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Is Capital Punishment Justifiable? Discuss.

In: Social Issues

Submitted By taabish28
Words 540
Pages 3
Capital punishment is based upon the philosophy of “an eye for an eye”. As noted by one of the greatest political figure from India, Mahatma Gandhi “An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind”. Moreover, capital punishment is an inhumane act which is only meant to wreak vengeance. Killing a murderer is not a justice; in fact it is tantamount to committing a new crime. Although criminals cannot be forgiven for their heinous crimes, capital punishment is by no means justifiable. Hanging, gassing, electrocuting are horrible acts. The fear of waiting for death by means of these dreadful methods is even more horrific. However, in some countries criminals have to await for their fateful death for as long as 10 years even after their execution is finalized by court. So, every day they wake up in the terror of death. This hinders their psychology as well as seriously affect their mental health. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states 'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. When a criminal is killed his human rights are violated. No doubt, he is guilty but wouldn't jail and dungeons be enough for punishment? Sometimes, many innocent people are sentenced to death because of human errors and/or legal discrepancies. Execution is finalized from the trial, examination of evidences, and so on which allows room for human errors. For instance, in the USA 130 people sentenced to death have been found innocent since 1973 and are released from death row after they received the irrevocable punishment. Many people have been scapegoats in other countries as well. What about the value of life of such victims? What about the mental distress of their family members? Nobody cares. Isn't that beyond tenet to kill somebody for the crime that they have not committed? Human beings are fallible. They often make

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