Death penalty has ever since agent times been important as punishment for criminals. In that period of time they had a saying: «You are not being punished for stealing sheep, but because of the fact that sheep are not to be stolen». Death penalty was used to prevent criminal actions. Is this barbaric and unethical, or isn’t it? Is it morally correct if all members of society accepts it? What effect does capital punishment have on society?
I won’t be the judge of how «right» or «wrong» death penalty is, morally speaking. I’d rather discuss the more practical consequences of it.
There are many problems with death penalty. First of all, there is no evidence for it deterring crime, nevertheless this is an argument which is often used to support it. Further this is a punishment which is a bit hard to alter, if new evidence should be brought to attention. You must accept that if you want death penalty to be carried out.
You can ask yourself. Doesn’t «an eye for an eye - mentality» make society harder and tougher? Most of those who support capital punishment, strongly represent that mentality. Very often it’s not the danger of repetition, but the claimed preventive effect which results in death penalty.
Take a look at the world today. What countries carry out death penalty? Mostly dictatorships, and countries with big social distinctions. In addition to this most of these countries have a problem with crimes of violence. The fact that dictatorships carry out death penalty is no surprise to anyone. If you’re willing to suppress with violence, you’re not far from a legalisation of capital punishment.
The other countries are more interesting. The countries who at least claim to be democracies. There is no doubt that big social distinctions result in crimes of violence; Why should one who is in jeopardy of dying every day care about the law? In this case I don’t see any reason to believe that death penalty deters crime. People...