Should Capital punishment be banned?

What is Capital Punishment?

Basically, It is when a person guilty of heinous crimes particularly that of rape or murder is sentenced to death. In India capital punishment is carried out by hanging the accused by the neck till the person is alive no more. In developed countries, this could be substituted by the electric chair or shooting.

Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone been punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. The term capital originates from the Latin word “capitalize”, literally meaning “regarding the head”.

Facts About Capital Punishment

• Capital punishment is also known as death penalty.
• Death penalty is carried out by the state whereby the person is put to death by the state a a means of being punished for a crime
• Act of carrying out a death penalty is called execution and the court judgment for this is a death sentence
• Capital punishment is death for capital offences such as murder, espionage, treason, crimes against humanity and mass genocide
• The world capital is derived from the Latin word for head, referring to beheading as a form of execution
• 56 countries retain capital punishment as a penalty for capital crimes.
• 103 countries have abolished death penalty for all crimes while 6 have abolished it for ordinary crimes (with the exception of special cases such as war crimes)
• 30 nations are abolitionist in practice

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Ban on Capital Punishment

• EU’s Article 2 of its Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits the use of capital punishment/death penalty
• Council of Europe with 47 member states prohibits the use of death penalty by members
• UNGA has adopted several resolutions from 2007 to 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 calling for a worldwide ban on the death penalty.
• Most nations have abolished capital punishment
• However, over 60 percent of the world’s population lives in nations where death penalty is allowed. India is one of them.

In Favor of Capital punishment :-

• Capital punishment for criminals can act as a deterrent.
• If the criminals are allowed in the society again, the security of citizens will be at stake.
• Saudi Arabia has a very low rate of crimes because it imposes death penalty and severe punishments.
• Values and morals must be protected by imposing maximum punishment for the criminals.
• The criminals, who are incapable of being reformed don’t deserve to live.

In Against to Capital punishment :-

• Basically there are four purposes of punishment – Reformation, Revenge, Protection, Deterrence.
  • Reformation :- If the death penalty is imposed, there will be no chance of reformation.
  • Revenge :- Revenge can be taken by other alternatives of punishment not just only by death penalty. In fact death penalty will not let the criminal know the pain. Life imprisonment may fulfill this one.
  • Protection :- Society must be protected from criminals. Life imprisonment also fulfills this purpose.
  • Deterrence :-  Statistics revealed that capital punishment could not decrease the no. of crimes.

Conclusion : Should Capital punishment be banned?

The opinions put forward by people who support and who are in opposition to the death penalty regularly reflect their deeper ideologies and beliefs. These philosophies and ethics are intensely rooted in life experiences and the way people are brought up and are not likely to be swayed by intellectual arguments. It is fascinating that in this country most people are in support of the death penalty however parliament continues to oppose it. In this case it could be disputed that parliament is leading the approach in keeping human rights and continues to put out the clear point that killing is always immoral.

Afterwords :- What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to express your opinion in the comment section below.