Monday, May 14, 2007
“The death penalty is not a deterrent, it is a murder” Do you agree?
Murder is an intentional unlawful killing. However, I do not see much difference between murder and death penalty except that the latter is “lawfully correct” or “officially accepted”. It is contradicting when on one side, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to life” yet on the other hand, lives are taken in the name of justice and law. Since the criminals are not entitled to more right to take the victims life, we too should not be in higher position to do that.
Despite the fact of stating, “all human beings should be equal in dignity and rights” and that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, cruel forms of execution are still performed. What the felon done is not worth respecting, but he is a human being after all. Regardless of whether it is modern or ancient methods of execution, they are still inhuman and degrading punishment. We are taking away his dignity and his right to live. The cruelty of execution was especially shown in the case of Angel Nieves Diaz who was executed by lethal injection in December 2006. Improperly injected needles caused it. He remained alive for 34 minutes, nearly three times as long as the last two executions and a rare step of a second dose had to be given to kill him. The mistake was indeed not done on purpose but enough to show how inhuman execution was.
I agree that every one has to pay a price for what he has done wrong. Is the punishment of “a life for a life” not a price too high to pay? Justice has to be done but I believe it will not help by taking another life. Nothing can be reverted; the victims cannot be brought back to life even if we kill the felon. Some say it helps as a deterrent warning to others against the consequences of crime, preventing report offences. People will then think twice before they act. I beg to differ. Human rights researcher Mark Warren has estimated that the total figure for those currently condemned to death and awaiting execution is between 19,474 and 24,546 in which the true total is probably higher. With such severe punishment yet the rate of capital crimes remains high. From this, we can see that the argument for death penalty as a deterrent does not stand.
On the other hand, it means justice for the victims’ family and friends. People who have not undergone the pain will not understand how it actually feels like. To be able to accept the fact of losing their closest kin and give the felon a chance to turn over a new leaf is easier to be said than done.
Furthermore, it is an assurance to the public that the felon no longer poses a threat to society. It is also more economically sound to execute the prisoner than keep him in life incarceration. It’s living off taxpayers’ dollars. This is especially unacceptable in the victims’ family and friends’ context. It means paying to support someone who has taken away his or her kin’s life.
On the whole, my stand that the death penalty is not a deterrent but a murder still remains
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