The Death Penalty: Justice or Murder?

Essay by xuerhCollege, Undergraduate November 2004

download word file, 2 pages 4.7 1 reviews

The issue of death penalty is always a controversial one. People may hold different views due to their distinctive angles. Some claim that it is a good way to prevent crimes, others, on the other hand, think that it is an evil thing to do, in all circumstances, to anyone. As far as I am concerned, I think that death penalty should be canceled because it may execute innocent people and it can't bring the victims back. In addition, there is no sufficient evidence that death penalty can deter crimes.

First of all, death penalty is radically different from other punishments since it is final and irreversible. It is inevitable for human beings, even judges and juries, to make mistakes sometime. So there is a significant danger that innocent people may be sentenced to death because of errors in the criminal justice system. If there has been an error, no one can make up that mistake because the carrying out of an execution is beyond any correction.

Therefore, we need to suspend the death penalty to prevent such tragedy.

Second, the death penalty can't bring victims back. Instead, it may prolong the suffering for family members of the victims. Some supporter of the death penalty may always think that those family members have the desire for revenge. However, the idea of " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life" is not so simple. Many victims' families recognize that the death penalty will inflict the same pain they have felt on the criminal's family. For instance, when one mother was asked at the funeral of her murdered son if she want the murderer to be sentenced to death, she replied: " No, there has been enough killing." In fact, though it is...