ISFyT Andersen Profesorado de Ingls Lengua y Expresin escrita II Essay: Capital Punishment

2 do Ao Ana Elicagaray 09-04-2013

Capital Punishment is used in many countries around the world. It is a penalty imposed by a court after a legal trial. Capital punishment is the major penalty for most serious an inhuman crimes such as murder or violation. Throughout history it has been several methods for execution. The most famous and maybe less violent is the lethal injection. The prisoner is taken to a special room and there is injected with different drugs providing its final death. Another very common method is the electric chair, in this case, the prisoner is fasten to a chair with metal straps and something wet is put on his head so as the current can flow through their body until is dead. Not so popular nowadays is the gas chamber. But Germans used it several times. This is a very painful method as it takes longer to the prisoner be unconscious. And the last common method is hanging. The prisoner dies by strangulation or when their necks break. The USA, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Irak are countries that uses and agree with capital punishment. But since World War II there has been a trend toward abolishing the death penalty. In 1977, 16 countries were abolitionist according to information given by Amnesty International in 2012. It can be considered capital punishment as a positive or negative death penalty. Arguments in favour of capital punishment explains that guilty people deserves to be punished. And their punishment must be as cruel or severe as the crime committed by the prisoner. It is also consider as a lesson for other prisoners or future criminals. Some argue that executing murderers may actually cause more murders by desensitizing society at last to killing. But over the years, several studies have shown that killing convicted murders does deter future murderers(Sage 77). There are many reasons to be against capital punishment as to execute an innocent person. This kind of action can never be rectified. It can provoke a severe damage in society and executed family. Executions have a high financial cost. It is more expensive to execute a person than send him or her to prison for life. Family members of a victim will never heal their pain caused by the execution of one of them. Human life is so valuable that criminals should not lose their right to continue living although they are considered guilty of their crimes. Everyone has the right to live. Therefore if any man is dangerous to the community and is subverting it by some sin, the treatment to be commended is his execution in order to preserve the common goodTherefore to kill a man who retains his natural worthiness is intrinsically evil, although it may be justifiable to kill a sinner just as it is to kill a beast, for, as Aristotle points out, an evil man is worse than a beast an more harmful. (Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae). Thomas Aquinas is saying that sometimes a bad act, as killing, can be a good act, depending on the context in which the crime occurs. Death penalty has a lot of moral thoughts and controversial feelings. Taking human life in ones hand can provoke several social disorders nowadays. Human rights are very important for a society to work in harmony. To coexist with different social, economic, aged groups. Still now there are many countries that practice capital punishment without noticing or thinking that there are too many mistakes for such a permanent decision or solution. Thinking that society must put more effort into the legal process can be a good decision and useful for the future of human beings. It is an immoral act and a violation of human rights. It does not effectively deter crime.

Other kind of physical or psychological punishment can be more effective. It is hypocritical, we murder people that murder people.

Works Cited Sage, B. Does the death penalty deter? (2006) www.wikipedia.org Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (1265-1274).