-
-
The world is changing. Now people have a completely different way of life than it was even 10 years ago. Now the values and morals are not the same they used to be. With the development of the world people reconsider their opinions and views on various things. Death penalty is one of them. According to the UNGA (UN General Assembley) in 1977 only 16 countries abolished the death penalty, while in 2005 the moratorium on executions was adopted by 91 countries. The number of the countries raised greatly, however, the number of murderes did not change. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation there were an estimated 15,517 murders in 2002, and 15,522 in 2003, which basically makes no difference. The death penalty should be abolished because prison is a worth punishment than death penalty, innocent people can be convicted and because killing a person is immoral whether it is done by an individual or by the state execcutioner.
-
A lot of people say that the death penalty should be accepted by more and more countries. At some point it stops the crime, since people are afraid of the death penalty. It sounds shocking when people speak about lethal injections, electrocutions, gas chambers, hanging, firing squad, which all are considered the death penalties. At the moment a lot of countries still apply all of the death penalties above. Moreover, a lot of death penalties are broadcast on TV so people are able to see a criminal’s death. This is how William Brennan,the U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who witnessed the death penalty for a certain times, describes the death in the Gas Chamber: “At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.” The description is horrifying, that keeps a lot of people live in fear. Furthemore, a lot of dangerous criminals are killed by the death penalty. That makes the family of the victim satisfied because they got the revenge. There are actually some criminals who have been sentenced for 30-50 years in prison and then released for their good behaviour, because the prisons were overcrowded. According to FBI statistics, 18000 murders were commited in 1999 and only 514 of criminals were killed by the death penalty.
-
-
Moreover, nearly 25% from 18000 murders were commited by the criminals who were released after a certain time in the prison. The other aspect that supports the idea of death penalty is the money. It is a fact that citizens pay taxes, the certain percent of which goes to the maintenance of the prisons. Sometimes criminals have a better conditions than homeless people do. Lynda Lyon, a former prisoner in a Texas prison, says: “The food is a good thing here. It is home cooking typical of Alabama and they are generous with their portions as well.” They get food every day, sometimes they have televisions and satelites, they have libraries and gyms. Even though people say that death penalty relieve the society from the most dangerous criminals and make the world safer, there are other points of view that explain why the death penalty should be abolished. Firstly, death penalty is rather a “show” for the society than a punishment of a criminal. It satisfies the desires of the crowd that comes to see the horrifying death.
-
-
People are just longing for a revenge. According to the Professor Thorsten Sellin, who was a criminologist, more murders occur in the day and following weeks after the execution.Moreover,it is impossible to correct something that has already been commited. There is no way to return a person who was killed. It is impossible to resurrect a dead person. With the death of a guilty person, people cannot change the situation. People insist on the death penalty because they want the criminal to understand their pain. However, it is a total self-deception when one thinks that he/she will suffer less by hurting the other person. Finally, although a certain amount from the citizens’ taxes go to the maintenance of prisons, people are completely sure that there is no threat to them when a criminal is in prison. It is better to pay money and be sure that you live in a safe surrounding. Sometimes speaking about the cages, people mean that the cage is a limitation of the freedom. Same is about the criminals, they live behind the bars, in the “cage”, so their rights, freedoms are strongly bounded. That means that they are separated from the real world and will not hurt or do harm. One of the most strong arguments against the death penalty is that criminals in prison suffer more than on the death penalty. Capitol punishment is a quick and painless death, while in prisons criminals are stuck in small cells and feel miserable. In prison people are put in other conditions than they used to have. They don’t have comfortable homes, they live surrounded by other criminals, they sleep on plank beds. All these conditions influence their state of mind. Lynda Lyon, a former prisoner in a Texas Jail says : “They wouldn't allow to shower for a week. Without a towel and a washcloth, with only soap and toothpaste, I tried to keep clean the best I could. I managed to wash my hair in the small sink, and when my jail whites got soiled I had to spot clean them and wear them wet.” As years go by, criminals understand that it is hard to adjust to such conditions.
-
-
The other point is that the conviction of innocent people can occur. Each live deserves special protection, that is why nearly 8 years pass by before the death penalty is carried out. However, there were cases when even after 8 years of investigation, judges made mistakes, that costed lives of the innocent people. For example, an article from ‘The Daily American”, a newspaper in the USA, says about a case of mistaken identity: “Gary Graham, now known as Shaka Sankofa, has spent 18 years on death row and is scheduled to die on June 22, 2000, for a murder he did not commit. He has exhausted all available avenues of judicial relief, and his fate now rests with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor George W. Bush.” Another article “The Snitch System” by Northwestern University School of Law Center on Wrongful Conviction states that “almost 11 innocent people could have been executed for the past 3 year”.
-
-
Finally, all religions in the world have the sacred books, which are considered the greatest sources of moral inspiration. Christians read the Bible, Muslims have the Koran, one of the main books in Judaism is the Torah, four Vedic books are sacred in Hinduism and Tipika is in Buddhism. All these books have commandments or oracles that are considered the moral codes of the religion. The sixth command in the Bible states: “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. In the Koran it is written: “...whosoever killeth a human being... it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind...". It is obvious that the one who kills breaks all the morals that were written centuries ago, the morals that are sacred to the mankind. Without any doubt, it is immoral to kill someone even if it is done by the government. According to the sacred books, God or someone beyond our understanding( according to the Tipika) created people, and only He can take people back. Everybody is a sinner,so nobody can judge the other person. And especially kill someone!The situation about the death penalty is changing. More and more countries abolish capital punishment. The life of each individual is priceless and making the death penalty illegal will help the society to get rid of the responsibility that lies on their shoulders by putting someone on a death row, because there is no way of reversing capital punishment. The death penalty is not the path, that leads us to the world of justice and liberty.
»
No Comments
There are no comments up to now.
» Post Comment
|
ALL articles 
