innocent. This example shows that as long as there are mistakes in the law courts, many people will still be executed (Kramer &Mathew, 2011). The death sentence is immoral because it is a form of retribution. The murder of the lawbreaker is treated as revenge, and no one teaches that murder is bad by eliminating the wrongdoers charged with crimes like killing. It has taught a vice of vengeance hence the death of several victims through mob justice.

There are several alternatives to murder corporal punishment. Life imprisonment is just a superior alternative. It is better to detain an offender. It is less costly to the state, and the offender will feel an urge to change over time in the hard life in prison. The life sentence of the person gives the person a chance to learn that whatever brought him behind bars is wrong. There will be chances to improve skills and make life better. A reformed law should have considered that death row, creates a society brutal. The offenders ensure that their victims are killed to prevent any evidence against their act (Macdougall, Mark, Karen &Williams, 2018). The rehabilitation of the offenders is more worthy than eliminating them. The reports have shown that the method have never served its purpose of stoping future similar crimes. It was meant to scare the potential lawbreakers, but it has not worked.

Work Cited

Kramer, Matthew H. The Ethics of Capital Punishment : A Philosophical Investigation of Evil and Its Consequences. OUP Oxford, 2011. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=694195&site=eds-live

Long, Walter C. "Trauma Therapy for Death Row Families." Journal Of Trauma & Dissociation: The Official Journal Of The International Society For The Study Of Dissociation (ISSD), vol. 12, no. 5, 2011, pp. 482-494. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/15299732.2011.593258.

MACDOUGALL, MARK J.1,., and KAREN D. .. WILLIAMS. "The Federal Death Penalty Scheme Is Not a Model for State Reform of Capital Punishment Laws." American University Law Review, vol. 67, no. 5, May 2018, pp. 1647-1671. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lft&AN=130686302&site=eds-live.