Capital Punishment is Wrong Essay

The government is supposed to uphold the law, to set a good example, to be a bastion of civilised behaviour. How could we possibly expect them to do all of these things if they are lowering themselves to the level of murderers, by becoming murderers themselves? The simple answer is they can't. Governments must uphold the sanctity of life, not imitate the most vile, bloodthirsty crimes. Someone once said that a country can be judged by its treatment of its prisoners. If we were to kill our prisoners then we would be judged as a vicious, barbaric country, flying in the face of the rest of the civilised world's view. If the state are seen to condone murder, which in my view is what they would be doing if they carried out executions, then what kind of country would we be living in? A backward thinking, unenlightened one, that's what.

An argument put across by those in favour of the death penalty would be on the "eye for an eye" basis, i.e. if you kill then you in turn should deserve to be killed. But to me this idea simply means nothing, it is without reasoned thought and in my view doesn't stand up to any substantial scrutiny. Surely if someone has done something wrong, and it is widely recognised that they have done something wrong, then you are just as bad as them if you then carry out the same act, even if it is in