Opposition to Capital Punishment - Essay Example

This trend not only reflects the rise in criminal behavior in society but also underscores the government's intolerance to it. In addition, it also highlights the fact that capital punishment is no deterrent to criminal behavior. Though the statistics are alarmingly high they do not reveal the true extent of executions as many are carried out in secret, directly contravening United Nations standards. Every country has its own laws in convicting and sentencing criminals. With human rights organizations like the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International striving towards the goal of encouraging all countries to recognize the fundamental right for a human not to be executed, the death penalty issue is slowly changing laws worldwide.

More and more countries have relaxed their capital punishment laws and established a moratorium on executions. As of 2003 all countries in the European Union who signed the Second Optional Protocol - established in 1991 - have abolished the death penalty (NSWCCL 2006). This protocol is one of the five international human rights treaties that make up the International Bill of Human Rights. Last year, five countries ratified it - Bhutan, Greece, Samoa, Senegal and Turkey have abolished the death penalty for all crimes bringing the total number of nations to have eradicated the practice to 120, outnumbering those that retain it.

For countries that sustain the death penalty, the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) contains article 6 which stipulates minimum standards needed to be adopted in capital punishment cases (NSWCCL 2006). Those standards are:a) Death penalty should be imposed for the most serious crimes where there is clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for doubt as to the persons guilty of it.b) A mandatory process of appeal and clemency to higher jurisdictional courts should be allowed.c) Pregnant women, new mothers and the insane should not be executed.d) Juveniles (under 18) should not be executed.e) In all capital punishment cases those sentenced to death should have the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence and any or both may be granted (OHCHR).

While proponents say that the death penalty is the only way to keep society in check, there is little evidence that supports the view that capital punishment is a deterrent to criminal behavior. As of 2005, the rate of recidivism (the act of repeating an offence after experiencing a negative consequence - like prison time), in the US continues to be over 60% whereas in Britain it is 50% (Wikipedia 2006). While the US focuses on punishment and deterrence to keep potentially harmful persons out of society, Britain rehabilitates and educates its prisoners - thus the lower recidivism rate.

A previous 1994 statistic suggests out of the 272,111 persons released from prison that year in 15 states in the US, over 67% were re-arrested for a crime within 3 years. 47% were reconvicted and 25% were re-sentenced to prison for a new crime (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2005). Clearly, prison time is no deterrent to offenders. When Canada abolished the dea