Our world is home to a great number of notorious criminals who have

committed heinous acts and undoubtedly should be punished for their

actions. But we must consider the forms of punishment for criminals to
face including: imprisonment, probation, restitution and the infamous
death penalty, which is the one I will be speaking to you about today.
A mans life rests in the decision of a judge or jury bound to the single
word guilty can potentially mean the end of one mans life.
In making such a decision a judge follows four prime factors in
determining what the appropriate punishment for the offender should be.
These factors are: the amount of loss to the victims, whether a weapon
was used to commit the crime, the helplessness of the victims and any
prior offences before the crime. If these factors are found to be serious
enough, execution could be a consequence, which I strongly am against.
Capital Punishment should not still exist in any countries around the
world, despite seemingly having up-sides for society including the safety
and vengeance factor.
Media debates such as Bali 9 members being executed soon often arise
because of the speculation that happens over the issues with capital
punishment. As you all are aware from recent news reports that two Bali 9
members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumarans lives are at the final
stages of their lives. As their final appeals have been unsuccessful to the
Indonesian government, there are plans for an execution to be carried out
later this month, by firing squad. Unfortunately, the country they
wanted to export the 8.3 kilograms of Heroin from was Indonesia.
Indonesia is one of 25 countries in the world that choose to use capital
punishment as a method of sentencing.
Countless factors can be argued whether or not capital punishment
should still exist. However, the key points that I believe we should stay
focused on are the deterrence, morality, economic and the social factors
that are faced with capital punishment. These factors can be seen
differently by every individual and views may not be the same. However,
today I am here to explain why the death penalty should be abolished
worldwide.
Firstly, Id like to discuss about the deterrence factor. We generally tend
to think, if capital punishment exists, it will surely deter future acts? No,
this is not the case. American Civil Liberties Union states that there is no
credible evidence that the death penalty actually deters crime any
more effectively than long terms of imprisonment. So I ask why bother
ending someones life when it hasnt even been proven that it will deter
future crimes from happening. ACLU studies have also shown that the

majority of criminals do not consider the consequences of their actions

when committing the crime. This means harsh punishments such as the
death penalty will not stop them. Crimes have been found to be driven
usually by social and economic factors. Ever since Canadas decision in
1976 to remove capital punishment, it has been reported that the murder
rates have dropped a staggering 44%. This is yet another, statistical
analysis that proves capital punishment in actual fact does not stop future
acts.
Secondly, morality is another factor that people consider when
discussing the death penalty. For example, a man is charged with first
degree murder. What makes it right that the law can execute this man?
Is this not the same thing? Sure, the death penalty provides retribution
to the victims family and friends but it still doesnt change anything, their
beloved family member is still gone and executing the accused will not
change anything to bring them back.
Thirdly, most people believe that capital punishment is a much more cost
efficient method in contrast to sending someone away to prison for their
life sentence. However, from the date they are given the death penalty
ruling in court their execution date may be as far as 20 years away. A
graph from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that, the number of
months before an execution is being carried, is increasing. In 1985, it took
on average 71 months for an execution to carry out, seemingly low right?
Well, in more recent times, in 2011 it shows on average cases took 198
months before eventually proceeding. Thats an average of nearly 17
years, almost tripling the amount of months in comparison to the
average of 6 years waiting time back in 1975. Is it really worth the wait
of a 17 year wait period, before the actual execution to carry out? Many
people do not even consider the amount of legal costs from the
countless number of hearings, trials, pleas and appeals. Justice for All
estimates that roughly each death penalty case can roughly cost through
legal proceedings roughly about $1.2 million to $3.6 million before the
actual execution carries out.
Finally, the last factor that Ill discuss is the social issues that capital
punishment faces and how it coincides with the length to carry out an
execution. Everyone believes human life is valuable and every step
must be taken to save their life. Because of this, cases in modern day
take so long to proceed. To date the United States has had a total of 142
known cases where wrongfully accused people have been sentenced to
death and killed. Later evidence from DNA showing they were not guilty.
This sole reason is enough to hold a case for a long period of before

execution in todays society. Furthermore, the longer the case lasts for
the more expenses accumulate.
To summarize, capital punishment should not exist anymore in countries
because it raises many issues which take time to solve and statistics are
yet to prove an actual deterrence in a crime.