One of the arguments of the people campaining for the death penalty is it will be a deterence. The pro-capital punishment party believe a criminal will be put off from any serious violence. However, statistics show this does not happen. In Canada the death penalty was abolished in 1970. The supporters for capital punishment believed this would lead to a dramatic rise in violent crimes. We now know that this didn’t happen. The murder rate actually fell after the abolition of the death penalty. Therefore, this shows capital punishment is not a deterence.
Look over to the USA where the death penalty still exists. Statistics show that in on state alone- Texas they execute more people there than anywhere else in the world. What does this tell us? It tells us the USA is not put off by the death penalty. We are not all that disimilar to the USA. Are we?
Before the abolition of capital punishment in the UK when a violent crime was commited the idea of the death penalty would possibly be considered. Once the investigation team had enough strong evidence to show the criminal was guilty or not guilty a decision would be made by a judge. The judge made a choice on a sentence to fit the crime. Of course, the judge would never convict an innocent man would he? However, in one case a fatal mistake was made.
In 1953 a teenager by the name of Derek Bentley had his life taken from him. Bentley was convicted of the murder of a London policeman although Bentley had never fired a shot. It was Bentley’s friend Christopher Craig, who had actually murdered the policeman. Craig was too young too be hung he was only 16 at the time. It seems that the judge had taken out his anger and that of a nation on Bentley as he couldn’t sentence Craig. In 1993 the Bentley family won a pardon and they were told by MP Michael Howard “ he never should have died”. This shows that mistakes are made and with the death penalty the convicted person will never regain freedom.
Have you ever been hurt mentally or physically? If you have then you will understand that the natural reaction is you want to hurt them back. You will want to do the same as they did to you but make it worse. You want to make them as angry and as annoyed as you have been. You then will think about the actions you could take. I should hope you never resort to hurting them back but you learn to forgive. You realise that by hurting them you stoop down to their level. I am pleased to say that in the UK we forgive instead of going to more drastic measures.
If everyone was to resort to violence the world would be a terrible place. If we were to carry out a punishment similar to the crime we would live a contradiction. If in the UK we would kill murderers as in the “eye for an eye” saying, how can we expect any of the public to do any differently? People must set an example of how we should solve problems. We cannot tell people not to kill not to be violent when we resort to that punishment ourselves.
The supporters of capital punishment say that it makes “economic sense” to kill criminals rather than to put them in prison. They believe that saving a few pounds has more worth than saving a life. I disagree with this completely. When we sentence a criminal to the death penalty not only does it kill the criminal involved it also kills the lives of the families. How would you feel if your son or daughter could have been saved for what is believed to be £40,000 a year but instead was executed to save on money?
Lets consider where that £40,000 would go. It would be wasted on what already is a perfectly fine education system or health care system. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with either of the two. I understand that the money could be spent on machinery for hospitals or learning equipment for schools. However, no-one can put a price on a life.
After listening to my argument I hope I have helped you into making your opinion on capital punishment. I have shown you it is proven that capital punishment is not a deterent and that fatal mistakes happen. Also, we should forgive, not resort to violence aswell as what right does anyone have over a life. The most important point of all is where you stand on capital punishment. Are you for or against? I think you will make the right decision.
