The Reasons of Harsh Punishment - Essay Example

Death Penalty Since the very beginning of human race the Death Penalty has been used by societies as punishment to avenge the alleged crime and also to discourage potential criminals from committing a crime in the future. As being the harshest physical penalty possible it has been generally used as a punishment for very severe crimes like murder, rape and drug trafficking etc. Since societies have highest priorities in preventing heinous crimes like murders they tend to use the most effective punishments to avoid murders and in some cases that is Death Penalty.

Just a century back, death penalty was widely practiced in almost all cultures but in recent times the use of capital punishment has declined very sharply. Although it has been practiced much less than before but still every year thousands of people receive death penalties worldwide and hundreds of them get executed also. There is worldwide debate that whether the death penalty is a justified and valid form of punishment. There is a debate over the morals and effectiveness of such a harsh sentence.

Many people support the death penalty while many others wish for the death penalty to be abolished. People who support the death penalty have some very strong arguments in the favor of this punishment. One of the strongest arguments in the favor is that this penalty sends strong warning to those who are planning heinous crimes. If a murderer is sentenced to death and being executed then many future potential murderers think many times before attempting such a crime. They say that if a criminal knows that he is not going to be punished severely even if he/she kills many people, then they gets encouragement from this and does not hesitate to commit those serious crimes like murder.

So it’s necessary to convey a strong message to all of those potential criminals. They say that for every man who is executed, seven lives are saved. Another strong argument in the favor of death penalty is that if a criminal like murderer got death penalty and get executed then the relatives of the person being murdered are get satisfied and they don’t try to take the law in their hands. So death penalty not only helps to deter against the potential criminals but it also made the effected people to believe in law and justice and prevents them to take the law in their own hand.

Moreover Opponents point to the ever-present risk of wrongful conviction (Los Angeles Times, 2009). People who oppose the death penalty argues that you could not combat violence with more violence they say that “Why do we kill people to show that killing people is wrong”?. Another common argument against capital punishment is that executing a murder would not bring back the victim. People also say that it’s not that only the guilty criminals got punished but many times innocent’s people got executed for the crime which they have not committed and that’s why we should cease the death penalty because it’s highly inhuman to execute an innocent person.

People against death penalty also argue and provide fact and figures that death penalty does give deterrence against potential criminals. Amnesty International, reports that scientific studies have not provided any conclusive evidence that proves death penalty as deterrence against the future crimes to be committed. The conclusion for every topic should be defined and dictated by both positive and negative arguments. Thus the purpose of our argument should govern everything we include in our narrative (Flachmann & Flachmann).

Although I think that Death penalty is a very harsh punishment and should not be used commonly but still I think that Death Penalty should not be ceased completely as a punishment because there are cases when we do need a severe punishment like death penalty for example there are very clever serial killer and serial rapists who are clever enough to break jails and societies certainly could not afford to give such criminals another chance, But before executing anyone there should be a comprehensive and thorough investigation and secondly death sentence should only be used in the cases where it is the last option.

References Flachmann, K and Flachmann, M. The Prose Reader: Essays for Thinking, Reading, and Writing California cant afford the death penalty. Los Angles Times Retrieved from (http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/10/opinion/oe-vandekamp10)