The Pro and Con Arguments for the Death Penalty
Death Penalty is a capital crime almost practiced in all countries in the world. Regardless of its wide practice, many other countries have taken steps in abolishing and making the law dormant. Yet still, there are many others holding unto it. This resistance has developed into controversies world over since creation and increasingly, many lives are lost to it every year. It is against Democracy and this is where we will examine it.
The simple truth is that there are countless people who feel strongly that Death Penalty is important in curbing crimes. This is equally challenged by countless numbers too who feel that it must end because; it has failed to achieve its intent. It is evil too and does little good. Death Penalty challenges Democratic practice and freedoms. If we seek democracy and popular participation, then we need to act.
Death penalty has its economic, social, political and legal cost to humanity. It also holds a huge junk of loss to the community and the executed, including his traumatized family. Humanity pays for its implication as well with a question of morality and values for mankind.
According to Amnesty International, present statistics has shown a rise in executions world-over, about 32 countries have made their death penalty dormant, while 58 countries have it actively functional and 6 for serious crimes, a point I still wonder what is serious crime that should require an individual’s life. Though we have more countries with abolished death penalty laws; 102 of them, there is a growing number of executions conducted in 2015; 1634 of them as reported by Amnesty International, the highest in the past twenty five years. What is important to note is : this inhumane act that has no good legacy in terms of advancing peace and social justice for all is being practiced in highly populated countries; threatening more lives, sometimes rising economies and popular countries.
I highly respect the argument that death penalty is a deterrent for monstrous crimes, that when practices, it helps reduce crimes, but there has been no evidence to this. We all can agreed that crimes including capital crimes have increased over years even though there exist capital punishment for them including mysterious killings, treason, corruption, adultery and fornication, drugs etc. The question now is, do we really need a death penalty especially by hanging, electrocution, beheading, lethal injection and firing squad? So if we are to agree with our brothers who belief that such crimes will be reduced if they are paid with one’s life, my question is this: have we reduced capital crimes demanding death sentence in our countries? The answer is an absolute no. In fact, this is why terrorist I imagine, have engaged in one time blowing up, instead of them losing their lives by wicked individuals, they themselves take it together with those they want to kill.
Criminals are humans like us and most of them have stories to tell. If we keenly listen to them, we can transform the world for good. There are evidences in many cases where criminals have helped transformed the world in their prisons while serving their sentences. Many others did it well after serving their long term sentencing: they came out transformed and they became good leaders, helped advice other people to stop crimes and render community services that has a good turn over economically, socially, political and security wise. We have seen such examples in the in America, Africa and Asia with the likes of Frank William Abagnale, Kevin Mitnick to name but a few and countless others have similar stories. Now, I am still to see a criminal who was convicted, killed and at the same time helped to transform the world. The people we called criminals today could be heroes tomorrow if only we allow time to their existence.
Another important aspect to consider is the fact that our world needs change and no one can determine this change but Time. Unintended crimes, and crimes framed by enemies against individuals thought to be a treat to the lives and progress of powerful men and women in power and control of resources either in a country or locality have always paid in most countries through death penalty. This is a clear point that death penalty is not just inhumane, it is senseless and contributes to making a fool out of human establishment. We cannot continue living in the past and blaming time with a flimsy excuse known as ‘’ HAD I KNOWN’’. When people want to satisfy their thirst politically or economically, they use such existing laws to execute their opponents. If such happens, we that are kindly supporting the death penalty are facilitating these executions through the law and it benefits only a few not the society. This is social injustice to communities and individuals. People lost their lives for challenging powerful men and women who in themselves feel that they are demi gods. They then used death penalty to create fear in the people and this becomes a weapon to keep them in power.
Accepting a death penalty is therefore a double standard against the fight for democratic, inclusive and participatory governance. In many countries, death penalty has been used to levy fear in activist, jailed and killed activist who seek popular representation, inclusive governance and fair benefit sharing in places like North Korea, China and Africa. If we are ready to have a participatory system in this world, we must abolish both in law and practice the death penalty in all countries. When the great leaders of the popular 1980 coup d’état of Liberia took office, they executed their opponents and created fear in the entire country so that they could remain in power, which later plunged the country into a fifteen years civil crisis that killed more than two hundred and fifty people. Death penalty is an arm that suppresses people, keep dictators in power and rub the countries resources without any voice to be heard. So, death penalty is a fuel for war, a situation seen in my country Liberia in the early eighties and before then. Following these executions, my country Liberia paid the blunt of it and continues to pay for it even today. This contributed in a delay to our democratic advancement, lost more than 250,000 lives, infrastructure damaged and poverty increased. Today, Liberia still faces the economic, social, political and legal cost and impact of that act.
Moreover, this practice has succeeded in creating long standing conflicts; it has created hatred and lay us a bad legacy. Human beings can kill human beings for a course. This precedent has thought us that humans can be slaughtered to death like chickens ‘’ It is a common law that chickens should be slaughtered for food’’, and so it is a common law enacted through the wisdom of humans to slaughter humans by electrocution, beheading, firing and lethal injection. This also may be interpreted that doctors have a precedent to follow in ending lives in Hospitals and clinics, young women have the right to say unwanted pregnancies are crimes committed by the innocent child and the only penalty for such is abortion. Death penalty I agree is a form of justice but I see it as a justice over performed and any justice over performed is a crime in itself. The benefits accrued to death penalty is lesser, and has a bearing on a portion of few individuals as compare to its abandonment and replacement with longer term sentences. We have gotten stories of great leaders who were charged and jailed for committing crimes that are death penalty warranted but after that, they became heroes and contributed to the advancement of peace and development such as the likes of Nelson Mandela, those who jailed Nelson Mandela had the power to killed him, , but they rather chose the road less taken by many- this pave the way for peace, democracy and development that we all can boast of today.
The argument about retaining death penalty is obvious and we all have to be convinced that the intent of death penalty is to end crimes but we have never succeeded. The secret intent for some is to suppress, exclude and eliminate which cost our society economically, socially and politically. Death penalty has never stopped crimes; it has always denied us of the basic human rights as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Death Sentence has always created irreversible mistakes for people who are being framed up. This act is inhumane and teaches nothing less than wickedness- paying evil by evil. The act has helped to suppress democracy and it continuous to suppress it. In our modern world, it has often helped leaders to abuse power, corrupts our political systems and prevents popular uprising which is the last resort when rights have been trampled upon.
While I realized the good intention of many of the people who strongly feel that it is important to have a death sentence for certain crimes, I want us to count its benefits, who enjoys the most of the benefits accrued through death penalty and what impact it has on the world? With this, we are able to realize that those in power benefit the most while the general society losses more. It is for the common good that we must not do any business that will run us into loses and failures. We must not belief in ‘’ HAD WE KNOWN’’. It is irreversible.
We cannot afford to expose this world to the rising dictatorship and the influences of the people who belief that power for them is for life and anyone standing by the way is a traitor, and as such, they must die. Nothing must be equivalent to human life and this must be a sign of humanity and justice for all. Death must never be an option and must never be thinkable by any power and people because oppressors used it for their good not the common good of our society.
Based on this, I stand to strongly argue that death penalty must end and it must end now.
