Death Penalty , or capital punishment is a kind of punishment in which the convict is sentenced to death.It is considered the biggest punishment to be handed out to a criminal.
Since the beginning of the organised society, capital punishment has been there.In olden days the idea was: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth".If a man took the life of another man, society took the life of the murderer.Such blood-thirsty punishments are no more in tune with the present civilization.Death punishment cannot be justified on moral or ethical grounds.Is not the judge who awards the death sentence as great a murderer as the person whom he has sentenced?
Different methods are used to finish the life of a criminal.The most prevalent are hanging by rope and administering of electric shocks.Some military officers and political prisoners have to face the firing squad.In the olden days, criminals used to be beheaded.Whatever the method, the act is totally barbaric.
More than thirty-five countries have abolished death penalty and the aftermath of it has done no harm to society.According to judicial experts,punishments should be either reformative or deterrent , but death sentence is neither.Murder is committed by the murderer in the heat of the moment and he is completely reckless about the consequences of his action.
Some people even say that life imprisonment is more effective than death sentence. Because being confined to a single room for years gives continuous frustration to the person and also gives him time and a chance to realize his mistake, undergo reform and even begin a new life after his release. It is not as cruel as death penalty but serves the purpose of the punishment.
In the past when most of the crimes where punished by death sentence , people opposed its abolishment, as they believed it would leas to chaos and lawlessness. However, as can be seen from todays world, where death sentence is used only for the gravest of crimes, it has not led to any chaos or anarchy.Further, it has brought some respite to the the convicts who was really innocent and had been wrongly convicted. At least his family can console themselves from the fact that he is alive and would be free someday.
The modern era is an era of new values and principles, such as freedom, democracy, and liberal values.
It is not a society of Barbarism, and so this barbarous punishment of death penalty has no place in the 21st century world.It should be completely abolished from every country in the world, so that even the worst criminal gets another chance to live a better life.
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