Essay on Capital Punishment

Capital punishment has ever been a highly-discussed and controversy topic. In spite of the trend of abolishment it is still allowed by law in many Arabian, Communist and Fascist countries - and of course in most states of the USA, which shows the most marked split in public opinion regarding capital punishment.

The death penalty has been carried out for all of recorded human history. Starting with stoning in the Stone Age, it developed into terrible ways of execution during the Middle Ages – such as hanging, quartering, impaling or burning at the stake. It was even used during the French Revolution, the first record of modern democracy and the cradle of legal human rights, through the use of the guillotine. Today, capital punishment are said to be more humane as criminals are executed through morphine overdose, electric chair or gas. In some countries however, stoning is still legal, especially in Arab countries where women are stoned for the smallest offence. Socially, authorities hoped that the death penalty would work as a deterrent to potential criminals. But in countries where the death penalty is still in use, the murder rate has not decreased. Indeed, figures in America show that crime rates have actually risen in states where capital punishment is in effect.

On most moral and ethical grounds it would appear that capital punishment is not right, as no one should be able to make the ultimate decision as to whether somebody lives or dies. In religions such as Christianity, killing another person, for any reason, is a deadly sin (the Ten Commandments state 'Thou shall not kill"). It is important to note that opposition to the death penalty does not arise from misplaced sympathy for convicted murderers. On the contrary, murder demonstrates a lack of respect for human life. For this very reason, murder is abhorrent, and any policy of state-authorized killings is immoral. Most people argue that capital punishment denies due process of law. Its imposition...