Cpnsh(A) Essay, Research Paper

Capital Punishment In the past, people have invariably felt that if they hadbeen wronged in some way, it was his or her right to takevengeance on the person that had wronged them. This mentalitystill exists, even today, but in a lesser form because the lawhas now outlined a person’s rights and developed punishments thatconform to those rights, yet allow for the retribution for theircrime. However, some feel that those laws and punishments aretoo lax and criminals of today take advantage of them, ie. organized crime, knowing very well that the punishments for theircrime, whether it be murder, theft, or any other number ofcriminal activities, will be so negligible that it may be wellworth their risk. Although in the past, the number of crimes that weresubjected to capital punishment, defined simply as the deathpenalty for a crime, were outrageous. Amendments were made toreflect the changes in the society’s views on the morality ofcapital punishment. That resulted in the narrowing down of thelist of one hundred crimes to twelve, punishable by the deathpenalty in 1833, and in 1869 it was cut down yet again to justthree: treason, rape, and murder because of violent nature ofthese crimes. These crimes, even today, are still viewed asviolent and should be punished with the highest degree ofdiscipline available to achieve justice. After much public pressure, capital punishment was suspendedon a trial run in 1967. This proved to be ineffective, becauseeven though the law stipulated that crimes such as treason or themurder of law enforcement agents, were still to be subjected tothe death penalty, the federal cabinet continued to commute thosecriminals from death to life sentences, hence the law was notbeing followed and justice was not being served. This soon wasfollowed with capital punishment’s abolishment in 1976, as aformal declaration of what was already happening or rather whatwas not happening. It is felt that because of this and the factthat there has not been an execution since 1967, that today’scurrent form of punishments are no longer a sufficient deterrentfor such serious crimes and have contributed to a ever risingcrime rate. So, this is where the real issue of whether or not capitalpunishment should exist begins and such a controversial issuecould be best understood if we looked at capital punishment in aperspective of how it fulfils or does not fulfil society’s ideasof punishment :

Is not one of the four fundamental objectives behindpunishment retribution? The sentencing objective based onthe principle of “an-eye-for-an-eye”, which means that whatone person has done to another should also be done to thatperson in return. Is that not justified, especially incases of premeditated murder of another human begin, anotherlife?Does capital punishment not act as a deterrent? Doesit not threaten with an imposition of a penalty for thecommission of an act considered wrong by society? What about segregation? Does capital punishment removecriminals from society so that they cannot repeat theiroffence or commit other offences against society?Doesn’t capital punishment follow the above threeobjectives well?? Most people would say it does. But then,of course, people who support the abolishment of capitalpunishment would ask about rehabilitation, the re-trainingof prisoners with an employable skill for use when they arereleased. Not only is it expensive to re-train and housecriminals, but with some, it is just not possible, becausethey are hardened criminals and will not change. For thosepeople, it is just not worth the effort and the taxpayers’money to even attempt to reform them. Also, another point to consider is that today prisonterms are not enough. Many people are allowed out early onparole and/or remission resulting in criminals just servingone third of their prison terms and being released back intosociety. This type of quick release cannot adequatelyretribute someone’s death nor deter others strongly enoughfrom repeating the same offence that the criminals alreadyhave. As you can see, capital punishment fulfils our society’s”checklist” of what a punishment should do, especially theobjective of retribution. Many people who want capital punishment restored, have alsoclearly stated that without a suitable punishments for crimes,justice will never truly be served to those that have suffereddamages or losses. People will think less and less of the lawand start resorting to “private law and order”. This would notonly create chaos but raise the crime rate further with peoplerunning around on private vendettas. Even with these facts and arguments, the federal governmentrefuses to restore the death penalty. So all we can do now isprotest to the government, wait, and hope that it will not take ahigh crime rate and the loss of many innocent lives before theyrealize what a mistake they made in 1976 by totally abolishingcapital punishment. … A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. – Ecclesiastes 9:11-12