Death Penalty in a Civilized Society - Essay Example

There is no point in avoiding the death penalty because of the ability of some people from escaping capital punishment. Guilt is highly personal and the only thing which should be considered by the court is whether that culprit deserves the death penalty or not. No other considerations should influence the court.

The accepted philosophy or principle of the criminal justice system is that no innocent person should be punished even if thousands of criminals are able to escape from punishments. It is a fact that many innocent people are forced to accept capital punishment because of circumstantial evidence. In other words, miscarriages of justice happened in capital punishment cases also. “For those who think the death penalty just, miscarriages of justice are offset by the moral benefits and the usefulness of doing justice” (Van den Haag).

Many people argue in favor of the death penalty since they believe that death penalty may discourage others from committing similar crimes. Van den Haag has argued that “Sparing the lives of even a few prospective victims by deterring their murderers is more important than preserving the lives of convicted murderers because of the possibility, or even the probability, that executing them would not deter others” (Van den Haag). The lives of innocent people are more important than the lives of criminals. Van den Haag has argued that the death penalty may prevent at least some criminals from conducting hardcore crimes and thus the criminal justice system can save at least some lives of innocent people by introducing capital punishment. 

Many people labeled the death penalty as an uncivilized act. However, Van den Haag has questioned such arguments. In his opinion, “The murderer learns through his punishment that his fellow men have found him unworthy of living; that because he has murdered, he is being expelled from the community of the living” (Van den Haag). Failure of the criminal justice system in punishing criminals with capital punishment may send wrong signals to the criminals. In the absence of capital punishment, criminals may not bother much about punishments while repeating their crimes. “By murdering, the murderer has so dehumanized himself that he cannot remain among the living. The social recognition of his self-degradation is the punitive essence of execution” (Van den Haag).

To conclude, the death penalty cannot be avoided even in a civilized society because of its potential to save the lives of innocent people. In the absence of the death penalty, criminals will get more motivation to repeat their crimes which should be avoided.