Are you for or against the death penalty?


I agree that death penalty plays an important role in deterring murders. It serves as a warning to other potential murderers that they will not get away with it. They will have to pay for the misdeed, for the life of their victims, with their own life. It is unjust for the innocent victims to lose their lives. Hopefully, with death penalty, murderers will think twice before committing the heinous crime.

However, some argue that death penalty is a question of morality and a violation of the human rights. It radically negates the doctrine of human rights, which is founded on respect for life and the dignity of human beings. This seems like a paradoxical statement to make. Nobody has the moral right to take anyone’s life, not even that of the most condemnable murderer. If that is going to be the case, why are there still murder cases? Who gave the murderers the right to kill people? So, are we going to just let the murderers get away with it?

Fine, they may refute that punishment should not be retributive in nature; instead, we should try to rehabilitate the criminal in order to enable him to live in society with other human beings. But, who is going to account for the victim’s life? Looking at the interest of the criminal, we cannot forget the rights of the victim’s family. They don’t deserve to lose their loved ones.

The learning point is: If we intend to abolish the gallows, we should also fight for the prevention of crime and against the inhumanity of many prisons.