Capital PunishmentShould We Use Capital Punishment?

Many people are against Capital Punishment because innocent people are killed when mistakes are made. Since 1973 eighty-eight people have been released from Death Row as it was proven that they were innocent. Those against the death penalty argue that if an innocent person is killed, they cannot be brought back but if they are placed in jail to serve a life sentence and it is proven they are innocent they can be set free. This is a valid point but I think the death penalty may be a practical solution because it costs a lot of money to keep people in jail for life. Also, although it is said that the criminal is to be placed in jail for life for committing a crime like rape, it is often the case that they are let out early for good behaviour. Do we really believe that somebody can change from being a murderer to being a person whom we can accept back into our society? Of course, the idea of rehabilitation is always an option. This would allow criminals to live and possibly change the errors of their ways. However, it is often the case that people who are released from jail re-offend. Therefore, would it not be better to deal with these criminals once and for all?

In addition, the risk of a mistake being made is now much lower. This is because we now have the use of DNA testing, which would help prove if a person is guilty or innocent, meaning that the chance of the wrong person being killed is now much lower. I do agree that mistakes have been made and it can be tough on the family, knowing that a family member has been killed as the result of a mistake, it is highly unlikely that a totally innocent person with no previous convictions would be executed and the chance that such a mistake would be made is now minimal.

People, like me, who agree with Capital Punishment, believe that criminals are now stronger than the law and that innocent people are not being protected by the law. Innocent, vulnerable people such as the elderly live in fear of being the next victim of a criminal. I believe that a judge should be able to sentence a murderer to death. It seems unjust that a criminal can walk the streets with a gun and kill someone but a judge cannot have him killed, which means that criminals are stronger than the law. However, if a judge could sentence murderers to death, I think this would act as a deterrent as criminals might think twice about committing a crime if they thought they might get killed for it. People against Capital Punishment again argue that criminals can change and should have the opportunity to do so, and therefore putting them in jail is much better than killing them. If we look at countries, which use Capital Punishment, such as certain states in America including Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Virginia and Mississippi, we can see that their crime rates are much lower than ours are. Is this possibly because certain states use Capital Punishment and criminals fear the law? In 2002 53 of the people who were executed were white with only 18 being black. Of this 69 were male with only 2 being female. This also shows racisms is not a factor in deciding who is put to death as more white people were killed than there were black people.

Despite this, an argument against Capital Punishment is that certain people are discriminated against, including certain races of people. John 'Jackie' Elliot claimed for years that he was innocent but he could not afford the DNA tests that would prove his innocence. I think that if everybody were given fair trials and everybody got DNA tests they thought were required then there are no reasons to disagree with Capital Punishment.

Following a five-year trial in 1970 Capital Punishment was abolished in the UK but I think that using Capital Punishment to kill criminals in the UK is a good idea. This is because it would help lower our crime rates and it would also allow innocent people to feel more protected by the law and not afraid to walk the streets alone after dark.