Oct 4, 20202 min read

death penalty: yes or no

Today I will be speaking about the trend of the month which is………….”death penalty”. So, before you all (opponents and supports) start screaming your opinions out, I need you to calm down, grab a cup of tea and walk me through the whole process

Historically, we can admit that capital punishment before civilization was a way to torture criminals and innocents, to kill every sound of freedom and control the parish. Death penalty (also known as capital punishment) existed since the beginning of time, precisely, when humans started living in small societies called tribes. These communities were ruled by a self-governed system in which capital punishment was the main resort for all kinds of crimes such as practicing witchery, robbery, murder, treason… Adding to that, these customed rules were registered as the official code of the kingdom by the king Hammurabi in the 18th century and then slowly followed (with slight changes) by the other rulers. for example:

Pharaonic: offenders were burned alive especially witches.

Greek: according to Dracon’s law, offenders are executed based on their intentions and deeds.

Roman: they apply the quote of an “eye for an eye"

Death penalty survived until the establishment of an organization called the international amnesty in 1961 by Peter Benenson to protect human rights and dignity. As a result, people started wondering If it’s in favor of dictatorships or racism? If it’s too expensive? More importantly, if death penalty hinders crimes? Well, actually no. In fact, “in 2004 in the USA, the average murder rate for states that used the death penalty was 5.71 per 100,000 of the population as against 4.02 per 100,000 in states that did not use it. In 2003 in Canada.”

If you’re still reading I have to tell you that I can read minds and no I’m not a death penalty opponent…..(surpriseee!!).

As a matter of fact philosophically speaking, For Kant and Lex talionis this matter was settled by the principle of proportionality and the low of retribution, which means, “The severity of the punishment is proportionate to the seriousness of the crime.” Many philosophers consider death penalty as an evil done to prevent a more severe evil and a necessity to maintain the common order.

To be honest, I slightly agree with this opinion because simply putting a rapist or a serial killer in jail and taking care of him, as if you’re his mother is certainly far from achieving justice and dignity. It is a pure treason to the victim; no life is more valuable than another. Moreover, this punishment may make criminals repent and push them to become an effective member in society, but according to psychology, some of them like “Serial killers have no remorse when killing people” (Isabel Yepez).

To sum up, I neither support capital punishment nor oppose, I suggest we all think of an alternative that could satisfy both parts because obviously each one of them presents good and understandable points.