After taking time to reflect on the power of the government, I began to question if they’re given too much. For example, many countries still carry out the death penalty for prison inmates. This brings up the question of whether the death penalty should be used as a form of punishment. As many find this to be a necessary and effective form of punishment, others find it hypocritical and inhumane.
Personally, I believe in the saying “you reap what you sow;” however, I feel that the ability to take one’s life because of their wrongdoings is somewhat an abuse of power. Thinking about it fully, I realized that it may be effective when it comes to certain aspects such as being a cheaper cost than life imprisonment, but there have also been negative outcomes from this method. For instance, many innocent people have died due to false accusations/imprisonment and botched executions take place (executions with a mishap or breakdown that changes the intended protocol and results in extreme agony for the prisoner).
All in all, there are many different opinions on the method, but what is your take on it? Is it necessary or is it more negative than it is useful?
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ReplyDeleteHello, Salome,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the death penalty has wrongfully ended the lives of innocent people. You did state one point supporting the death penalty which does not exactly seem true. Your point was that the death penalty is cheaper in cost compared to life imprisonment. However, data accumulated in California contradicts that claim. Since 1978, the average cost per executed individual came out to be $308 million. On the other hand, it costs about $200,000 to $300,000 to sentence someone to life, excluding likelihood of parole. Instead of misusing such an absurd amount of money on the execution of supposed criminals, perhaps it may seem much more beneficial to the criminal justice system to utilize that money in refining it. Unjust convictions can be prevented with a revamped criminal justice system. Life sentence is the superior alternative as it accomplishes the same objectives as the death penalty at a lower cost. Such objectives include purging the country from criminals and punishing them for their crimes.
In my personal opinion and based on my morals, I do not think anyone deserves to die, no matter how bad their crime was. But I believe these criminals deserve a just punishment accordingly. Though it might cost more to keep the prisoner in for life, the execution of someone will destroy our values and ethics as a nation. Executions might look like justice to some, but in my eyes I see it as hypocrisy. Why should we stoop down to the level of the criminal and basically justify killing them? To be completely honest, I was pro-death penatly a few years ago, when I thought that the crimes that these people committed were only brought to justice with their death, but now as I see through better morals and ethics, it is just an unnecessary act of taking someone’s life. And in addition, the innocent people have been wrongly accused and charged have been executed. This creates a problem where the innocent have no chance to defend themselves and just die for no reason.
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