For as long as humans have lived in groups, a concept of punishment by the group on the individual has existed. Overtime this concept has evolved into the forms of justice we see today. Across the world, ideas of what constitutes adequate punishment to crime vary hugely. This difference is due to different social ideas of what is a fair response to delinquency. However an undeniable trend has been the abolishment of capital punishment. More and more countries are turning away from using this, the most ultimate of punishment. In fact only 24 countries executed people in 2014 compared to 42 in 1995. It’s not merely countries choosing not to use it either, it has been enshrined in international treaties. This would appear to indicate that more and more people are finding the death penalty unacceptable, be it for moral or other reasons. In this essay I am going to argue that in certain situations capital punishment is morally defensible and explain why I think this.
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There is clearly a vocal debate on this statement across the entire legal system. However as all prospects of a negative outcome deter some (assuming the criminal is a fit state of mind). It is a truism. Capital punishment being the most severe of all possible criminal sanctions, is clearly the least likely of all criminal sanctions to violate that idea. However some people would argue that in some cases life imprisonment can be worse as the perpetrator has to think for his whole life about what he did. However if this is true it would mean that the death penalty is not actually severe as life imprisonment. In which case we give out life imprisonment which is harsher punishment we should have no qualms about giving out a less severe sanction in the form of the death penalty. The state has a moral duty to protect its citizens and therefore not to utilise the ultimate deterrent in times of need is a failure on their
One …show more content…
There is clearly a vocal debate on this statement across the entire legal system. However as all prospects of a negative outcome deter some (assuming the criminal is a fit state of mind). It is a truism. Capital punishment being the most severe of all possible criminal sanctions, is clearly the least likely of all criminal sanctions to violate that idea. However some people would argue that in some cases life imprisonment can be worse as the perpetrator has to think for his whole life about what he did. However if this is true it would mean that the death penalty is not actually severe as life imprisonment. In which case we give out life imprisonment which is harsher punishment we should have no qualms about giving out a less severe sanction in the form of the death penalty. The state has a moral duty to protect its citizens and therefore not to utilise the ultimate deterrent in times of need is a failure on their