2 Wrongs don't make 1 Right (Capital punishment)

Member Name: Mizmi

Product:	Capital punishment
Date:	20/06/02 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can arguably save money in the long run, Follows the notion of 'get what you give', Easy way out

Disadvantages: Killing can never be right

Yes, some people do deserve severe punishments, but....death? I personally don't think so.

Take a general murder case, for example. A man kills a woman. He gets arrested, and is given the death penalty. The man is killed 'legally' as a result. Right. So what did that achieve? Nothing but a nice little sense of 'revenge'. But does revenge compensate for justice? 2 wrongs don't make 1 right. The two murders (yes I consider capital punishment as 'murder' cannot simply cancel each other out and justify the situation. Capital punishment encourages unnecessary deaths. Yes - some may argue that these criminals do not deserve to live - but surely killing them off is merely trying to ABANDON the problem rather than resolve it?

You want the criminals to be punished? Death isn't a punishment. Death is a easy way out for both the criminals and for the government. If they were dead they do not need to be thought about - as for the criminals, if they were dead they do not have to live with the guilt that they will come face to face with if they were to continue to live. Killing them, in a way, is doing them a favour. Whereas whatever crime that was committed may have been very cruel and harsh - a lethal injection is not 'harsh'. For Christ?s sake - they even sterilize the needles. That could be considered a 'nice' death. In opposition, we also know of other forms of death penalties that are less humane (for the lack of a better word): the electric chair, shooting, hanging and in some countries, the method of publicly stoning a criminal still exists. Now, that is 'harsh'. I don't see ANY reason as to why a person (no matter how bad a crime they have committed) should undergo such a disgustingly horrifying form of murder.

True, killing the murderers (or what have you) off saves the large sum of money that the government would have to spend on them over the years if they were to serve a life
sentence - but if the government would use that amount of money to spend it on therapy and other forms of psychiatric help for the criminals, wouldn't that actually be beneficial? This way people can at least try and dig up the roots to what goes on in the criminals' heads, what triggers a crime etc, and therefore try to prevent it.

Yes, a crime is a crime and the person must be punished, but a punishment doesn't mean the right to do ANYTHING to a person purely because they have made a mistake (big or small). Isn't it somewhat disturbing when you know that a person is going to die at a specific time? I can handle death. I understand that people die every minute, ever second - but I find the idea of KNOWING that someone is going to be killed at a certain time spine-chilling. When I think of the people serving death row, awaiting their deaths but not necessarily KNOWING when it is their turn, I feel sympathy for them. Yes, they did wrong, yes, the victim's family would be devastated - but you know, a person is a person, criminals are people and they too have families. Their families are equally as innocent as the victim and the victim's families. Should they suffer too?

People do change. Believe it or not - with time, a 'baddie' CAN turn into a 'goodie' (ok so there isn't a guarantee) - and by not offering people a chance to try and change their behaviour, we are even attempting t be the fair society that many crave to achieve. People can come out of prison as a brand new person. Yes - it is true that a person who has committed a crime can easily do it again - but who's to say they ALL will? Maybe they have learned from their own mistakes, and if they were to be given the death penalty right away, they will never have a chance to learn. Although this method of 'learning from your mistakes' may seem like a babying method for high-profile murders, but you know what? Sometimes, even the toughest p
eople need to be dealt with like a child.

In conclusion, my opinion lies in the fact that killing will never be justifiable. Revenge will NEVER resolve.

If we followed the notion of 'An eye for an eye' - the whole world would be blind.

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