Capital punishment is the act of legally executing someone for a crime they have committed after a fair legal trial. It is in also called the death penalty. It is carried out by the state in various methods including lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber and hanging. In most countries where it is still carried out, it is mostly carried out the punishment for murder. In other countries, however, it extends to culprits found guilty of treason, rape, fraud and adultery. According to data from a 2008 survey by Amnesty International, China had the most executions annually at that time, followed by Iran, the USA and Saudi Arabia respectively.
Just like abortion and homosexuality, capital punishment …show more content…
YES
NO
Not sure
It depends with the crime
Reason for your response in 10 above
Religion
Morality
Type of execution
Personal beliefs
Cost
Which type of capital punishment do you think is most humane?
Firing squad
Gas chamber
Electric chair
Lethal injection
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
From the results obtained from the survey the majority of the respondents to some degree favor capital punishment. Several factors stood tall in shaping people’s opinions on the contentious issue of capital punishment. They are as discussed below:
GENDER - A larger percentage of the female respondents in the survey were against capital punishment as compared to the males. Most of them seemed to hold the belief that killing someone for a crime they have committed is against their loving and motherly nature. They preferred other forms of punishment for example life imprisonment. Most of the males, however, supported the death penalty, given their rough character and “an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth” mentality. This development is referred to as the “death penalty gender gap.” (Haney, …show more content…
They reasoned that with more than half of their lives still ahead of them, eliminating capital offenders for example murderers and rapists from the face of the earth is the key to a safer society. The older respondents believe that even the hardest of criminals including murderers can reform with time, and sending them to prison and reform centers were a more civilized way of dealing with them.
RELIGION - Religion is another strong determinant factor in shaping people’s opinions on capital punishment. Most of the Christians interviewed were against capital punishment. They based their stand on the Biblical teaching that life is a precious God-given gift, and therefore no circumstance permits one person to terminate another’s life. Muslims, on the other hand, are divided when it came to this issue. Some said that under some circumstances, for example, a case involving premeditated murder, the death penalty is a fair punishment. (Haney,